He was succeeded by Ben Rich. He also briefly filled-in for radio journalist Drew Pearson, participated in a March 2, 1948 America's Town Meeting of the Air debate on ABC, and hosted his own syndicated, 500-station radio show.). Flying Mach 3.2 at 100,000 ft. , the SR-71 operated in hostile airspace with complete impunity. Their monetary unit was the "rasbucknik", of which one was worth nothing and a large quantity was worth a lot less, due to the trouble of carrying them around. Local attractions that reappeared in the strip included the West Po'k Chop Railroad; the "Skonk Works", a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch; and the General Jubilation T. Cornpone memorial statue. Initially known as "Mysterious Yokum" (there was even an Ideal doll marketed under this name) due to a debate regarding his gender (he was stuck in a pants-shaped stovepipe for the first six weeks), he was renamed "Honest Abe" (after President Abraham Lincoln) to thwart his early tendency to steal. The radio show was not written by Al Capp but by Charles Gussman. The name stuck. When Capp created the event, it wasn't his intention to have it occur annually on a specific date, because it inhibited his freewheeling plotting. [6] Early in the strip's history, Abner's primary goal in the storyline was evading the marital designs of Daisy Mae Scragg, the virtuous, voluptuous, barefoot Dogpatch damsel and scion of the Yokums' blood feud enemies the Scraggs, who were her character's bloodthirsty kinfolk. The smell at the site is credited with being the basis for the Skunk Works name. Its name was taken from the moonshine factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner . [28] In Al Capp's own words, Dogpatch was "an average stone-age community nestled in a bleak valley, between two cheap and uninteresting hills somewhere." In the comic, there was a running joke about a mysterious and malodorous place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works," where a strong beverage was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven fewer than was required.[4]. Dogpatch characters pitched consumer products as varied as Grape-Nuts cereal, Kraft caramels, Ivory soap, Oxydol, Duz and Dreft detergents, Fruit of the Loom, Orange Crush, Nestl's cocoa, Cheney neckties, Pedigree pencils, Strunk chainsaws, U.S. Royal tires, Head & Shoulders shampoo and General Electric light bulbs. The comic strip had 60 million readers in over 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers in 28 countries. The first topper was Washable Jones, a weekly continuity about a four-year-old hillbilly boy who goes fishing and accidentally hooks a ghost, which he pulls from the water. Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared across multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. Capp was a genius. Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, also known as The Complete Li'l Abner, is a series collecting the American comic strip Li'l Abner written and drawn by Al Capp, originally distributed by the syndicate United Feature Syndicate and later by Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, in total during 43 years before the strip ended. Implementation of Auto GCAS on the F-35 is anticipated five years earlier than originally planned. Li'l Abner visits the corrupt Squeezeblood comic strip syndicate in a classic Sunday continuity from October 12, 1947. Honest Abe Yokum: Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae's little boy was born in 1953 "after a pregnancy that ambled on so long that readers began sending me medical books", wrote Capp. [3] According to Ben Richs memoir, an engineer jokingly showed up to work one day wearing a Civil Defense gas mask. Our Inspiration. Most Dogpatchers were shiftless and ignorant; the remainder were scoundrels and thieves. She had married the inconsequential Pappy Yokum in 1902; they produced two strapping sons twice their own size. The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner, which was immensely popular in the 1940s and '50s. From then on, he referred to it as Dogpatch, USA, and did not give any specific location as to exactly where it was supposed to be located. Designed to help the U.S. and allies leverage emerging technologies to create a resilient multi-domain network. He constantly interspersed boldface type, and included prompt words in parentheses (chuckle!, sob!, gasp!, shudder!, smack!, drool!, cackle!, snort!, gulp!, blush!, ugh!, etc.) In mid-1939[12] when Lockheed was expanding rapidly, the YP-38 project was moved a few blocks away to the newly purchased 3G Distillery, also known as Three G or GGG Distillery. ", "Wal, fry mah hide!" Later, Capp licensed and was part-owner of an 800-acre (3.2km2) $35 million theme park called Dogpatch