This time he’s not toying around.
To celebrate the publication of my brand new article about Billy Possum in Smithsonian Magazine, our latest episode is a sequel of sorts to one of our favorites, The Rise and Fall of Billy Possum, and Rebecca the Disgraceful Racoon.
20 years after a short-lived possum fad was launched by William Howard Taft’s possum and taters feast in Atlanta, Georgia, another possum wandered into the annals of presidential history. This Billy Possum was real, and alive. And possibly the escaped mascot of a nearby high school baseball team.
Listen to the episode here:
An excellent resource on this story can be found at the Library of Congress Blogs article “Of Possums and Presidents: Some Presidential Encounters with Opossums” by Stephen Winick.
Here are the pictures I shared with Jess during our recording:
Officer Bertram Snodgrass and Billy Possum, May 1929, Library of Congress
Hyattsville High School athletes Robert Venemann and William Robinson with Billy Possum, Library of Congress
And if you happen to find yourself visiting the National Cathedral in DC, keep an eye out for a possum carving:
Whether that baby possum ever made it onto the Cathedral I’m not sure. This is the only other reference I’ve found to a possum carving was from the March 26, 1973 Senate Congressional Record:
Does Washington’s National Cathedral have multiple possum sculptures? I’m dying to know. Please send any possum-related cathedral pictures my way!
Listen to The Return of Billy Possum here:
Listen to the original Billy Possum episode, The Rise and Fall of Billy Possum, here:
And check out my piece in Smithsonian Magazine, “How a Stuffed Animal Named Billy Possum Tried—and Failed—to Replace the Teddy Bear as America’s National Toy.”
Sources:
The Evening Star, Washington , D.C.
“Of Presidents and Possums: Some Presidential Encounters with Possums” by Stephen Winick, Library of Congress Blogs: Folklife Today
American Folklife Center & Veterans History Project
“The Story of Billy Possum, President Hoover’s Pet Opossum” by Nicholas A. Ferrell, The New Leaf Journal
