During our weekly "Girl's Night" gathering last night, I was prompted to start singing the "Junior Birdman Song" I learned at camp, at least what I remembered of it.
Every spring my church would start promoting the fun to be had at Horton Center, a camp fully owned and operated by the New Hampshire Conference of the United Church of Christ. I can still remember my first summer there. Seven giggly nine and ten year old girls girls sharing a little cabin in the woods, laughing incessantly. Dean, one of the counselors at Horton Center, was assigned to our cabin. He made sure we knew where everything was at camp and just looked out for us. But mostly, he made us laugh. One of the ways he accomplished this was by singing the "Junior Birdman Song" while doing all the accompanying hand motions. We were rivetted and couldn't get enough of his performances.
"Sing it again, Dean!" we would shout.
I never thought too much about the lyrics, but as I was singing it for the girls last night, we concluded it must have been some sort of promotion for Marvel comics.
"So, don't be a glutten, get your Captain Marvel button and zoom!"
This prompted me to do some research.
It turns out the Junior Birdmen of America was a group of boys interested in building model planes back in the 30s. There are several versions of the song floating around in ciberspace, some with lyrics mocking novice aviators, but I can't seem to find the one mentioning Captain Marvel. I did find the Birdmen of American site sharing what I believe is probably the original version of the song. I also found several links to stores selling the pins issued by the aformentioned aviation club as well as a Captain Marvel button. Interestingly, one of the stores is located in Zach's hometown. I also found an article written by a women from the generation who grew up with radio as the technology of the day. She remembers the radio anouncer urging kids to send in their box tops etc. to get their pin. At any rate, this is how I remember the song:
Up in the air, Junior Birdman!
Up in the air, Birdman fly
Up in the air, Junior Birdman!
Get your wings up to the sky, to the sky
When you hear the grand anouncement
That you've earned your wings of tin
Then you'll know Junior Birdman
You gotta send them box tops in, send em in!
5 box tops
4 bottle bottoms
3 labels
2 wrappers
and 1 thin dime
So don't be a glutten
Get your Captain Marvel button...and zoom!
3 comments:
Awesome, Jill. Now I'll forever be able both to see you in memory, goggle eyes and all, and to hear your performance in my head, word for word. ;)
Oh my goodness! I attended Horton Center as a kid and found this blog in my search specifically for Jr Birdman lyrics as I remembered them! What great memories! Thanks for posting this!
This is amazing!! What a small world! I'm so glad you enjoyed reading my post. When did you go to Horton Center? Maybe we were there at the same time. What church are/were you from? Thanks for commenting!!
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