USA near Harrison, Arkansas. As the development was very secret, the employees were told to be careful even with how they answered phone calls. Aerospace research facility in the United States, "Skunk works" redirects here. (In his book The American Language, H.L. Skunk Works was responsible for several innovative aircraft designs, beginning with the P-38 Lightning in 1939, followed by the P-80 Shooting Star in 1943. Fearless Fosdick premiered on Sunday afternoons on NBC; 13 episodes featuring the Mary Chase marionettes were produced. Li'l Abner Gets a Job Part 2, script and art by Al Capp; Abner takes a job at the skunk works. Al Capp once told one of his assistants that he knew Li'l Abner had finally "arrived" when it was first pirated as a pornographic Tijuana bible parody in the mid-1930s. Various Asian, Latin, Native American and European characters spoke in a wide range of specific, broadly caricatured dialects as well. Kelly Johnson headed the Skunk Works until 1975. For 18 years of the run of the strip, Abner slipped out of Daisy Mae's marital crosshairs time and time again. [53] According to Tom Roberts, author of Alex Raymond: His Life and Art (2007), Capp authored a stirring monologue that was instrumental in changing the restrictive rules the following year. Selections from the Li'l Abner musical score have been recorded by everyone from Percy Faith and Mario Lanza to Andr Previn and Shelly Manne. Fans of the strip ranged from novelist John Steinbeck, who called Capp "very possibly the best writer in the world today" in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp "the only robust satirical force in American life." Durward Kirby was the announcer. "It's Jack Jawbreaker!" Our Multi-Domain Operations/Joint All-Domain Operations solutions provide a complete picture of the battlespace and empowers warfighters to quickly make decisions that drive action. By 1960, Soviet radar and surface-to-air missile technology had caught up with the U-2. Although it lacks the political satire and Broadway polish of the 1959 version, this film gives a fairly accurate portrayal of the various Dogpatch characters up until that time. Other fictional locales included Skonk Hollow, El Passionato, Kigmyland, the Republic of Crumbumbo, Lo Kunning, Faminostan, Planets Pincus Number 2 and 7, Pineapple Junction and, most notably, the Valley of the Shmoon. One day, Culver's phone rang and he answered it by saying "Skonk Works, inside man Culver speaking." But Lockheeds chief engineer, Clarence Kelly Johnson, simply fielded all requests and relayed to his handpicked band of Skunk Works employees what needed to be done. And what does a non-flying woodland creature have to do with aviation? Conceived in 1943, the Skunk Works divisiona name inspired by a mysterious locale from the comic strip LiL Abnerwas formed by Johnson to build Americas first jet fighter. Capp, a lifelong chain smoker, died from emphysema two years later at age 70, at his home in South Hampton, New Hampshire, on November 5, 1979. Capp also excelled at product endorsement, and Li'l Abner characters were often featured in mid-century American advertising campaigns. The Schertz Public Library has received the 2022 Achievement of Library Excellence Award from the Texas Municipal Library Directors Association (TMLDA). The resulting sequence, "Jack Jawbreaker Fights Crime!! "He knew how to take an otherwise ordinary drawing and really make it pop. [49], Sadie Hawkins Day and Sadie Hawkins dance are two of several terms attributed to Al Capp that have entered the English language. Li'l Abner himself was a mattress tester, and most others were either moonshiners or bootleggers. Lockheed Martin was awarded this prestigious medal in 2007 for an exceptional record of developing cutting-edge aircraft, technologies, and systems solutions for the U.S. Government. Privacy Terms of Use EU and UK Data Protection Notice Cookies, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/aeronautics/skunkworks/CollierTrophies.html. Al Capp was a master of the arts of marketing and promotion. Brown, Rodger, "Dogpatch USA: The Road to Hokum" article, Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 05:42, explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, 418 Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron, "This Day in Jewish History / Al Capp, Choleric Creator of Li'l Abner, Dies an Embittered Man", Li'l Abner "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Daisy Mae "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Mammy Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Pappy Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Honest Abe "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Tiny Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Marryin' Sam "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Kickapoo Joy Juice page at deniskitchen.com, Joe Btfsplk "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary Michael Schumacher, Denis Kitchen Google Books, General Bullmoose "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Earthquake McGoon "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Evil-Eye Fleegle "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Sadie Hawkins "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Fearless Fosdick "biography" at deniskitchen.com, The Shmoo "biography" at deniskitchen.com. "[15][16][17], At the request of the comic strip copyright holders, Lockheed changed the name of the advanced development company to "Skunk Works" in the 1960s. Over the years, Li'l Abner characters have inspired diverse compositions in pop, jazz, country and even rock 'n' roll: No comprehensive reprint of the series had been attempted until Kitchen Sink Press began publishing the Li'l Abner Dailies in hardcover and paperback, one year per volume, in 1988. Drawn by cartoonist Steve Stiles,[58] the new Abner was approved by Capp's widow, and brother Elliott Caplin, but Al Capp's daughter, Julie Capp, objected at the last minute and permission was withdrawn. "Capp had always advocated a more activist agenda for the Society, and he had begun in December 1949 to make his case in the Newsletter as well as at the meetings," wrote comics historian R. C. Her authority was unquestioned, and her characteristic phrase, "Ah has spoken! The trophy is awarded annually by the National Aeronautic Association for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year. There was not much industry in Dogpatch. According to publisher Denis Kitchen, Capp's "hapless Dogpatchers hit a nerve in Depression-era America. In 1955, the Skunk Works received a contract from the CIA to build a spyplane known as the U-2 with the intention of flying over the Soviet Union and photographing sites of strategic interest. Some of the Skunk Works' most notable aircraft have received the prestigious trophy, which bears the name of the past publisher and early president of the Aero Club of America, Robert J. Collier. Mind Works offers you the expertise . For the game featuring the. "There is, however, a fighting chance to escape for hundreds of innocent bystanders who happen to be in the neighborhood but only a fighting chance. He never married his own long-suffering fiance Prudence Pimpleton (despite an engagement of 17 years), but Fosdick was directly responsible for the unwitting marriage of his biggest fan, Li'l Abner, to Daisy Mae in 1952. Like the Coconino County depicted in George Herriman's Krazy Kat and the Okefenokee Swamp of Walt Kelly's Pogo, and, most recently and famously, The Simpsons' "Springfield", Dogpatch's distinctive cartoon landscape became as identified with the strip as any of its characters. Of the 552 public libraries in Texas, only 73 received this award in 2022. Kelly Johnson's elite engineering group was originally housed in a rented circus tent adjacent to a smelly plastics factory. Famous quotes containing the words supporting, characters and/or villains: " It is handsomer to remain in the establishment better than the establishment, and conduct that in the best manner, than to make a sally against evil by some single improvement, without supporting it by a total regeneration. In the midst of the Great Depression, the hardscrabble residents of lowly Dogpatch allowed suffering Americans to laugh at yokels even worse off than themselves. Designed to help the U.S. and allies leverage emerging technologies to create a resilient multi-domain network. According to the strip, scores of locals were done in yearly by the . In addition, Capp was a frequent celebrity guest. When Kelly Johnson formed his team of engineers and manufacturing experts to rapidly and secretly complete the XP-80, the war effort was in full swing and there was no available space at the Lockheed facility for the project. Capp is also the subject of an upcoming PBS American Masters documentary produced by his granddaughter, independent filmmaker Caitlin Manning. Unlike any other strip, and indeed unlike many other pieces of literature, Li'l Abner was more than a satire of the human condition. Kelly Johnson set them apart from the rest of the factory in a walled-off section of one building, off limits to all but those involved directly. Although ostensibly set in the Kentucky mountains, situations often took the characters to different destinations including New York City, Washington, D.C., Hollywood, the South American Amazon, tropical islands, the Moon, Mars, etc. The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner, which was popular in the 1940s and '50s. Lower Slobbovia and Dogpatch