General Hershy Bar was a satirical character of the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

-era Anti-War protest movement, portrayed by William "Bill" Matons, in a parody of U.S. General

Lewis B. Hershey Lewis Blaine Hershey (September 12, 1893May 20, 1977) was a United States Army general who served as the second Director of the Selective Service System, the means by which the United States administers its military conscription. Early life H ...

, then Director of the

Selective Service The Selective Service System (SSS) is an independent agency of the United States government that maintains information on U.S. citizens and other U.S. residents potentially subject to military conscription (i.e., the draft) and carries out contin ...

. The character's name was also spelled as "Hershey Bar" or "HersheyBar" among Matons' own publications and those of the general public when referring to him. Matons also performed

Calypso music Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to We ...

under the names The Calypso Kid and Calypso Joe.

Biography

He was born William Arthur Matons in September 1906 and died October 13, 1993 (dates not verified). Bill Matons danced under his birth name in the 1930s in the Modern Dance worlds of New York. During the Calypso Craze of the 1940s, Matons performed as The Calypso Kid on stage and on the radio. He also used Calypso Joe, a stage name created when he was a calypso dancer, promoter, night club owner in the 1940s and '50s. Finally, in the 1960s he adopted the name General Hershy Bar. He kept the name the rest of his life, and most of the time in public he stayed 'in character' as part of his anti-war street-theater.

Early life: Wisconsin to New York (1920s to early 1930s)

Matons was adopted and raised by Lithuanian parents who encouraged his ad-lib performing talents. He was a modern dancer and choreographer in New York in the 1930s. He was born in Cleveland Ohio, the son of gypsy immigrants. His father settled down to a life making violins in Cleveland, and then moved shortly to Racine, Wisconsin where Matons went to grade school. The family then moved to Milwaukee where he attended a semester of high school before going to work in the steel mills. After this job he was a steeple-jack, coast guardsman, cook on a yacht, and also sold jewelry. He read books on dancing and found notice of

Charles Weidman Charles Weidman (July 22, 1901 – July 15, 1975) was a renowned choreographer, modern dancer and teacher. He is well known as one of the pioneers of modern dance in America. He wanted to break free from the traditional movements of dance f ...

dance scholarships in New York City. After only three months with Weiman's group he appeared in ''Americana''. In his twenties he was dance director of ''Railroads on Parade'' at the NY World's Fair and danced in ''As Thousands Cheer''.

Modern dance career in New York (1930s)

During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, the NY modern dance world was influenced by the politics of the left as covered in Ellen Graf's book, ''Stepping Left Dance and Politics in New York City 1928–1942''. Matons appears on the cover of this book in the center. Matons danced with the Humphrey-Weidman company in New York, from 1933 to 1936 and again in 1940. He appeared in the

works, ''Ringside'', ''Studies in Conflict'', ''Candide'' (1933), ''Traditions'' (1935), and ''American Saga'' (1936) as well as ''Americana'', ''As Thousands Cheer(1933)'', and ''Everywhere I Roam''. He was director of the experimental unit of the New Dance League, which evolved from the Workers Dance League between 1931 and 1935. ''As Thousands Cheer'', by Irving Berlin and

Moss Hart Moss Hart (October 24, 1904 – December 20, 1961) was an American playwright, librettist, and theater director. Early years Hart was born in New York City, the son of Lillian (Solomon) and Barnett Hart, a cigar maker. He had a younger brother ...

, opened September 30, 1933, at the

Music Box Theater The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1921, the Music Box Theatre was designed by C. Howard Crane in a Palladian-inspire ...

and closed Sept 8, 1934, with 400 performances by the Charles Weidman dancers Letitia Ide and Jose Limon with Matons and others. On July 25, 1936, at Bennington, Vermont, the New Dance League presented performances by

Anna Sokolow Anna Sokolow (February 9, 1910, Hartford, Connecticut – March 29, 2000, Manhattan, New York City) was an American dancer and choreographer known for the social justice focus and theatricality of her work, and for her support of the developm ...

