Camera-ready comic art drawing for Li'l Abner

This pen-and-ink drawing for the Li’l Abner newspaper strip shows the general frenzy associated with fast-approaching Sadie Hawkins Day.

Alfred Gerald Caplin or Al Capp (1909-1979) began drawing comics in his youth after a serious accident which required a leg amputation. He attended art schools and in the early 1930s was given the opportunity to introduce a new character, named Big Leviticus, to the newspaper strip Joe Palooka. Inspired by his work with Ham Fisher on the strip, Capp began developing his own strip, called Li’l Abner, a look at a fictitious, backward mountain culture. The strip debuted in 1934 and was shortly syndicated worldwide. Capp, like other comic artists, used his strip to comment on cultural shortcomings and prejudices.

Li’l Abner (1934-1977) was a satirical comic strip about a hillbilly clan living in fictional Dogpatch, Arkansas. The title character was a large, simple, naïve, and good-hearted individual. The character Li'l Abner also spent the better part of two decades evading the affections of Daisy Mae Scraggs, whose family was the sworn enemy of his family, the Yokums. Eventually, Capp yielded to readers’ wishes and married Li’l Abner and Daisy Mae in 1952. The strip's storyline included the fabrication of Sadie Hawkins Day, the annual event which allowed women the opportunity to literally catch a husband.

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