Original U.S. WWII Era “KilRoy Was Here” Small Pregnant Figurine by Hartland Plastics

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a well preserved example of a WWII era novelty gift attributed to Hartland Plastics. Hartland Plastics, best known for its figurines of major league baseball players, is believed to have made some of the pregnant Kilroy figurines.

The figure stands at just under 4 inches tall with a base that reads KILROY WAS HERE. The condition is overall very good with heavy wear and little paint loss to the lettering.

A lovely example ready for display.

Kilroy was here is a saying that became popular during World War II, typically seen in graffiti. Its origin is debated, but the phrase and the distinctive accompanying doodle became associated with GIs in the 1940s: a bald-headed man (sometimes depicted as having a few hairs) with a prominent nose peeking over a wall with his fingers clutching the wall.

"Mr Chad" or just "Chad" was the version that became popular in the United Kingdom. The character of Chad may have been derived from a British cartoonist in 1938, possibly pre-dating "Kilroy was here". According to Dave Wilton, "Some time during the war, Chad and Kilroy met, and in the spirit of Allied unity merged, with the British drawing appearing over the American phrase." Other names for the character include Smoe, Clem, Flywheel, Private Snoops, Overby, Eugene the Jeep, Scabooch, and Sapo.

According to Charles Panati, "The outrageousness of the graffiti was not so much what it said, but where it turned up." It is not known if there was an actual person named Kilroy who inspired the graffiti, although there have been claims over the years.

The phrase may have originated through United States servicemen who would draw the picture and the text "Kilroy was here" on the walls and other places where they were stationed, encamped, or visited. An ad in Life magazine noted that WWII-era servicemen were fond of claiming that "whatever beach-head they stormed, they always found notices chalked up ahead of them, that 'Kilroy was here'". Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable notes that it was particularly associated with the Air Transport Command, at least when observed in the United Kingdom. At some point, the graffiti (Chad) and slogan (Kilroy was here) must have merged.

Many sources claim origin as early as 1939. Earlier examples of the phrase dating from 1937 are unverified.

According to one story, German intelligence found the phrase on captured American equipment. This led Adolf to believe that Kilroy could be the name or codename of a high-level Allied spy. At the time of the Potsdam Conference in 1945, it was rumored that Stalin found "Kilroy was here" written in the VIP bathroom, prompting him to ask his aides who Kilroy was. War photographer Robert Capa noted a use of the phrase at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944: "On the black, charred walls of an abandoned barn, scrawled in white chalk, was the legend of Gen. Anthony McAuliffe's soldiers: KILROY WAS STUCK HERE."