, Matons, Fara Lynn, and Eva Desca. On April 25, 1937, New Dance League presented ''Dances of Today'' at St. James Theater. Included at this show were ''Songs of Protest - Lay Down Late and Sistern and Brethern'', ''Song for Soviet Youth Day'', ''Under the Swastika: Germans Think with Your Blood'', ''Though we be flogged''. Matons also appeared in ''Letter to a Policeman in Kansas City''. In 1938 he danced some early poems of

Kenneth Patchen Kenneth Patchen (December 13, 1911January 8, 1972) was an American poet and novelist. He experimented with different forms of writing and incorporated painting, drawing, and jazz music into his works, which have been compared with those of Will ...

in New York and is mentioned in Patchen's papers at the UCSC special collections archive. Matons was choreographer for the Lenin Peace Pageant at Madison Square Garden in 1937. Performed with

Ailes Gilmour Ailes Gilmour (January 27, 1912 – April 16, 1993) was a Japanese American dancer who was one of the young pioneers of the American Modern Dance movement of the 1930s. She was one of the first members of Martha Graham's dance company. Gilmour' ...

in "''Adelante''," a

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

sponsored Broadway musical in 1939. ''Adelante'', a work with a Spanish theme, opened April 4, 1939, at Daly's Theater and had 16 performances and Matons created the leading role and danced it. The show included

Helen Tamiris Helen Tamiris (born Helen Becker; April 24, 1905 – August 4, 1966) was an American choreographer, modern dancer, and teacher. Biography Tamiris was born in New York City on April 23, 1902. She adopted Tamiris, her stage name, from a fragment ...

among others. Tamiris was important in the

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing * Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance An ...

Federal Dance Project and believed strongly in using dance to explore social themes. Matons led the Experimental Dance Group in the late 1930s. His dancers included a young Rebecca Lepkoff. He choreographed for the 1939 Worlds Fair in New York, creating the dance for ''Railroads on Parade – Drama of Transport''. The music for this was written by

Kurt Weil Kurt Weil (2 January 1932 – 12 December 2012) was a Swiss jazz vibraphonist. Weil was born in Zürich. He learned piano and trombone as a youth, but was playing vibraphone professionally by 1952, as a member of Rio de Gregori's ensemble. He ...

. Weil had started the score in spring 1938. It was written as a Circus Opera using the elements of theater music from opera to circus. Matons hired Rebecca Lepkoff for the Worlds Fair show and as he could pay a decent wage, uncommon at during the depression, Lepkoff used this money to buy her first camera, starting her photography career. The author Ramsay Burt described how Matons choreographed and produced ''One Sixth of the Earth'' while with Humphrey-Weidman. Burt notes that Matons used the motif of "...poignant speeches by anonymous witnesses in the crowd...derived from the tradition of agit-prop Living Newspapers with origins in the Soviet Union". In 1939 Matons was still working with

Doris Humphrey Doris Batcheller Humphrey (October 17, 1895 – December 29, 1958) was an American dancer and choreographer of the early twentieth century. Along with her contemporaries Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham, Humphrey was one of the second gen ...

in the Humphrey-Weidman company.

Calypso period (late 1930s to 1950s)

In 1938 while with Humphrey and Weidman he began to focus on calypso dance and music. Earlier in his life, while working on a boat, he heard the music while working on a ship stopped in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

(1935), but he had not considered the dance aspect at that time. He found a Spanish music store in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

owned by Costellanos Molinas, brought some music home, and made up some dances in 1938. He coached performers from the West Indies in dances and stage techniques to improve their showmanship. He started to import singers to the US and began to have a monopoly on calypso there. Late 1938 he brought calypso to New York City night life at the Village Vanguard with the Duke of Iron, Gerald Clark and his Calypso Serenaders and a half dozen dancers. The show included satirical acts on important issues of the day. The Calypso Kid stages the revues at the Vanguard with the songs "Edward the VIII" or "Roosevelt in Trinidad" made into small skits with pantomime and dance. Matons and his calypso crew traveled the US and beyond performing shows. Calypso was still a fairly niche market until Joe Miller a radio comic brought the song, "Rum and Coco-Cola" to the US in 1945. A calypso craze swept the nation following this. Many of the songs were banned from radio play at the time due to the earthy nature of many calypso songs. Matons' importance in the start of the Calypso Craze is noted in the book, "Encuentros sincopados: el caribe contemporáneo a través de sus prácticas musicales -''Historia (Siglo Veintiuno Editores) Pensamiento caribeño''" by Lara Ivette Lopez de Jesus; "...there never was any organized dance for the calypso; therefore no calypso dance ever existed in reality, only in name...The first person who organized such a dance was an American named Bill Maton, a dancer. He had visited Trinidad in 1935, and appeared in shows in the US and Canada" In the 1940s and '50s he was performing with calypso singers and operating a night club in NY where he used the name Calypso Kid and then Calypso Joe. A picture of him as Calypso Joe in costume in 1952 is on the Dallas Library Site. A notice in ''Billboard'' for April 7, 1945, mentions him coming to Hollywood, "...now that Rum and Coca Cola is hot..." with his revue of calypso stars

Lord Beginner Egbert Moore (1904–1981), known as Lord Beginner, was a popular calypsonian. Biography Moore was born in Port-of-Spain in Trinidad. According to AllMusic: "After attracting attention with his soulful singing in Trinidad and Tobago, Lord Beginne ...

