On this day in 1924 Little Orphan Annie made her debut in the New York Daily News. Yes, long before she was an annoying redhead on Broadway belting out, “The sun will come out tomorrow,” Annie was an inoffensive little cartoon in the Sunday funnies. She hung out with her rich pal Daddy Warbucks, the mysterious Punjab, and her dog Sandy who only said, “Arf.” They all had creepy, empty eyes, which somehow didn’t hurt their popularity. For years Little Orphan Annie was America’s most beloved comic strip. Tastes change, I suppose. Annie’s readers steadily declined until she was finally cancelled in June last year. The name of the strip came from a much older poem, “Little Orphant Annie,” by James Whitcomb Riley. For some bizarre reason I memorized this when I was very small. The last stanza still makes me shiver: “and the goblins will get you if you don’t...watch...out.”
No comments:
Post a Comment