Al Capp

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by Denis Kitchen


  “I took his cue …” Interview with Millie Maffei Selvitella.

  “as long as …” Laura Wertheimer, “Capp Denounces Student Left,” Penn State University Daily Collegian, May 27, 1969.

  “was not in the spirit …” n.a., “Capp Barbs Irk Students,” Boston Globe, May 26, 1969.

  “He did not come here …” Denise Bowman, “Embarrassment over Capp”, Penn State University Daily Collegian, May 27, 1969.

  “hired a performer …” Laura Wertheimer, “Shall Holds Back Presentation of Lion Trophy to Capp,” Penn State University Daily Collegian, May 27, 1969.

  “Any concerted booing …” Andy Sugar, “On the Campus Firing Line with Al Capp,” Saga, December 1969.

  “I think Mr. Capp …” William F. Buckley Jr., “The Campus Destroyers,” Firing Line Newsletter, undated (April 1969).

  “Now we must …” Wills quoted in William F. Buckley Jr., “Al Capp at Bay,” New York Post, October 1, 1970.

  “I’m that dreadful …” John and Yoko encounter, as seen in the film Imagine: John Lennon, directed by Andrew Solt, 1988. All citations in this passage are from this source.

  “That surreptitious attack …” August 2, 1960, letter in Al Capp’s FBI file. The identity of the author of the letter, as per FBI custom, has been obscured by white-out. All other citations in this section, unless otherwise noted, are from Capp’s FBI file.

  Bence and the Communist Party: United States Senate: Report of Proceedings, Hearing Held Before Subcommitee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary: Mass Communications, December 17, 1958; interview with Todd Capp.

  “into the pigpen …” Capp, “Al Capp Reprimands Harvard,” Boston Globe, June 25, 1969.

  “Harvard …” ibid.

  Capp and Galbraith: Capp’s politics gravely affected his friendships with fellow Cambridge residents John Kenneth Galbraith and Arthur Schlesinger, to the point where they were not only no longer friendly, they would have nothing to do with each other. “I remember meeting Galbraith at the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, where I was getting a license renewal,” Capp’s daughter Julie Cairol told the authors, “and he said, ‘Oh, hello Julie, it’s so nice to see you. And how is your dear mother?’ Almost the same thing happened one time [after] a big snowstorm and I met Arthur Schlesinger in the subway in New York. (That was the only way you could get anyplace.) He said almost exactly the same thing! Neither mentioned a word about my father.”

  “Instead of being …” Capp, “Letter to the Globe from Al Capp,” Boston Globe, June 25, 1969.

  “hordes of people”: Carol Liston, “Capp in Wrong Party to Oppose Kennedy,” Boston Globe, June 25, 1970.

  “dollar for dollar …” n.a., “Al Capp May Race Kennedy,” Milwaukee Journal, May 27, 1970.

  “I think it’s fine …” Liston, “Capp in Wrong Party.”

  “I will remain …” Capp, “Statement,” July 2, 1970.

  “one of the most …” n.a., “The Metamorphosis of Al Capp,” Worcester Telegram, July 22, 1970.

  “I was always …” Capp, “Al Capp Here: A No Man,” column, n.d., included in his Al Capp television show press kit. In his autobiography, In Joy Still Felt, prolific science fact and fiction writer Isaac Asimov wrote of the remarkable change he observed in Al Capp between the time he met him over lunch in 1953 and when he ran into him at a party fifteen years later. The two had crossed paths when both were campaigning for Lyndon B. Johnson in 1954 and still held similar views, but by 1968 Capp was an entirely different person. “It was not that he had become disillusioned in his liberalism; he had joined the enemy camp with enthusiasm,” Asimov wrote. They argued “vehemently” about civil rights and Black Power, with Capp taking what Asimov considered to be “a distressingly anti-black stand.” The two locked horns later, when Asimov wrote the Boston Globe and criticized a “Li’l Abner” sequence that he perceived to be “anti-black propaganda.” Capp responded immediately, threatening Asimov with a lawsuit unless he recanted his accusation. Asimov refused. Nothing ever came of it, but as Asimov wrote, “for twenty-four hours I had been a very frightened person.” Taking on Al Capp was not for the fainthearted.

  “Believe me …” Tim Metz, “Leftists (for Once) Feel Satire’s Sting,” Wall Street Journal, March 31, 1970.