are both comic examples of modern dystopian satire. Fosdick lived in squalor at the dilapidated boarding house run by his mercenary landlady, Mrs. Flintnose. The F-22 is the worlds preeminent air dominance fighter and a proven strategic deterrent. The CIA agreed. Cute, lovable and intelligent (arguably smarter than Abner, Tiny or Pappy), she was accepted as part of the family ("the youngest", as Mammy invariably introduces her). In Capp's satirical and often complex plots, Abner was a country bumpkin Candidea paragon of innocence in a sardonically dark and cynical world. This dunks Upper Slobbovia into Lower Slobbovia, and raises the latter into the formera classic example of a literal revolution. Both the Trump and Panic parodies were drawn by EC legend, Will Elder. The once informal nickname is now theregistered trademarkof the company: Skunk Works. A plump, juicy Hammus Alabammus is the rarest and most vital ingredient of "ecstasy sauce", an indescribably delicious gourmet delicacy. When the starving and broke Capp first sold Li'l Abner in 1934, he gladly accepted the syndicate's standard onerous contract. Each member of Johnsons team was cautioned that design and production of the new XP-80 fighter jet must be carried out in strict secrecy. There was, however, one fellow (whose name I forget) who ran the "skunk works" skinning dead skunks (the unpleasant animal). Capp suggests November 26, and Daisy rewarded him with a kiss. Ironing Pappy's trousers fell under her wifely duties as well, although she didn't bother with preliminaries like waiting for Pappy to remove them first. Mobsters and criminal-types invariably spoke slangy Brooklynese, and residents of Lower Slobbovia spoke pidgin-Russian, with a smattering of Yinglish. Even the trademark comic "signs" that clutter the backgrounds of Will Elder's panels had a precedent in Li'l Abner, in the residence of Dogpatch entrepreneur Available Jones, though they're also reminiscent of Bill Holman's Smokey Stover. Early in the continuity Capp a few times referred to Dogpatch being in Kentucky, but he was careful afterward to keep its location generic, probably to avoid cancellations from offended Kentucky newspapers. Building on obscure research that showed radar beams could be diverted by angled triangular panels, the Skunk Works team designed the F-117 Nighthawk. "The Comic Page Is the Last Refuge of Classic Art". This drone was launched from the back of a specially modified A-12, known as M-21, of which there were two built. Capp provided specialty artwork for civic groups, government agencies and charitable or non-profit organizations, spanning several decades. In June 1943, the U.S. Armys Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its dire need for a jet fighter to counter a rapidly growing German jet threat. When the Army Air Forces officially asked for a range extension solution it was ready. He was also a periodic panelist on ABC and NBC's Who Said That? [37] Washable Jones later appeared in the strip in a Shmoo-related storyline in 1949, and he appeared with the Shmoos in two one-shot comics Al Capp's Shmoo in Washable Jones' Travels (1950, a premium for Oxydol laundry detergent) and Washable Jones and the Shmoo #1 (1953, published by the Capp-owned publisher Toby Press). The essential spirit of the division was captured perfectly on July 15, 1955, in an entry from Kelly Johnsons logbook, after a frantic race to ready the U-2 for its inaugural test flight: Airplane essentially completed. It can be found in, Brodbeck, Arthur J, et al. It first appeared in 1942 and proved so popular that it ran intermittently in Li'l Abner over the next 35 years. Al Capp was reportedly not pleased with the results, and the series was discontinued after five shorts. Over the years, the Skunk Works division in Palmdale, California, was given a more official moniker, Lockheeds Advanced Development Programs, but its mission remained unchanged: build the worlds most experimental aircraft and breakthrough technologies in abject secrecy at a pace impossible to rival. ", "Al Capp Replies to Critic of Newspaper Comic Strips;", "Li'l Abner Lost In Hollywood by Michael H. Price", "Gov. A rich guy falls in love with Daisy Mae. In America's Great Comic Strip Artists (1997), comics historian Richard Marschall analyzed the overtly misanthropic subtext of Li'l Abner: Capp was calling society absurd, not just silly; human nature not simply misguided, but irredeemably and irreducibly corrupt. The meaning of the phrase has evolved, and today it means something broader outside of aeronautics; that causes confusion, which further fosters poor managerial decisions. Our Services. The staff was cautioned that they had to operate in strict secrecy. In his essay "The Decline of the Comics", (Canadian