Every October , we baby in a calendar month - long horrorfest at our house . Zombielandwas the movie of choice a few nights ago , and the scene came up where Columbus explains how one of his worst moments of 1997 was when his school day carry a Sadie Hawkins dancing . “ No one asked you ? ” “ It was girlfriend ’ choice , ” he say by way of explanation . So who is this Sadie Hawkins and why is she so roughshod ?
permit us go back to a clip that was not so politically right – specifically , 1937 . If you ’re a cartoon strip - reading mortal , then you were probably reading Al Capp ’s Li’l Abner , which was only about three geezerhood old at the time . Li’l Abner was define in Dogpatch , and one of Dogpatch ’s resident physician , Hekzebiah Hawkins , had a daughter referred to as “ the homeliest gal in all them Hill . ” When Miss Sadie Hawkins reached the age of 35 and still had not found a human to marry her ( oh , the horror ! ! ) , her don put his fundament down and declared it Sadie Hawkins Day . Shotgun in manus , the yokel hold , " When ah blast , all oxygen ' yo ' kin pop out a - runnin ! When ah burn agin — after givin ' yo ' a fair start — Sadie starts a runnin ' . Th ' one she ketches’ll be her husbin . " See for yourself :
Sadie Hawkins ’ mad dash for marriage was a striking with readers , and by 1939 , Sadie Hawkins Day was a teenage vogue . That year , Lifemagazine reported that daughter at more than 200 university across the United States had comprehend Miss Hawkins and declared a day where they could be just like her . They did n’t exactly recruit dad with shotguns , but they did declare it OK to hitch traditional gender roles by asking a guy on a engagement rather of waiting to be asked .
The Sadie Hawkins custom continued in Li’l Abner for 40 years , though Capp was n’t thrilled about it . " It ’s become my responsibility , ” he wrote in 1952 . “ It does n’t happen on any fixed day in November ; it happens on the day I say it happens . I get tenner of G of letters from college , communities , and church groups , embark on around July , ask me what day , so they can make plans . "
