The Portland/Simpsons Nexus - Part 3

With a name like Joseph "Joe" Fitzpatrick Fitzgerald Fitzsimmons Fitzhenry Quimby, Jr. you know there were a lot of influences in the creation of this character. The most obvious Portland connection is that his last name was inspired by our very own NW Quimby Street, home of the Lucky Labrador Beer Hall where David and I stopped off for a beer and a game of Yahtzee during the Great American Beer Tour a few weeks ago.

In my mind there are three possible inspirations for the original naming of the street. The first is Fred Quimby who was a producer and animator for MGM during the first half of the 19th century and is mostly remembered for his work on Tom and Jerry. Since Groening would have grown up watching Tom and Jerry (the violence in Itchy and Scratchy is an obvious parody/homage) and was interested in animation as a profession, Quimby would have been a familiar name. It seems likely that Fred's name was directly applied to Joe Quimbys nephew, Freddy Quimby, in the episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much". Incidentally, this episode and character is where my intramural broom-ball team in college got its name, "Say Chowda". However, I doubt the Portland street namers were as influenced by Fred as Matt was.

The second candidate is Harriet Quimby. Even though she became the first woman to get a US pilot's certificate in 1911 and was also the first woman to fly across the English Channel, there really isn't any connection with Portland. Besides, street namers in this society tend to overlook the contributions of women. Still, I like to hold out some hope that Portland really is a progressive town.

The last contender is the most likely, Phineas Parkhurst Quimby the 19th century philosopher. Even though he had no connection with Portland, Oregon he did work in Portland, Main at around the same time as Francis William Pettygrove who moved to the west coast and named a small community on the Columbia River after his home town. Pettygrove would doubtless be aware of "Park" Quimby since he was a famous inventor, mental healer and, according to some, the inspiration for "New Thought". I'm not sure, however, how much influence Pettygrove had on street names. It seems more likely that later planers just picked out a famous contemporary of his.

Since we are on the name "Quimby"; it's worth noting that Beverly Cleary used it when she wrote about Ramona Quimby and her adventures growing up in NE Portland.

Now that I have beaten the Quimby/Portland connection to death; there is one more connection that is worth mentioning... the "Diamond" in Diamond Joe Quimby. That moniker was taken from a fella by the name of "Diamond" Jim Purcell, the Portland Chief of Police during much of the 1950s. Diamond Jim and Diamond Joe share many qualities. First, they were/are openly power hungry and corrupt. At the time Jim joined the Portland PD, there was already massive corruption going on in the forms of bribes and payoffs. Since Jim was intelligent, charming and “utterly dishonest” he managed to become chief in an almost record amount of time by being the most corrupt one in the group. He is also quoted as saying he wanted "to make as much money as possible, irregardless of means.” Mayor Quimby used the towns' tax money to go on a three month fact-finding mission only to come back and announce that is wasn't feasible to build a high-speed rail link between Springfield and Aruba.

They both also had/have connections with the mob. Quimby has been seen on several occasions taking bribes from Fat Tony. Purcell was a long time associate of Jim Elkins. Elkins ran the largest of the organized crime syndicates in Portland at the time and was raking in the money with all his slot machines.

On a non-Portland connection note, I was happy to find that the website for his 2000 bid for the presidency is still up and running. "Happy Hour in America" is a platform I can get behind!