Forum, January 1954) literary critic Hugh MacLean classified American comic strips into four types: daily gag, adventure, soap opera, and "an almost lost comic ideal: the disinterested comment on life's pattern and meaning." Other news is the inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as president on March 4, 1933 (although Mammy Yokum thinks the President is Teddy Roosevelt), and a picture of Germany's "new leader" Adolf Hitler who claims to love peace while reviewing 20,000 new planes (April 21, 1933). It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Mencken credits the postwar mania for adding "-nik" to the ends of adjectives to create nouns as beginning not with beatnik or Sputnik, but earlier in the pages of Li'l Abner. One month later, a young engineer named Clarence "Kelly" L. Johnson and his hand-picked team of engineers and mechanics delivered the XP-80 Shooting Star jet fighter proposal to the ATSC. Known locations include United States Air Force Plant 42 and United States Air Force Plant 4. And then they would deliver. In response to the question "Which side does Abner part his hair on? Underground cartoonist and Li'l Abner expert Denis Kitchen has published, co-published, edited, or otherwise served as a consultant on nearly all of them. The Sunday page debuted six months into the run of the strip. Most notably, a majority of classified testing is thought to be conducted at sites such as the Nevada Test Site. Using sheets of titanium coated with heat-dissipating black paint, engineers created the SR-71 Blackbird. The name skunkworks originates from a cartoon series called " Li'l Abner " by Al Capp. The comprehensive series titled Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, is planned to be a reprinting of the complete 43-year history of Li'l Abner[60] spanning a projected 20 volumes, began on April 7, 2010. It didnt really matter, since he was firing me about twice a day anyways. Awakening, he exclaims the phrase. Shmoos were originally meant to be included in the 1956 Broadway Li'l Abner musical, employing stage puppetry. There are conflicting observations about the birth of Skunk Works. In 1988 and 1989 many newspapers ran reruns of Li'l Abner episodes, mostly from the 1940s run, distributed by Newspaper Enterprise Association and Capp Enterprises. In one storyline, he lives up to his nickname when during a nationwide search for a pair of socks sewn by Betsy Ross; after finding that his father was the current owner and preparing to trade them for the reward (a handshake from the President of the United States), he confesses at the last second that they were not his to give. [9], In 2009, the Skunk Works was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Fosdick's own wedding to longtime fiance Prudence Pimpleton turned out to be a dream but Abner and Daisy's ceremony, performed by Marryin' Sam, was permanent. The Skunk Works name was taken from the "Skonk Oil" factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner. [30] The favorite dish of the starving natives was raw polar bear (and vice versa). Her most familiar phrase, however, is "Good is better than evil becuz it's nicer!" Lockheed was chosen to develop the jet because of its past interest in jet development and its previous contracts with the Air Force. 1 (19341936). What sets the Skunk Works apart is its unique approach created by founder Kelly Johnson. In 1946 Capp persuaded six of the most popular radio personalities (Frank Sinatra, Kate Smith, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Fred Waring and Smilin' Jack Smith) to broadcast a song he'd written for Daisy Mae: (Li'l Abner) Don't Marry That Girl!! Among the actors originally considered for the title role were Dick Shawn and Andy Griffith. The Creator of Li'l Abner Tells Why His Hero Is (SOB!) But high altitude was not enough. Later, many fans and critics saw Paul Henning's popular TV sitcom, The Beverly Hillbillies (1962'71) as owing much of its inspiration to Li'l Abner, prompting Alvin Toffler to ask Capp about the similarities in a 1965 Playboy interview. Skunk Works engineers subsequently developed the U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor, and F-35 Lightning II, the latter being used in the air forces of several countries. In point of fact, Capp maintained creative control over every stage of production for virtually the entire run of the strip. It has also developed. [55] Kurtzman eventually did spoof Li'l Abner (as "Li'l Ab'r") in 1957, in his short-lived humor magazine, Trump. He challenged the bureaucratic system that stifled innovation and hindered progress. Scripps Company, it was an immediate success. After this, Capp simply expanded Li'l Abner by another row, and filled the rest of the space with a page-wide title panel and