Pee-Chee Memes
For some forgotten reason Tracie and I started talking about Pee-Chees the other day. If you don’t know what a Pee-Chee is, either you’re not old enough or you grew up in the eastern half of the US. (While I was googling about Pee-Chees I learned that they seem to be largely a western phenomenon.) A Pee-Chee is a cheap cardboard portfolio for carrying around papers, and was standard issue equipment for everyone in my junior-high and high schools. They look like this:
They really weren’t the best way to keep track of papers, but we all used them anyway. I used one for each class; current assignments, notes, other works-in-progress and blank paper went in the right-hand pocket; everything else (mostly returned assignments) went in the left. They got really beat-up by the end of the term and usually had to be reinforced with tape before then.
Since you inevitably had a Pee-Chee on your desk during class, and since most classes were, frankly, pretty dull, everyone doodled on their Pee-Chees. The interesting thing to me–and the point of this post–is that there were certain doodles that everyone did. Everyone put a knife in the hand of the basketball player so that he was stabbing the chest of the guy with the ball, everyone turned the baseball bat into a battle-ax, everyone added a fuse to the baton carried by the relay racer, everyone added polka-dots to the tennis player’s shorts. What’s remarkable is that Tracie confirms that everyone in her schools did the same thing, even though we went to entirely different schools. So what I want to know is, how did these Pee-Chee doodle customs travel from one school to the next, and how far did they travel? Was making the baseball bat into a battle-ax just an Oregon Pee-Chee doodle motif, or was it more widespread?
Our usual supermarket has its back-to-school stuff up already (actually I guess it’s not too early–school starts earlier here than it did in Oregon when I was of school age) and I was chagrined to see that they don’t stock Pee-Chees. Chris tells me that Bi-Mart (another Oregon phenomenon) still sells them, though.
Posted: July 24th, 2007 under Uncategorized.
Comments
Comment from jbrandt
Time August 18, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Oh, man, I haven’t even thought of those for YEARS. Yeah, everyone at my high school (in lovely Stayton, Oregon) had basically the same stuff, although as a little spaz I embellished mine even further. The racers were usually chasing the first guy with swords, the tennis girl had smacked the football player with her racket, and if you were careful, you could dampen the top layer of paper and rub it with an eraser and it would peel off, leaving little bits of the printed artwork blank for your own embellishments. The tennis girl’s shorts were particularly popular for this treatment.
There was “Kissing is Pee-Chee, but sex is an all-season sport” (I found a picture of that somewhere else on the web), the battleaxe, people stabbing each other… There were definitely traditions, and I’m not surprised that they were all over Oregon. Somebody should study how information passes through the kid-stuff underground… (Maybe they already have.)
Man.
Pingback from all things mau » Kissing is Pee Chee, but my shirt is an all season sport
Time January 20, 2008 at 12:53 am
[...] For those who don’t know what a Pee Chee Folder is (was), get learn-ed on my nostalgia here: http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/21870.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pee_Chee_folder http://studionebula.com/blog/2007/07/24/pee-chee-memes [...]
Comment from Mau
Time January 20, 2008 at 12:55 am
I too remember the Pee Chee folders, check out the T I made.
http://maubrowncow.com/index.php/2008/01/19/kissing-is-pee-chee-but-my-shirt-is-an-all-season-sport/
Comment from jsherry
Time January 30, 2008 at 2:54 pm
The Pee-Chee was also indispensable in Jr. high as a method to obscure one of the more unfortunate aspects of male puberty. Namely the untimely and wholly inappropriate arousal that came with the slightest breeze. How rare was it to go the chalkboard without your Pee-Chee running interference?
Comment from Leslie
Time March 1, 2008 at 9:07 am
I am from Oregon and I was telling my husband about these folders this morning and he never heard of them. He thought I was crazy. He is from the East Coast and now I am wondering if these folders are an Oregon or West Coast thing?? Are they still around??
The reason why the issue came up was because of an 80’s movie we were watching with Corey Haim and Corey Feldman and I noticed the Pee-Chee on his nightstand. LOL
Leslie
Comment from laurence
Time March 31, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Adam,
If you can still find them at Bi-Mart, I would love to get some from you (Paypal, cash, whatever)…
My wife and I both grew up in CA and we have mentioned them several times (away from a computer) to friends and coworkers here in NYC (clueless about this childhood staple).
Yesterday, we were at Landmark Cinema in Soho (independent movie house) and found a promo postcard for the DVD release of the movie “Rocket Science” that we saw last year. The postcard design is a play on the Pee-Chee! Very nostalgic.
Laurence
Comment from Chris
Time April 23, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Where have all the Pee Chees gone?
I got lucky and found a stash of 1980 new folders but I am running out. Only to find that Los Angeles stores don’t care them anymore. Help me find where Pee Chees are still sold.
* side note
Pee Chees lost their appeal when they changed, they went green, blue and I think pink
Comment from Milan
Time May 22, 2008 at 12:44 pm
We had them in Chicago in the ’60’s. They cost about a dime. There was a competing product called “Hep”. It was made out of a stronger cardboard, greyish brown in color. Mine never lasted more than a couple of semesters.
Comment from crowleyj
Time July 21, 2008 at 8:27 pm
for those looking for the golden pee chee I may have found the fount of misspent youth. http://www.innisbrook.com
Comment from Nancy
Time July 28, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I currently live on the east coast and no one I ever talk to knows what a pee-chee is. I grew up in Washington state & used them all through school. My husband grew up in the east coast & thinks I’m out of my mind reminiscing about old pee-chees.
Comment from Eric
Time July 26, 2007 at 11:59 pm
That brings back memories…
In 1977 my family moved from Ohio to Oregon during summer break between 7th and 8th grade for me. I remember how _everyone_ had PeeChees at my new Jr High. It didn’t take me long to figure out that they were part of the uniform and not having them would be the equivalent of coming to school with a briefcase.
I can confirm that we hadn’t heard of them back in Ohio, which is kind of odd because if I remember right, the company that makes them is based in Ohio. I don’t know if they’re sold here in AZ though - I’ve got no reason to look for them now.
You’re right about the doodles - there were some fairly standard forms. Some of them definitely not G rated too, although those required some careful concealment when the school staff were nearby.