Li'l Abner - the Movie

I like comic strips. When I got the newspaper, there was no strip that I skipped - not even Family Circus or Cathy. They all had their heydays, and even when they had fallen into their ruts of timeworn jokes of hating Mondays (Garfield) or using religious bigotry in place of actual humor (B.C.), I still read them and admired the cartoonists who made a life by doodling. I'm solaced by the fact that even though less kids today read the funnies, that they'll still associate the phrase, "Good Grief," with Charlie Brown thanks to the networks incessant repeatings of, "It's a Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," "Happy Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown," and "A Peanut's Christmas."

Naturally, I'm also interested in the history of the newspaper cartoon strip and have perused many collections of older comics - Alley Oop, Dick Tracy, Pogo, early Blondie, Gasoline Alley, etc. My favorites, while not technically newspaper toons, were those of Charles Addams, whose drawings gave us, "The Addams Family," (which he detested). Little trivia bit - He was also the first to use the gag of two ski tracks going around both sides of a tree.

Nowadays, we have web cartoonists, free from the restrictions that syndicates place on newspaper strips (that are slowly killing them unfortunately). Creativity abounds, and we have access to genius that we never would have seen if newspapers were our only source for toons.

But these giants - both newspaper and internet - would not stand so tall if they weren't standing on the shoulders of those that came before. One of the most important strips from the past was Li'l Abner by Al Capp. Abner and the rest of the colorful characters lived in tiny Dogpatch, where when they weren't caught up in the various twists in their own lives, often had to deal with events of national and even global importance. Li'l Abner contributed a lot to American culture, and while Sadie Hawkins Dances are increasingly rare, and no one knows what a Shmoo is, everytime a cartoon character, "Gulps," in nervousness or "Sobs," in misery, we have Al Capp to thank.

Not too long ago, I found a copy of the movie, "Li'l Abner," in Walmart for a dollar (I've also seen it in Toys R' Us) alongside copies of Fleischer, "Superman" cartoons from the 1940s. I bought it and was thoroughly amazed at how well done it was. It's live action, not a cartoon, and you can tell that the people in charge really put in overtime, capturing the characters of the cartoon. The various plot lines all come down to, of course, the Sadie Hawkins Day race (where the women-folk chase the men-folk, and if they get "ketched," have to marry up with 'em).

It lacks the subtle satire of Capp's daily strip, but as I said before, the characters and costuming are amazing. They found and made up the perfect people for Mammy Yokum (the actress, Mona Ray, is still alive at 102 as of this writing), Pappy Yokum (the bulbous nose that the makeup department came up with is seamless), Hairless Joe and Lonesome Polecat (Buster Keaton, during a low point in his career), Earthquake McGoon, and my personal favorite - even though he only had two lines, interrupted both times by the mayor, Marryin' Sam. The actress playing Daisy Mae (the gal who pined for Abner, who refused to admit his feelings for her for much of the strip), was a beauty and well-suited for the role. The actor playing Li'l Abner definitely looked the part in the face and acted like the character, but it's impossible for just about any actor to have Abner's face and physique.

Another interesting tidbit is that Milton Berle helped write the theme song for the opening credits. If you're able to find this, pick it up. It's only a buck, and I think it's an important piece of American cartoon history.