  “The TV show …” n.a., untitled Thayer/Bruce Together press release, October 27, 1970.

  “Whoever thought …” Sally Quinn, “Appreciating Agnew,” Washington Post, November 13, 1970. Capp’s assistant Larry May told a story about this event that sheds light on Capp’s complexity. Despite his conservatism and the setting, Capp took May’s gay roommate, David, to the event. (Catherine, still liberal and barely tolerant of Spiro Agnew’s politics, refused to go.) David, May noted, had long hair and was a pacifist, but it didn’t stop Capp from taking him. “He was very much aware of gays’ problems in society, and felt they had the same rights every American citizen had,” May said. “I heard him on more than one occasion stop someone from telling a gay ‘joke,’ or an anti-black joke.”

  15 Scandals

  made “suggestive comments”: Jack Anderson, “Capp on Campus,” New York Post, April 22, 1971. All other citations in this passage are from this source.

  The Jack Anderson column was the first public mention of allegations focusing on Capp’s involvement in inappropriate or even criminal sexual behavior. Other incidents, detailed later in this chapter, were kept quiet. These incidents dated as far back as 1948 or 1949, when a woman at Simmons College, an all-women’s school, supposedly received indecent telephone calls from Capp. Nothing came of this until at least late 1955 or early 1956, when the Boston Police Department became involved in the woman’s complaints. Capp reacted swiftly when the complaints were brought to his attention, and by the time the investigation had reached its conclusion, Capp had enlisted the help of his attorneys, a private detective, and at least one member of the Boston Police Department—all at a substantial financial investment on Capp’s part. The private investigator was able to secure a statement from Jane Louise Mesick, the retired dean of Simmons College, who, during her twenty-six years as dean, had heard many complaints of inappropriate phone calls. In her statement to the private detective, Mesick said she knew nothing of Al Capp, other than from “Li’l Abner,” and that she would have known if someone of his stature had been involved in such behavior. A member of the Boston Police Department, familiar with the investigation but fearing reprisals if he became involved, declined to make a formal statement on the case, although he clearly knew of the allegations against Capp. The private investigator advised the police officer that Simmons College “would raise the roof off the Boston Police Department if such a false story were circulated.” Harriet F. Pilpel, Capp’s attorney at Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst, a New York law firm, saw the reports filed by Bob Swanson, the private detective, and in a letter dated May 16, 1956, advised Capp that while Swanson’s efforts “did not come out to a final termination of the matter as we hoped … we do feel that his recommendation to leave the matter lie for the moment is a good one.” Nothing further came of the case, and Capp was never publicly implicated, but he took a significant financial hit from it—as he would later, in cases in which he was named and, in one case, charged for inappropriate sexual behavior.

  “We found out …” Brit Hume, interview with Brian Lamb, C-SPAN, July 9, 2008.

  “What had been described …” Brit Hume, Inside Story (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1974), p. 67. All other citations from this passage are from this source.

  Without trying to diminish in any way what Hume uncovered about Capp, it might be important to mention the possible significance of Hume’s religious convictions at this point. Hume cites Anderson’s Mormon beliefs as context for his boss’s aversion to Capp’s “you know how these young babes are” rationalization, but he doesn’t reference his own religious beliefs as a possible motive for going after Capp. Hume l
eft Anderson in 1973 to work for ABC News, and then, in 1987, he joined Fox News, the conservative network owned by Rupert Murdoch. Hume was Fox’s news anchor for a decade, retiring in 2008 “to pursue the three G’s: God, granddaughters and gold,” but continued as a senior political analyst and as a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday. In his latter capacity Hume publicly revealed a judgmental moral position almost unheard of among prominent newscasters and commentators when Tiger Woods, golf’s biggest name, became engulfed in his own sex scandal in late 2009 and early 2010. “The extent to which [Woods] can recover,” Hume said on air, “depends on his faith. He is said to be a Buddhist. I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered by the Christian faith. My message to Tiger would be, ‘Tiger, turn to the Christian faith and you can make a total recovery and be a great example to the world.’ “

