Little Orphan Annie
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Little Orphan Annie is a comic strip created by Harold Gray which first appeared on August 5, 1924. Gray's character was loosely based off of James Whitcomb Riley's eponymous character from his 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie".
In Gray's version, Annie, an orphan, was taken in by "Daddy" Oliver Warbucks, a prototypical capitalist of almost unlimited wealth and influence. With his right-hand men, Punjab (an eight-foot native of India) and The Asp (an inscrutably generalized Oriental), Warbucks tackled international intrigue and the neverending plots to kidnap or harm Annie. Probably no other comic strip has ever so completely glorified the American business ethic, although Warbucks enjoyed good relations with his unionized employees and there were a share of corrupt businessmen as villians.
Annie's main physical characteristics are a mop of red, curly hair and vacant circles for eyes. She is always accompanied by her dog, Sandy. Her catchphrase is "Leapin' lizards!"
In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative US postage stamps.
After Gray's death, the strip continued in lesser hands and was replaced with reruns in 1974. Following the success of the Broadway musical (see below), the strip was resurrected in 1979 as Annie by Leonard Starr, who retired in 2000.
Adaptations
On April 6, 1931 Little Orphan Annie debuted on the Blue Network of NBC. The next year is was made into a movie.
In 1977, Little Orphan Annie became a Broadway musical, called Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and book by Thomas Meehan. The original production ran from April 21, 1977 to January 2, 1983; there have been other productions around the world, and the musical has been filmed several times, notably in a 1982 version starring Albert Finney as "Daddy" Warbucks, Aileen Quinn as Annie, and Carol Burnett as Miss Hannigan, the matron of the orphanage.
The Broadway Annies were Andrea McArdle, Shelley Bruce, Sarah Jessica Parker, Allison Smith, and Alyson Kirk. Some of the notable actresses who portrayed Miss Hannigan are Dorothy Loudon, Alice Ghostley, Betty Hutton, Ruth Kobart, Marcia Lewis, June Havoc, and Nell Carter.
Famous songs from the musical include "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard Knock Life".
Parodies
The strip lent itself easily to parody, which was taken up by both Walt Kelly in Pogo (as "Little Arf 'n Nonnie") and by Al Capp in Li'l Abner, where Punjab became Punjbag, an oleaginous slob. Harvey Kurtzman produced a long-running parody for Playboy Magazine called Little Annie Fanny where the lead character is a busty waif who keeps running into the strangest sexual situations and losing her clothes.
The 1980s children's television programme You Can't Do That on Television in its - later banned - "Adoption" episode, parodied the character as "Little Orphan Andrea". Andrea, like Annie, sported curly red hair and a red dress, but unlike her was a very naughty orphan who had a habit of beating the other kids up.
External links
- Annie (http://www.comicspage.com/annie/annie.html)
- Toonopedia (http://www.toonopedia.com/annie.htm)de:Little Orphan Annie