Odd this day

3 min readMay 24, 2023

So… happy 111th anniversary to the day the Tacoma Times announced that August Olson had won first prize at a masked ball for dressing up as, um… Skygack.

Times readers don’t need to ask who the dickens this is. Sure, it’s Skygack from Mars, one of the Times’ humorous characters. August Olson of Monroe, Wash. contributed the picture. He “made up” as Skygack and “copped” the first prize at a masked ball in Monroe.

Remarkably, he wasn’t the first person to do this, because I discovered when fact-checking this vital tale that The Seattle Star had reported on 18 December 1908 that a William Fell had done the same thing. Obviously.

Cincinnati, Dec 16 — during a mask skating carnival at the Music hall rink, “Diana Dillpickles” and “Mr Skygack from Mars” appeared on the floor and made the hit of the evening with the refreshing novelty of their disguise. Diana was represented by Mrs Wm. A Fell, and the Martian correspondent by her husband. Both the costumes closely followed those of the comic characters made familiar to the public through their appearance in the cartoons of the Artist Condo

According to Gizmodo, this was followed in 1910 by a woman in Tacoma winning first prize for her Skygack, but less success for the friend she lent the costume to.

Later, in 1910, a young woman in Tacoma, Washington created a Skygack costume to wear to a masquerade ball (where she won first prize). A male friend later borrowed the outfit to advertise a skating rink. As he paraded up and down a main street of the city, the Tacoma police arrested him for violating an ordinance prohibiting masquerading on public streets. He was released on $10 bail.

Skygack was a visiting Martian who arrived here by meteorite and commented on human behaviour…

Mr Skygack from Mars watches a mechanic underneath a car shouting and swearing (“blank blank the blankety blank !!!! thing seems I can’t start for any place !!!! !! **!! without having this !!! buck up !!! !!! blankety blank). Skygack writes in his notebook: Listened for some time to wonderful talking machine… throws off very disagreeable smell… see no practical use for the contrivance… noticed one wheel was out of breath [the tyre nearest him is flat]

…and seems to have been the first alien character in a comic…

Mr Skygack from Mars watches people watching a play in which one man dressed as a musketeer stabs another. In his notebook, he writes: Saw foul murder committed in fantastic house… multitude of Earth-beings sat by seeming to sanction the crime… when victim was dragged from view, onlooking Earth-beings made slapping noise with hands and bounced feet up and down

…and the 1908 case appears to be the first recorded example of cosplay.

Why the hell he’s called ‘Skygack’ is anyone’s guess. It sounds like a first draft name that stuck because no-one thought of anything better before the deadline.