  Capp meeting with Anderson and Hume: Al Capp’s account of his meeting with Jack Anderson and Brit Hume in Washington, D.C., found in an unpublished autobiographical fragment, could not have been more different from Hume’s published version. Rather than offer the two journalists’ names, Capp referred to them as “the columnist” and “the assistant”: “The columnist was big, forty-five-ish, and overweight. His assistant was thirtyish, blonde, and in every way a Greek god. I had never seen either before, but somehow they seemed familiar to me, like old photographs of Oscar Wilde and young Lord Douglas. The columnist said my assistant has been working on this stuff, I’ve just had time to glance at it, but it looks crazy to me. I said I wasn’t surprised that it did, and I preferred not to make any comment, but, if after investigating, any part of it needed explaining, I would come down and tell them the truth. The columnist said, fine, we will let you know. He walked me out to the elevator. He chuckled that a good-looking boy like that gets wound up in something like this which, of course, he wouldn’t touch, for he was a great admirer of mine … I called my friend, the lawyer, told him it was over, and went back to Boston.”

  “wholly and ludicrously …” Hume, Inside Story, p. 79.

  Capp/Eau Claire: n.a., “Al Capp Denies Coed’s Sex Claim,” Milwaukee Journal, May 8, 1971; n.a., “Al Capp Is Accused of Morals Offense,” New York Times, May 8, 1971; n.a., “Al Capp Is Charged with Morals Law Violations,” San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1971; n.a., “Al Capp Put in Hospital for Rest,” Milwaukee Journal, May 2, 1971; n.a., “Capp to Answer Morals Charge,” New York Post, July 21, 1971; n.a., “Capp Freed on Bond in Morals Case,” Milwaukee Journal, October 13, 1971. Transcript of State of Wisconsin vs. Al Capp, February 1, 1972. Interviews with Patricia Harry, Stephen Caflisch, and Dr. Alvin Kahn. The FBI kept a close watch on the developments in Eau Claire, and Capp’s FBI file contains many news clippings on the case.

  “rumpled” and “sweating profusely”: Interview with Stephen Caflisch.

  “I have never seen …” ibid.

  “by force …” Wisconsin Statute, Section 944.16.

  “a straight-arrow …” ibid.

  “AL CAPP IS ACCUSED …” Headline: New York Times, May 8, 1971.

  “AL CAPP IS CHARGED …” Headline: San Francisco Chronicle, May 8, 1971.

  “The allegations …” n.a., “Al Capp Denies Coed’s Sex Claim,” New York Times, May 8, 1971.

  “If you recall …” Letter, Capp to Milton Caniff, March 7, 1974.

  “Who do we slug?” Milton Caniff and Jules Feiffer, “Strip-time: The Comics Observed,” The Festival of Cartoon Art, catalogue, Ohio State University Libraries, Columbus, OH, 1986.

  “a womanizer …” ibid., p. 260.

  “as a favor …” n.a., “Nixon Meddled in Case of Al Capp,” Milwaukee Journal, December 8, 1992.

  “You talk to him …” Interview with Al Kahn.

  “You have a very …” Lawrence Grobel, “The Playboy Interview: Goldie Hawn,” Playboy, January 1985. Sally Kuhn, a close friend of Capp’s daughter Cathie, offered a story almost identical to Hawn’s, this one involving a friend who had been approached by a stranger on the street. The stranger identified himself as someone working for Al Capp, and he told Kuhn’s friend that she looked like she would make a good Daisy Mae in an upcoming theatrical production of “Li’l Abner.” He set up a meeting between the young woman and Al Capp. The two met, and things went well until the young woman, undoubtedly trying to gain an advantage by dropping a name that Capp recognized, mentioned that she was a good friend of Sally Kuhn’s. Capp was suddenly very uninterested and the meeting ended quickly.

  “If he had told me …” ibid.

  “She’s is not classically pretty …” Goldie Hawn with Wendy Holden, Goldie: A Lotus Grows in the Mud (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005), p. 92.

  “I took her …” James Spada, Grace: The Secret Life of a Princess (New York: Doubleday, 1987), p. 37. The theatrical production of “Li’l Abner” that Kelly “auditioned” for was not the one that eventually appeared on Broadway. It was an earlier, unsuccessful attempt to bring the strip to the stage.

  “Goldie, I would now …” Hawn, Goldie, p. 97. All other citations, unless otherwise noted, are from this source,

  “like a jackass”: Grobel, “Playboy Interview.”

  “I am afraid …” Transcript of State of Wisconsin vs. Al Capp, February 1, 1972.