, Lord Caresser, Lord Dignity, Chief Eagle Eye,

The Duke of Iron The Duke of Iron (born Cecil Anderson, 22 November 1906 – 17 November 1968) was a calypsonian, nightclub and concert entertainer, and recording artist from the 1930s through the 1960s. Born in Trinidad and working mainly in the United States, ...

and others. He operated a calypso night club in

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

in the 1950s. By 1957 he had a calypso night club act appearing in Las Vegas.

Allied Artists Pictures Corporation An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in Los Angeles came out with ''Calypso Joe'' (1957) starring

and

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

among others. Papers noted that it did not include Matons, or compensate him for the use of the name he had spent years building up.

Anti-war work (1960s to 1990s)

In Los Angeles he self-published several monographs and booklets using the publishing company he created, Handicap Publications. The PeaceNut cartoons were published by Handicap, showing a business location of 5420 Carlton Way, Hollywood, CA. Handicap Pictures was established for producing short films in "true bloody color", as he said. Titles included, '' President Johnson the Defoliate President'', and ''Damn the constitution-undeclared wars-full speed ahead'' with the theme song "your lyin’ cheat in’ heart" and he mentions his saying "give war no quarter because it ain’t worth a dime" in one. He published his book, ''kiss don't kill'' in 1967 (Handicap Publications). Another publication was "Get off your apathy!: a biography of

Florence Beaumont This is a list of notable people who committed suicide by setting themselves on fire for political reasons. Non-political self-immolations are not included in the list. List Before 1900 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s ...

, who burned herself instead of others! —like phony politicians", by Thomas Michael Dunphy (aka "General Wastemoreland"), Handicap Publications 1968. This work also contains sections written by General Hershy Bar. 6141 Afton Place, Los Angeles

In 1972 he became the manager of an apartment building in Hollywood (Los Angeles), California. The 42-unit Afton Arms Apartments was built in 1924 at 6141 Afton Place and El Centro by architect Leland Bryant. The building was the site of many important dissident activities,

The Hollywood Ten ''The Hollywood Ten'' is a 1950 American 16mm short documentary film. In the film, each member of the Hollywood Ten made a short speech denouncing McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklisting. The film was directed by John Berry. After being na ...

and

Art Kunkin Arthur Glick Kunkin (March 28, 1928 – April 30, 2019) was an American journalist, community organizer, machinist, and New Age esotericist best known as the founding publisher and editor of the ''Los Angeles Free Press''. Early life and educatio ...

LA Free Press The ''Los Angeles Free Press'', also called the "''Freep''", is often cited as the first, and certainly was the largest, of the underground newspapers of the 1960s. The ''Freep'' was founded in 1964 by Art Kunkin, who served as its publisher unti ...

both used the Grand Ball room. In 1987,

Hillel Slovak Hillel Slovak ( he, הלל סלובק; April 13, 1962 – June 25, 1988) was an Israeli-American musician best known as the founding guitarist of the Los Angeles rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers, with whom he recorded two albums. His guitar wor ...

of the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

was found dead in his apartment in the building where he lived. The General renamed the building "The Happy Malaga Castle" in 1972 In 1978 he was one of the participants at the first

Doo Dah Parade The Pasadena Doo Dah Parade is a popular farcical and flamboyant parade held in Pasadena, California, about once a year, usually in the fall or winter, although in recent years it has moved to the nearest Saturday to May Day. The event has been cop ...

, an irreverent alternative to the traditional formality of the

Rose Parade The Rose Parade, also known as the Tournament of Roses Parade (or simply the Tournament of Roses), is an annual parade held mostly along Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena, California, United States, on New Year's Day (or on Monday, January 2 if N ...

in Pasadena. Through the late 1970s to early 1980s he lived on Harvard Blvd in Hollywood, CA. In Hollywood he would 'perform' his anti-war guerrilla street theater for tourists to

Grauman's Chinese Theater Grauman's Chinese Theatre (branded as TCL Chinese Theatre for naming rights reasons) is a movie palace on the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6925 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. The original Chinese T ...

and other

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...

locations, including while on the RTD bus he got around on. He died October 13, 1993. He was frequently seen partnered with General Waste More Land (aka Tom Dunphy), a parody of

General William Westmoreland William Childs Westmoreland (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005) was a United States Army General (United States), general, most notably commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968. He served as Chief of Staff of the ...

