No more tomorrows for Orphan Annie comic strip

AFP on Yahoo ^ | 6/13/10 | Louise Daly

[NormsRevenge]

CHICAGO (AFP) – Little Orphan Annie, the plucky redheaded star of Broadway musical and comic strip fame, has run out of tomorrows ---at least in print.

The pop culture icon who sang and danced her way to international fame in the Broadway musical that gave us tunes such as "It's The Hard-Knock Life," and "Tomorrow," ended her decades-long run as a comic strip heroine on Sunday, June 13.

Tribune Media Services, the division of media conglomerate the Tribune Company that syndicates the strip to US newspapers, is pulling the plug on the irrepressible Annie, her trusty dog Sandy and her wealthy benefactor Daddy Warbucks after 85 years.

The comic strip debuted in 1924, the brainchild of cartoonist Harold Gray who created a spunky, nine-year-old orphan with an unruly crop of red hair and saucer eyes who had the good fortune to be adopted by a wealthy entrepreneur, Daddy Warbucks.

The character bounced from one hair-raising adventure to another, battling greedy bankers, ruthless gangsters or Nazis, depending on the zeitgeist of the time.

Gray had two rules for his character. Annie could never reach a "happy ending" and she could never grow up.

The "Annie" franchise later grew to include a 1930s syndicated radio show, a 1977 Broadway musical, a 1982 movie, and a 1995 commemorative stamp.

At the height of its popularity, the strip was carried by hundreds of newspapers, but a mere 20 papers carried the cliffhanger finale in which Annie tangled with the Butcher from the Balkans in the last panel.

[NormsRevenge]

[Mobties]

Leapin’ lizzards!

[Sacajaweau]

Never liked it....never will...

[apillar]

I enjoyed the movie, 1982 version I think (the one with Carol Burnette). Never got into the comic strip, or comics in general. Sounds like it just wasn’t edgy enough for this day and age. They would have to make Annie an illegal alien with drug problems and Daddy Warbucks a flaming homosexual, to succeed today. Sad really.

[Publius]

I can’t speak for the comic strip today, but back when Harold Gray was drawing it, it was a highly conservative comic strip.

[freedumb2003]

Now would they please drop Marmaduke, Dennis the Menace and Family Circus?

[max americana]

Correct. LO Annie wouldn’t survive today due to political correctness: she’s white and if daddy Warbucks be a child molester, then it would be acceptable to the libtards.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Back in high school, I read a book collecting all the Annie strips from the beginning through the 50s. Great storytelling and a conservative POV. Punjab and the Asp live!

[Dr. Sivana]

back when Harold Gray was drawing it, it was a highly conservative comic strip.

Despite that, the guy who turned it into a play decided to make it a celebration of FDR and liberal values. (The closing number literally compares FDR to Sanata Claus with his cabinet members as the reindeer. There is also an anti-Hoover number in the show.)

When it was made into a movie, the closing number was dropped, and a number of original Harold Gray elements (Punjab, Wild-eyed anarchists) that didn't make it into the play, made the movie more like the comic strip.

It was never a favorite strip of mine, but it represented a lot of what was the best in the era it was created and matured. Historically, comic strips are the most conservative entertainment, because people scream when changes are made in characters. Unfortunately, that is no longer so much the case, as the audience shrinks.

[Cheburashka]

Leapin’ Lizards! No surprise it died, Tribune Media Services couldn't even get the strip printed in the Chicago Tribune. How pathetic do you have to be that you can't get the strip printed in your own paper?

[Dr. Sivana]

Now would they please drop Marmaduke, Dennis the Menace and Family Circus?

You just named three of the last few comic strips suitable for children. I can't let my kids see a newspaper any more because of the rest of the comic strips, including "For Better or Worse."

[Dr. Sivana]

No surprise it died, Tribune Media Services couldn't even get the strip printed in the Chicago Tribune.

The Trib also dropped Gasoline Alley, I believe. Is nothing sacred?

[Cagey]

Now would they please drop Marmaduke, Dennis the Menace and Family Circus?

Family Circus is THE only comic strip (or cartoon) that I glance at (and always enjoy) in our paper. Well, maybe Beetle Bailey once in awhile but that's it!

[LostInBayport]

The Gray strips have recently been collected as part of The Library of American Comics series by IDW Publishing. In addition to the strips in a large, well-crafted set of volumes, there are all kinds of 'extras'. Really good stuff, and yes, very conservative.

(and apparently Annie had something in common with BHO)

[singletrack]

Can I kill Moose Miller and Cathy?

[popdonnelly]

We need Daddy Warbucks running the country. };>)

[Publius]

Bayport, as in that Massachusetts town on Barmet Bay? Home to Fenton Hardy and his kids?

[LostInBayport]

You’re the first FReeper to ever figure that one out...man, I’m impressed!

[JoeFromSidney]

I used to read that comic strip every day, and rush home from school to listen to the latest adventure on the radio. Little Orphan Annie, as well as Tom Mix, Buck Rogers, Jack Armstrong, and a few others. 15 minutes of each, every night.