  “In Wisconsin …” Letter, Capp to Milton Caniff, March 7, 1974,

  16 Descent

  “How dare you …” Interview with Harlan Ellison.

  “The martyrs at …” M. J. Wilson, “Millionaire Capp Tackles College Militants,” San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle, August 23, 1970.

  “My reaction to …” Capp, “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,” Penthouse, January 1973.

  “I very much …” Letter, Richard Nixon to Capp, February 5, 1973.

  “It has always …” Letter, Richard Nixon to Capp, July 12, 1973.

  “It’s much better …” Letter, Capp to Teddy Kennedy Jr., November 19. 1973.

  “a hell of a cocktail”: Interview with Oliver Sacks. All other quotes attributed to Sacks are from this source.

  “Al became …” Letter, Laurence T. May to Alvin S. Hochberg, March 20, 1981.

  “a lot of crap”: Capp, discarded suicide note, retrieved by Larry May. The other citations in this passage are from this source.

  “Aside from providing …” Letter, Capp to Al Hochberg, undated. In the letter, Capp mentioned that he was sixty-three, and from the content one might conclude that it was written in 1973, before his sixty-fourth birthday.

  “I am leaving …” Letter, Capp to Catherine Capp, undated, ca. 1973. From the content of the letter, it is clear that it was written at the same time as the letter to Al Hochberg. It’s possible that this letter was discarded before it was sent or delivered.

  “to keep her warm …” Letter, Capp to Elliott Caplin, undated.

  “a triumph …” Letter, Capp to “Ole Boy” (almost certainly intended for either Don Munson or Gus Levy), undated, but 1975 or 1976 based on references in the letter.

  “worst creature …” Catherine Capp, diary entry, courtesy of Caitlin Manning.

  “totally helpless”: Letter, Capp to Milton Caniff, September 2, 1975.

  “About 15 years ago …” Carol Oppenheim, “Al Capp’s Denizens of Dogpatch run out of Time,” Chicago Tribune, November 13, 1977.

  “You ask yourself …” Capp, autobiographical fragment, unpublished.

  “Nowhere in the …” Elliott Caplin, Al Capp Remembered (Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green University Popular Press, 1994), p. 124.

  “My less than …” ibid., p. 126.

  “I hadn’t painted …” Eugenia Sheppard, “The Morning After,” New York Post, April 18, 1975.

  “A work of art …” Catalina Kitty Meyer, “Interview with Al Capp,” catalogue of Al Capp: Paintings, catalogue from exhibit at New York Cultural Center, April–May 1975, p. 8. Capp’s belief in comics as art dated back three decades. In a November 24, 1947, cover profile in Newsweek, he stated: “Th
e most significant art of the ’40s will not be some tired landscapes, not some aborted attempts of abstractionists and surrealists, but the comic strip. It is the most beloved way of telling a story and the most fanatically followed, and the realization of this is beginning to take shape now.”

  “It occurred …” n.a., “For the Art Crowd, a Choice of Picasso or Dogpatch,” People, May 5, 1975.

  “She finally …” Interview with Sally Kuhn. All quotations attributed to Kuhn in this passage are from this source.

  “nervous difficulties”: Letter, Capp to “Ole Boy,” (almost certainly intended for either Don Munson or Gus Levy), undated, but 1975 or 1976 based on references in the letter.

  “She is a silent …” ibid.

  Capp and his employees: Capp could be both generous and stingy with his employees. He did not provide health insurance and retirement benefits, for instance, but until he hired Frank Frazetta in 1953, he gave each of his two key assistants a generous 10 percent of the “Li’l Abner” take—which, in effect, doubled their salaries. His loyalty to Andy Amato and Walter Johnston was admirable; even if Capp’s bonus system was a pragmatic defensive position inspired by his own unpleasant experience as Ham Fisher’s assistant, he seems to have developed a genuine bond with them. In an interview for this book, Nancy LeBlanc, Johnston’s daughter, spoke of how her father began having severe headaches in early 1962 and suffered a stroke on Groundhog Day that same year. During Johnston’s lengthy rehabilitation process, Capp sent him unused penciled strips to practice his inking on, but Johnston never recovered enough to work again. His eye-to-hand coordination was gone. Nevertheless, even though he had no legal obligation to offer assistance to Johnston, Capp, LeBlanc said, “put my father on half-pay for the rest of his life.” Johnston died in 1969.

 

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