a small panel called Advice fo' Chillun. The "Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch, in the backwoods of Kentucky. The ambitious puppet show was created and directed by puppeteer Mary Chase, written by Everett Crosby and voiced by John Griggs, Gilbert Mack and Jean Carson. Capp claimed that he found the right "look" for Li'l Abner with, "I didn't start this Mammy Yokum did." The local children were read harrowing tales from "Ice-sop's Fables", which were parodies of classic Aesop Fables, but with a darkly sardonic bent (and titles like "Coldilocks and the Three Bares"). I wonder what the derivation is? Pappy Yokum wasn't always feckless, however. Capp derived the family name "Yokum" as a combination of yokel and hokum. German jets had appeared over Europe. Skunk Works meaning and philosophy explained. Forget about it slam dunk! Privacy Terms of Use EU and UK Data Protection Notice Cookies. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) " Philosophy is written in this grand bookI mean . Maverick Mach 10 - As Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell reaches Mach 10 in the Darkstara piloted jet powered by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Workscheck out the Lockheed Martin Skunk logo on the tail of the plane in the movie .. The name was taken from the moonshine factory in the satirical American comic strip, Li'l Abner. [69][70] Starring Peter Palmer, Leslie Parrish, Julie Newmar, Stella Stevens, Stubby Kaye, Billie Hayes, Howard St. John, Joe E. Marks, Carmen Alvarez, William Lanteau and Bern Hoffman, with cameos by Jerry Lewis, Robert Strauss, Ted Thurston, Alan Carney, Valerie Harper and Donna Douglas. Zugang! [7] Some of the group of independent-minded engineers were later involved with the XP-80 project, the prototype of the P-80 Shooting Star. [14], During the development of the P-80 Shooting Star, Johnson's engineering team was located adjacent to a malodorous plastics factory. The secret facility was housed in a large tent at what is now Burbank Airport. During the entirety of the Cold War, the Skunk Works was located in Burbank, California, on the eastern side of Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport (341203N 1182107W / 34.200768N 118.351826W / 34.200768; -118.351826). In many localities, the tradition continues. His engineers turned one out in 143 days, creating the P-80 Shooting Star, a sleek, lightning-fast fighter that went on to win historys first jet-versus-jet dogfight over Korea in 1950. The designation "skunk works" or "skunkworks" is widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and. Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, with no contracts in place, no official submittal process. [64] The character was voiced by Frank Graham.[65]. Like Mammy Yokum and the other "wimmenfolk" in Dogpatch, Daisy Mae did all the work, domestic and otherwise while the menfolk generally did nothing whatsoever. The bumbling detective became the star of his own NBC-TV puppet show that same year. [6] The range modifications were performed in Lockheed's Building 304, starting with 100 P-38F models on April 15, 1942. The Lightning team was temporarily moved to the 3G Distillery, a smelly former bourbon works where the first YP-38 (constructor's number 2202) was built. Rounding out the cast were soap opera star Laurette Fillbrandt as Daisy Mae, Hazel Dopheide as Mammy Yokum, and Clarence Hartzell (who was also a prominent actor on Vic and Sade) as Pappy. Slobbovia is an iceberg, which (as real icebergs do) continually capsizes as its lower portions melt. Pappy was so lazy and ineffectual, he didn't even bathe himself. (1947) and "Little Fanny Gooney" (1952), were almost certainly an inspiration to Harvey Kurtzman when he created his irreverent Mad, which began in 1952 as a comic book that specifically parodied other comics in the same subversive manner. (also, "Wal, cuss mah bones!") This vital reconnaissance, unobtainable by other means, averted a war in Europe and a nuclear crisis in Cuba. The odor put out by Skonk Works was so hideous people avoided the area and the people who worked there. [18] The company also holds several registrations of it with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. "How to Read Li'l Abner Intelligently" from. During the extended peak of the strip, the workload grew to include advertising, merchandising, promotional work, comic book adaptations, public service material and other specialty work in addition to the regular six dailies and one Sunday strip per week. "[51] At its peak, the strip was read daily by 70 million Americans (when the U.S. population was only 180 million), with a circulation of more than 900 newspapers in North America and Europe. forced choice method advantages and disadvantages,