. The characters were common at

street theater Street theatre is a form of theatrical performance and presentation in outdoor public spaces without a specific paying audience. These spaces can be anywhere, including shopping centres, car parks, recreational reserves, college or university c ...

performances and demonstrations against U.S. military involvement in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Tom Dunphy (aka "General Waste More Land") still lives in Berkeley Ca (see video below). He would greet people on the street he met as "General" and salute often as well, which was saying that we are all Generals and so complicit in war. General Hershy Bar on Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood CA 1979-81

General Hershy Bar on Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood CA 1979-81

Appearances

* He appeared in many dance performances in the 1930s until the 1950s. Starting out in Modern Dance in New York and ending with Calypso Dancing in venues across the Western Hemisphere. * He appeared in the

works, ''Ringside'', ''Studies in Conflict'', ''Candide'' (1933), ''Traditions'' (1935), and ''American Saga'' (1936) as well as ''Americana'', ''As Thousands Cheer'', and ''Everywhere I Roam''. * He appears in a -minute B&W 16mm film, ''Humphrey-Weidman Company'' (1938), by Ann Barzel filmed during a performance at the Auditorium Theater Chicago. The featured the dancers, Doris Humphrey, Charles Weidman, José Limón, Bill Matons, Katherine Litz, Katherine Manning, and Sybil Shearer. The film has short excerpts from 7 works. Matons appears in ''Traditions'' with choreography by Charles Weidman. Danced by Charles Weidman, José Limón, and Bill Matons. * He appears on the cover of Ellen Graf's book, 'Stepping Left Dance and Politics in New York City 1928-1942'. * In 1969 General Hershey Bar supposedly showed up at the

Altamont free concert The Altamont Speedway Free Festival was a counterculture rock concert in the United States, held on Saturday, December 6, 1969, at the Altamont Speedway outside of Livermore, California. Approximately 300,000 attended the concert, and some ant ...

in California where performers included the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the g ...

. The movie made of the concert shows Bar's work partner General Wastemoreland in full regalia, making a gesture he satirically called a ''navel salute'', which involved placing a horizontal hand on his navel then moving his arm out horizontally. There was a case brought by General Hershy Bar regarding the use of his image in the Altamont concert movie by the Rolling Stones. In that case he says it was not him, but General Wastemoreland that appears in the movie. Details of this case are at the link below. * He also made a cameo appearance in a low-budget movie made for public access, entitled ''Broadcast From The Future'', in which he appeared as Doctor Everest Word. (Bluemonkey Films by Martin Cohen, also starring Evonne Pizzoni, aired in 1991). * The characters of General Hershy Bar and General Waste More Land were made into a 1967

underground comic Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

book called ''Those Lovable Peace-Nuts'' by

William Stout William Stout (born September 18, 1949) is an American fantasy artist and illustrator with a specialization in paleoart, paleontological art. His paintings have been shown in over seventy exhibitions, including twelve one-man shows. He has worke ...

. * Photographer Richard Friedman wrote of encountering General Hershy Bar at a so-called War Is Over march in the late 1960s: * He appeared in uniform on the street in a 1986 music documentary, "X - The Unheard Music" by the LA punk band, X during the song "Los Angeles". * He appeared in the 1967 movie, Something's Happening, chronicling the youth movement on the Sunset Strip in LA and in San Francisco's Haight Ashbury.

References

External links

Photo of General Hershey Bar with his colleague General Waste More LandVideo of General WasteMoreLand talking about Himself and Hershy Bar
* ttp://articles.latimes.com/1995-09-20/news/ls-47830_1_beautiful-buildings Story of Happy Malaga Castle naming in Hollywood

Lists

List of choreographers This is a list of choreographers: A * Aaliyah * Paula Abdul * Kyle Abraham * Alvin Ailey * Debbie Allen * Richard Alston * Sir Frederick Ashton * Fred Astaire * Bob Avian B * George Balanchine * Claude Balon * Melissa Barak * Margaret Ba ...

List of peace activists This list of peace activists includes people who have proactively advocated diplomatic, philosophical, and non-military resolution of major territorial or ideological disputes through nonviolent means and methods. Peace activists usually work ...

List of dance personalities This is a work-in-progress partial list of people involved in dance Alphabetical A * Eleonora Abbagnato - Italian ballet dancer * Stella Abrera - Filipino-American ballet dancer * Carlos Acosta - Cuban ballet dancer and artistic director of Birm ...

{{Authority control American anti–Vietnam War activists American male dancers American choreographers Fictional generals Modern dancers Parodies Street theatre Street artists Cultural depictions of military officers Cultural depictions of American men