Al Capp's "Li'l Abner"

There was a time when comic strips and the artists who created them were so popular, they'd appear on the cover of major national magazines -- as is the case here with Li'l Abner and his creator, Al Capp.  Time and Life both cover-featured Capp's comic strip. 

The Shmoo was a hugely popular Capp character  -- shown here on a certificate given out to kids who'd  bought government savings bonds.

Mammy and Pappy Yokum make an appearance on this child's valentine.

Abner and his folks in a B&W still from the motion picture version of the wonderful Broadway musical based on the strip.

A pair of Abner frame tray jigsaw puzzles.  Y'know if you turn these upside down to place 'em on a scanner bed, comedy  and/or tragedy may ensue....

The Harvey Comics Group, which published the Abner comic book, put together this promotional booklet showing media coverage of the strip.  Cover and first page shown.

Li'l Abner sheet music cover illustration.

One of many examples of licensed Abner merchandise.  This candy box comes from the defunct Dogpatch theme park in Kentucky.

I have more Capp/Abner items I'll eventually share here.  Stop by again....

Cap's Hobby Hints

More old web images rescued! These are shot from the orignal art for four "Cap's Hobby Hints" pages by Henry Boltinoff. This feature ran in DC comic books for several years in the early/mid 1960s. Henry was the brother of DC editor Murray Boltinoff. Aurora, AMT and other model kit companies were regular advertisers in DC's comics at the time. Supporting kids' interest in the modeling hobby was a smart move on DC's part. Cap often gave hints for model railroading and slot car racing as well. You can see the title and issue number of the comic book each strip ran in, at the top of each original. How many of these did you read, way back then?




Here's the published version of the original strip above.

Here's a CAP'S page that was auctioned on eBay -- from VERY early in the series, when it was called CAP'S HOBBY CENTER -- and, no, I wasn't the seller, OR the winning bidder (darn it!) -- unusual in that the kid is actually building a figure kit -- looks like Hodad from the SILLY SURFER line!