Camera-ready comic art drawing for Little Orphan Annie

This pen-and-ink drawing produced for the Little Orphan Annie comic strip shows Annie using baseball expressions to describe her friend Sinya’s ease in getting dates.

Harold Lincoln Gray (1894-1968) started working for newspapers in Lafayette, Indiana, when he attended Purdue University. After serving in World War I he took a job at the Chicago Tribune, where he drew the lettering for Sidney Smith’s strip The Gumps. In 1924 Gray launched Little Orphan Otto, later changed to Little Orphan Annie. Over the years, Gray often prepared artwork for various Sunday strips including Little Orphan Annie and others, such as the topper strip Maw Green.

Little Orphan Annie (1924-1974, 1979-2010) is a rags-to-riches story about a redheaded girl who was adopted by millionaire Daddy Warbucks. The strip was known for its promotion of characteristics such as self-sufficiency and hard work. Gray took advantage of a storyline that involved the recurring separation and reunion of the protagonists. The Little Orphan Annie story found additional success as a radio program, films, and in the Broadway musical Annie, introduced in 1977.

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