Andy Capp
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Andy Capp is a long-running comic strip character created by Reg Smythe, seen in the London Daily Mirror and Sunday Mirror since August 5, 1957. Originally a single-panel cartoon, it was later expanded to four panels.
The name is a play on words; Andy Capp sounds like a lower-class pronunciation of handicap, which the leading character Andy is to most of the other characters. His wife, Florrie Capp, is called 'Flo' by all the other characters; a parody on 'flow cap'.
Andy is the archetypal working class zero, a northern English (Hartlepool) layabout whose hobbies include pigeon racing, soccer (which always involves fights with the other players), betting on horses, getting drunk (often falling in the canal and/or arriving home late as a result), fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish), lying on the sofa and fighting with his long-suffering wife. Until the 1980s he was always seen with a cigarette dangling from his lip until it was deemed politically incorrect. Similarly, he no longer indulges in fisticuffs with Florrie because of concerns about the depiction of domestic violence, even though their fights were always drawn in a stylised fashion so as to avoid offense, and in any case Florrie always gave as good as she got. Instead, they now attend marriage counseling. Andy's trademark cloth cap is always pulled down over his face, making him something of an unseen character. It is never clear how he can see where he's going.
Andy and Florrie are always on the verge of poverty. Andy is unemployed and lacks motivation, rent on the house and contents is constantly in arrears and the rent collector despairs of ever being paid. Their furniture has been repossessed on several occasions. Somehow they always manage to recover it, and Andy is always able to afford beer and betting. The strip is almost exclusively shown in either of three locations: the Pub (Andy always goes to the same one), the street, or in the house (generally with Andy on the couch and Flo yelling from the next room. Lesser visited places include the race-track (although Andy frequently bets by listening to the radio, thus saving him the trip) and marriage-counselling (in one memorable cartoon, a panoramic shot is given of the counseling office with several entire file cabinets dedicated entirely to the Capps).
The characters, besides Andy and Florrie, are Andy's friend Chalkie, Flo's friend Rube, nobody's friend the Vicar and the bartender. Flo's mother, an unseen character, is often engaged in conversation at the door, but never actually comes inside or is physically seen in the comic strip.
When the children's comic Buster was launched in 1960, its masthead character was named Buster Capp and stated to be Andy's son. Buster originally wore a similar cloth cap to Andy, but the connection was not further recognised or developed in either comic strip.
In the late 1980s James Bolam played Andy Capp in a television adaptation made by Thames Television for ITV, adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall. Despite its enjoyably stylised visuals the series was not a hit and only ran for one series.
Reg Smythe died on June 13, 1998 and the original strip has been continued in a very good pastiche of his style. For some time the writer and artist were uncredited, but in November 2004 the strip began to carry a credit for Roger Mahoney and Roger Kettle.
Andy Capp is not to be mistaken with the German curler Andy Kapp.
External links
- Andy Capp (http://www.comics.com/creators/andycapp/)
- Toonopedia (http://www.toonopedia.com/andycapp.htm)