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Little Orphan Annie Skips off into the Sunset

Started by BB-Gun,

57 posts in this topic

Yellow Kid

Yellow Kid

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I've been collecting LOA for just over 50 years and have found a lot of interesting items. Perhaps the rarest of them all involves the sweaters that Annie advertised in the 1930's. Most people have seen the two LOA pinbacks advertising the sweaters which I have displayed near the bottom of the larger box. However, very few people have seen the actual box that the sweater was sold in, which is the box on the right. Even rarer is the box on the left, which is the large box that the sweater boxes were shipped in. Finally, in the upper right corner of the shipping box is an ad for the "Magic Punjab Whistles." These are as rare as it gets for LOA and a few of them are shown just below the ad. At that time in the comics, Annie had just met Punjab and he gave her a whistle to blow if she ever needed his help--this was the basis for the whistle beinga premium with the sweater. LOA generated as many collectibles as any comic character of her era and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the rarest ones.

Richard

 

LOASweaterCombo.jpg

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BB-Gun

BB-Gun

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I've been collecting LOA for just over 50 years and have found a lot of interesting items. Perhaps the rarest of them all involves the sweaters that Annie advertised in the 1930's. Most people have seen the two LOA pinbacks advertising the sweaters which I have displayed near the bottom of the larger box. However, very few people have seen the actual box that the sweater was sold in, which is the box on the right. Even rarer is the box on the left, which is the large box that the sweater boxes were shipped in. Finally, in the upper right corner of the shipping box is an ad for the "Magic Punjab Whistles." These are as rare as it gets for LOA and a few of them are shown just below the ad. At that time in the comics, Annie had just met Punjab and he gave her a whistle to blow if she ever needed his help--this was the basis for the whistle beinga premium with the sweater. LOA generated as many collectibles as any comic character of her era and I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the rarest ones.

Richard

 

LOASweaterCombo.jpg

 

Post some more Richard! Those are great collector items. I have a bunch of comics that I need to scan but only 4 or 5 badges and no rings or whistles. If someone has a few extra scans from Popular or Super, it would be nice to see those too.

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Yellow Kid

Yellow Kid

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One of my favorite LOA collections is the set of Christmas cards that Harold Gray drew to send to his friends and associates every year. He started in 1924, probably didn't send one in 1925 when his wife died in late November, and continued until his death. I am missing one card from the early 1930's and I'm not sure which year it is because he usually didn't date the cards, but if you have one that I don't, I would love to finish my collection.

There are over 40 cards, so I think the best thing to do is for me to give you an address where you can see them thanks to Hogan's Alley, the great magazine for newspaper comic collectors. Just be sure to scroll down when you get to the address!

 

http://cagle.msnbc.com/hogan/features/LOAcards/graycards.asp

 

I'm biased, but I think the cards are beautiful and it would be worth your effort to visit them. The other option is to go to Google and enter "Little Orphan Annie Christmas cards" and click on the first option--that might be the easiest way to do it if the URL doesn't turn blue when I submit it.

Richard

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BB-Gun

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I don't have any of those cards but I think I might have seen them in Nemo or CBG.

Tom Gordon used to find a lot of those rare collectables. Perhaps you could check to see if he has any.

bb

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BangZoom

BangZoom

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The sun will come out tomorrow -- but there won't be many more tomorrows for "Little Orphan Annie."

 

Daddy Warbucks's favorite pupil-less redhead had enough Depression-tested pluck to survive 86 years in daily newspapers, but now the orphan's outta luck. Come June 13, her clear-eyed comic strip will end as her syndicate, Tribune Media Services, sends her off into the sunset. Canceled.

 

 

I'm sorry to hear the strip was canceled. I didn't realize it was still being syndicated.

 

Here are a couple of early Little Orphan Annie comics for old time's sake.

 

littleorphanannie.jpg

 

Feature Book #7 (November 1937)

Four Color #12 (1940)

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BB-Gun

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4605824109_d5522f09eb_b.jpg

Annie was a star on stage, screen and radio, as well as, Sunday funnies and golden age comics.

 

By the way, the Playbill is from the original run of Annie at the Alvin theater in NYC on 52nd St. In 1983 the name of the theater was changed to Neil Simon after the playwright and the original run of Annie closed about that time.

 

From Wikipedia:

"Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The musical ran for nearly six years on Broadway, setting a record for the Alvin Theatre ... It spawned numerous productions in many countries, as well as national tours, and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. The musical's songs "Tomorrow" and "It's the Hard-Knock Life" are its more popular pieces."

 

 

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BB-Gun

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Picked up my favorite LOA Four Color cover this weekend (thumbs u

 

 

That's a nice one Scrooge. I haven't found the four color box yet but I have this BLB and 5 cent Annie.

4618910914_b05b0b37a2.jpg

4618299035_1a7d603863_b.jpg

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BB-Gun

BB-Gun

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One of my favorite LOA collections is the set of Christmas cards that Harold Gray drew to send to his friends and associates every year. He started in 1924, probably didn't send one in 1925 when his wife died in late November, and continued until his death. I am missing one card from the early 1930's and I'm not sure which year it is because he usually didn't date the cards, but if you have one that I don't, I would love to finish my collection.

There are over 40 cards, so I think the best thing to do is for me to give you an address where you can see them thanks to Hogan's Alley, the great magazine for newspaper comic collectors. Just be sure to scroll down when you get to the address!

 

http://cagle.msnbc.com/hogan/features/LOAcards/graycards.asp

 

I'm biased, but I think the cards are beautiful and it would be worth your effort to visit them. The other option is to go to Google and enter "Little Orphan Annie Christmas cards" and click on the first option--that might be the easiest way to do it if the URL doesn't turn blue when I submit it.

Richard

 

Thanks for mentioning the cards and writing that wonderful article. I borrowed one to post. Hope you don't mind.

bb

4618446591_aefdbd8101_o.gif

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BB-Gun

BB-Gun

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The sun will come out tomorrow -- but there won't be many more tomorrows for "Little Orphan Annie."

 

Daddy Warbucks's favorite pupil-less redhead had enough Depression-tested pluck to survive 86 years in daily newspapers, but now the orphan's outta luck. Come June 13, her clear-eyed comic strip will end as her syndicate, Tribune Media Services, sends her off into the sunset. Canceled.

 

 

I'm sorry to hear the strip was canceled. I didn't realize it was still being syndicated.

 

Here are a couple of early Little Orphan Annie comics for old time's sake.

 

littleorphanannie.jpg

 

Feature Book #7 (November 1937)

Four Color #12 (1940)

 

Great books BZ. I had to bid on one listed on ebay. I doubt if my bid will win but just in case. :wishluck:

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HouseofComics.Com

HouseofComics.Com

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I'm biased, but I think the cards are beautiful and it would be worth your effort to visit them.

 

Those cards are very cool. Bill Woggon did something similar for at least a few years and it's possible those had wider circulation as he probably sent them to a bunch of contributors or people who bought premiums. As I recall, they weren't in color though.

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Yellow Kid

Yellow Kid

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You all have a lot of great Annie items! One of the things I like about her impact on society is that you can find all of the regular comic collectibles but also things like dexterity puzzles, tea sets, and embroidery sets. The graphics on the boxes of the early stuff by Gray are wonderful. Thanks for all the kind comments--I'll try to post a few more pictures tonight.

Richard

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