LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE Remembered From 1959

Little Orphan Annie was one of the great comic strips, written by Harold Gray, that started around 1924. After his death, it has been written by others. It told the story of wandering Annie, her wealthy father Daddy Warbucks, and others. It featured great art and fantastic story-telling. The story line was continuous, never a fixed beginning or end. There was human interest and danger, and a lot of intrigue. Here are a few panels from the Sunday comics in July & August of 1959. Wish there were more!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Little
• Orphan
• Annie
• Daddy
• Warbucks
• Punjab
• Sandy
• comic
• strip
• strips
• comics
• funnies
• cartoon
• Harold
• Gray
• Dick Tracy
• Gasoline Alley
• Li'l Abner
• Steve Canyon
• Terry
• and
• the
• Pirates
• Smilin'
• Jack
• Smiling
• Flash Gordon
• 1959
• 1930s
• 1940s
• 1950s
• 1960s
• 1970s
• 1980s
• adventure
• mystery

[comet1970]

Nicely done. These later LOA are seldom seen, but Gray could tell a good story all the way until his death in the mid-60s.

[dwtpa97]

Thanks, comet1970, for your post. Yes, Gray was a great storyteller right to the end. And (I think) a great artist as well.

[mrbobbyh]

I'm sorry to hear that they canceled the strip, but at least we'll always have the memories...

[dwtpa97]

Yes, it is a real shame it was cancelled. It's truly an American institution. Thanks for your post, mrbobbyh!

[Marbles471]

@mrbobbyh

I know, right?! It drove me nuts. And on top of that I could never get into the stories Maeder WAS telling. They were just dull to me. Granted, it's very hard to make adventure yarns compelling in the newspaper strip format anymore with the microscopic space they have to work with, but with good atmosphere and compelling characters, it certainly helps. Maeder (and the various artists) just didn't capture that special kind of dark atmosphere that Gray infused into everything.

[mrbobbyh]

@Mesterius1 I agree with you to some extent on that. My biggest problem with Jay Maeder was the fact that Annie became a supporting character in her own strip! I think there was a period of 5 weeks or so where she didn't even appear (or get mentioned for that matter) in her own comic.

[Mesterius1]

Yeah, it's a shame when thinking about what once was. I think the real reason 'Annie' grew less and less popular during its last decade (in addition to generally tough times for adventure comic strips) was the lousy work of its new writer, Jay Maeder. Despite good intentions, he never understood what made Annie's universe work. Harold Gray, as well as his only good successor, Leonard Starr; made us truly care about Annie, Sandy and the rest. Maeder's stories never showed that kind of substance.