In 1948 his lovable Shmoo characters became a national sensation, creating the largest mass merchandising phenomenon of its era, followed on its heels by the Kigmy. It quickly inspired real life girl-asks-boy dances across America and Sadie Hawkins Day became a national institution. In 1937 he introduced the annual Sadie Hawkins Day race into his strip. At a time when syndicates owned the copyrights, trademarks and merchandise rights to comic strips, Capp wrested control of “Li’l Abner” from United Features, an almost unprecedented event.īesides entertaining millions, Capp permanently affected the popular culture. Before long he was in hundreds more, with a circulation exceeding 60,000,000. Within three short years it climbed to 253 newspapers, reaching over 15,000,000 readers. Abner was carried at first by only eight newspapers, but his hapless Dogpatchers hit a nerve in Depression-era America. He took his hillbilly idea to United Features Syndicate (creating a lifelong public feud with Fisher) and “Li’l Abner was born. But Capp found the working conditions in Fisher’s studio intolerable. But, bored with the staid and formulaic Gilfeather, Capp left AP and soon was ghosting the popular boxing strip “Joe Palooka” for Ham Fisher. At 19, he became the youngest syndicated cartoonist in America, drawing “Colonel Gilfeather,” a daily panel for Associated Press. Encouraged by an artistic father, young Alfred developed his own cartooning skills. At the age of nine he lost his left leg in a trolley accident. He was born Alfred Gerald Caplin in New Haven, CT. Cartoonist Al Capp (1909-1979) created “ Li’l Abner,” regarded by many as the greatest comic strip of all time.

Al capp comic