Patch, Textile

Object number2012.58.2

Date1965-1973

MediumFelt, paint

Credit LineGift of Michael Takos

DescriptionP-shaped, blue felt patch with white design. Image of a dog's face in the center of the P with dog's name below it. Down the left side is award information and down the right side is city name.Dimensions0.187 x 4.25 x 4.875 in. (0.5 x 10.8 x 12.4 cm)
InscriptionsP-shaped patch

"HAPPY" below dog.

Down the left side reads: "DENTAL HONOR" and down the right side reads: "PITTSBURGH".
Historical NotesHappy Dental Honor patch given to donor Michael Takos while a student at H.C. Frick Elementary School in Oakland, which he attended from the late 1960s until his 8th grade graduation in 1973. Happy the Dog was part of a program to promote dental health in Pittsburgh Public Schools. Happy the puppet, along with Tommy Molar, was invented by Ida Mae Stilley Maher in the 1950s to promote dental hygiene on her local children’s television program the Happy Show that was shown on KDKA. Maher was the dental hygienist for Pittsburgh Public Schools. The patches were given out in local schools as a reward for following good dental hygiene practices and getting favorable dental exams.

Related person Stilley Maher, Ida Mae

Related institution Pittsburgh Public Schools

Related person Ida Magdalena Maher

Related institution Henry Clay Frick Elementary School

Related institution KDKA-TV

Subjects