In 1959, Milton Caniff (1) and Al Capp posed nose-to-nose in a mock confrontation on the twenty-fifth anniversary of their respective creations “Terry and the Pirates” and “Li’l Abner.” The close lifelong friends met in 1932 as lowly staff artists at the Associated Press in New York. Each briefly drew the AP strip “Mr. Gilfeather” before going on to fame and fortune.
The musical adaptation Li’l Abner opened on Broadway in 1955, running nearly seven hundred performances. Actress Edie Adams, as Daisy Mae, and choreographer Michael Kidd won Tony Awards, while newcomer Peter Palmer won a Theatre World Award in the title role. Though the context may be lost to modern audiences, the musical continues to be reprised in numerous high school, college, and repertory theaters.
Paramount released its big screen version of the Li’l Abner musical in 1959. With the exceptions of Edie Adams and Tina Louise (Appassionata von Climax), the core Broadway cast remained intact for the Hollywood version. Jerry Lewis made an uncredited cameo performance.
In October 1952, TV Guide devoted a cover story to the Al Capp Show, one of several Capp forays into television in its early days. Capp worked with all four networks at varying times to develop a starring platform, but each effort, whether involving a game show or satire and commentary, was short-lived.
The notorious muckraking magazine Confidential targeted Capp in a November 1953 partial cover story. The article, “Al Capp Exposed: The Secret Sex Life of Li’l Abner,” reported that the strip often contained sexual innuendo and suggestive visuals intended for “special readers,” mirroring accusations spouted for years by Capp’s arch enemy Ham Fisher.
In 1995, the U.S. Postal Service honored Al Capp’s creation with a postage stamp depicting Daisy Mae and Li’l Abner.
Sadie Hawkins Day, invented by Al Capp in 1937, was celebrated every November at hundreds of college events for decades. Its wide appeal was based on the temporary social license it gave young women to be aggressors during an era when only men customarily initiated dates. This drawing of Sadie, who inspired the tradition, is by Capp’s most famous assistant, Frank Frazetta.
A Note on the Authors
Michael Schumacher has written biographies of Allen Ginsberg, Eric Clapton, Phil Ochs, Francis Ford Coppola, George Mikan, and, most recently, comics pioneer Will Eisner. His other recent books include Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea, and Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald. He lives in Wisconsin.
Denis Kitchen was a pioneering underground cartoonist and publisher, whose Kitchen Sink Press published R. Crumb, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Art Spiegelman, Al Capp, and many others during its thirty-year existence. He also founded the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, curates art exhibits, and represents talent. The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen, a monograph of his art career, was published in 2009. He lives in western Massachusetts.
By the Same Author
BY MICHAEL SCHUMACHER
Dharma Lion: A Biography of Allen Ginsberg
Crossroads: The Life and Music of Eric Clapton
There but for Fortune: A Biography of Phil Ochs
Francis Ford Coppola: A Filmmaker’s Life
Mighty Fitz: The Sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Mr. Basketball: George Mikan, the Minneapolis Lakers,
and the Birth of the NBA
Wreck of the Carl D.: A True Story of Loss, Survival, and Rescue at Sea
Will Eisner: A Dreamer’s Life in Comics
BY DENIS KITCHEN
Al Capp’s Complete Shmoo (2 volumes)
Li’l Abner: The Frazetta Years (4 volumes)
Playboy’s Little Annie Fanny (2 volumes)
The Art of Harvey Kurtzman (with Paul Buhle)
Underground Classics (with James Danky)
The Oddly Compelling Art of Denis Kitchen
Chipboard Sketchbook
Copyright © 2013 by Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen
All rights reserved. You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce, or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. For information address Bloomsbury USA, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.
Published by Bloomsbury USA, New York
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Schumacher, Michael, 1950–
Al Capp: a life to the contrary / Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen. —1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eISBN: 978-1-60819-785-9
1. Capp, Al, 1909-1979. 2. Cartoonists—United States—Biography. I. Kitchen, Denis, 1946–II. Title.
NC1429.C295S38 2013
741.5’6973—dc23
[B]
First U.S. edition 2013
This electronic edition published in February 2013
www.bloomsbury.com
Al Capp Page 35