Biographie

Al Capp

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Présentation

Date de naissance
28 septembre 1909 · New Haven, Connecticut, États-Unis
Date de décès
5 novembre 1979 · Cambridge, Massachusetts, États-Unis (emphysème)
Nom de naissance
Alfred Gerald Caplin

Biographie

Famille

Conjoint

Anecdotes

Creator of comic strip "Li'l Abner."
His premise for his character "Jack Jawbreaker" (a parody of "Superman") made note of writers and cartoonists working on strips they did not own the rights to. Capp would later hire assistants to work on his strip, with Capp himself writing it, roughing out the action within the panels, and drawing and inking the faces and hands of the characters. His name would be the only one appearing on the strip - although Capp regularly credited his assistants in magazine articles and publicity pieces, one of the only cartoonists ever to do so.
His parody of "Dick Tracy" as "Fearless Fosdick" was unique in comic strips. It was a comic strip that didn't actually exist, being read by the cast of an actual comic strip. Even so, the character was used to promote Wildroot Cream-Oil hair tonic.
He parodied the comic strip "Mary Worth" as "Mary Worm". Allen Saunders, the creator OF Mary Worth, returned fire with the introduction of the character "Hal Rapp," an ill-mannered, inebriated cartoonist. Later the "feud" was revealed to be a collaborative hoax that Capp and his longtime pal Saunders had cooked up together as a good-natured publicity stunt.
Was unsuccessfully sued for libel by musician and political activist Joan Baez, after portraying her in his strip as "Joanie Phoanie". The judge in the case decided in Capp's favor, declaring satire to be protected free speech (in recent years, Baez has admitted to being more amused by the parody, even including strip excerpts in her memoirs).

Citations

As far as unwed mothers on welfare are concerned, it seems to me they must be capable of some other form of labor.
[on hippies] I have no objection to any herd of semi-domesticated animals roaming the country, uttering their mating cries and scratching their pelts, as long as they avoid centers of civilization and congregate only in university auditoriums.
[from a 1964 letter of advice to a young Wisconsin boy] I understand you have lost a leg and of course you're not exactly happy about it. I was about your age when I lost mine and I have learned a few things since then,I which you probably have not had time yet to find out for yourself. The main trick is not to keep remembering what you've lost, but all the rest you have left. When you can do that, other people will too, not because they are afraid of hurting you, but because it just won't be important. The next step is to get to be the master of your artificial limb and to start doing all the things you did before, just as soon as possible. I will not tell you that your artificial leg will do the job your real one did, anymore than glasses are better than eyes, but it does a pretty darn good job, and soon enough it will mean no more to you than glasses do to those who wear them. Of all the major misfortunes that can happen to the human body, the loss of a leg is perhaps the least. I don't expect you to know that now, but you will know it. Good luck!