Reddy Kilowatt
posted: 07/30/2009
***
“It’s too simple, I said. I didn’t know then it was simple, but eloquent.”
(Carl Reiner in, “The 2000 Year Old Man” about the invention of the cross.)
***
It’s not very often that I run across something that is absolutely perfect. It never happens in complicated genres like books and movies. They’re too much, too long, too complicated to be perfect. But, it can happen in an image. This image of Reddy Killowatt is the perfect example of perfect.
He was the cartoon character that was used as a corporate “spokesthing” for electricity in the U.S. for decades. His nose is a lightbulb. His ear is a socket. His body is electricity. He’s powerful and fun at the same time. To a cartoonist, he’s just perfect.
I would marry him if it were legal in Maryland.
