Blue Jeans, Black Leather Jackets, and a Sneer: The Iconography of The 1950s Biker and Its Translation Abroad

Blue Jeans, Black Leather Jackets,

and a Sneer: The Iconography of the 1950s Biker and its Translation Abroad

In 2004, The Wild One turned fifty. In 1954, Brando and his band of outlaw motorcycle riders stormed across the screen and into the popular imagination. The anniversary marked fifty years of “What have you got?” quotes, fifty years of parental fear, and fifty years of adolescent longing for Brando’s particular brand of cool (see Figure 1) The image of the biker that the film popularized has since become one of the classic representations of American youthful rebellion, both within the United States and abroad. How did such a dangerous figure become so embraced? Emerging in an era charged with political and social suspicion, and showcasing rebellion and nonconformity, the biker seems an odd choice to represent the United States in any way. Yet, the blue-jeaned, black-leather clad biker that is the movie’s hero is undeniably an American icon. Johnny Strabler would likely have been appalled.

So, how did it happen? I will explore the question by looking at popular representations of bikers in the initial period of the Cold War, that is, from 1947 to 1969. During that period, the transformation of biker from villain to hero began. This transformation is significant because it directly mirrors the change in overall attitudes toward juvenile delinquency during this period, a change that itself characterizes the seismic shift in the cultural status of youthful rebellion. The biker as iconic figure provides us with a focal point for studying this larger cultural process, which was key to the development of the Counterculture so central to the next decade.

It is my contention that what we can see in the representations of bikers, and responses to them, is a consequence of the Cold War. As against traditional formulations of this process that stress the role of domestic subversion and generational conflict, I will show the importance of international politics and the United States’ global position to the cultural response to bikers and juvenile delinquents. That importance, I argue, is based on the way the international functioned, on both a concrete and symbolic level, as a foil and complement to American national identity. I will trace that influence as it appeared both directly, in the perceived interest of other countries in American juvenile delinquency and the “foreignness” of JDs (juvenile delinquents) themselves, and indirectly, in its role as a symbolic other by which the U.S. was able to distance itself from the social critique implicit in juvenile delinquency and enable its transition to pure commodity. The final part of my essay will look at what happened thereafter, when the biker moved overseas.

One of the first popular representations of the biker appeared in 1947. It was a photograph of a man on a motorcycle during a Fourth of July celebration in Hollister, California. First appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle, then reprinted in Life, the photograph was titled “Cyclist’s Holiday” and appeared opposite another photograph titled “Barber’s Holiday” which showed a mannequin in an ape mask in a barber’s chair (see Figure 2). Considering that it was the events in Hollister that inspired The Wild One, and that Hollister occupies a mythical place in biker lore, the event and this photo deserve study.

Hollister is a farming community in northern California, a few hours south of San Francisco. Before the 1947 incident, it had a long association with motorcyclists, having hosted gypsy tours since 1936, as well as motorcycle races and hill climbs at a nearby racetrack (Reynolds 46). The Hollister incident started as a gypsy tour sponsored by the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association). What exactly happened there, however, depends on whom you ask. As journalist Tom Reynolds, who gives the most comprehensive account in his book Wild Ride: How Outlaw Motorcycle Myth Conquered America wrote, “Descriptions run the gamut from just a wild party to a rural version of the Rape of Nanking” (46). Anywhere from several thousand to a hundred thousand bikers reportedly rode to town, overwhelming the six-member police force, and began to carouse. The sanctioned races continued, even as drag races took over the main thoroughfare. The local police called the California highway patrol, which sent 40 officers to help. These patrolmen, armed with gas guns, herded the bikers to a section of the city and ordered the bars closed two hours early. There were 50 arrests as well as property damage. The event shocked the local area, but did not attain widespread media attention.

Neither the photograph in Life nor the events in Hollister seem like the “shocking story”