AL CAPP
Name: Al Capp
Born: 28 September 1909 New Haven, Connecticut
Died: 5 November 1979 South Hampton, New Hampshire
Al Capp (September 28, 1909 - November 5, 1979) was an American cartoonist best
known for the satiric comic strip, Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips
Abbie and Slats and Long Sam. He won the 1947 National Cartoonist Society Reuben
Award for the comic strip Li'l Abner, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award
posthumously.
Born Alfred Gerald Caplin of Jewish heritage, Capp was the eldest child of Otto
and Tillie Caplin, and a native of New Haven, Connecticut. He lost his right leg
in a trolley accident at the age of nine.
Capp spent five years at Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut
without receiving a diploma. The cartoonist liked to tell how he failed geometry
for nine straight terms.
Ten years later, A. G. Caplin went to New York and found work drawing Mister
Gilfeather, a one-panel, AP-owned property. He did this long enough to hate the
feature and meet Milton Caniff before leaving town abruptly, moving to Boston
and marrying Catherine Wingate Cameron (whom he had met earlier).
Leaving his new wife with her parents in Amesbury, Massachusetts, he
subsequently returned to New York. There he met Ham Fisher, who hired him to
help on Joe Palooka.
During one of Fisher's extended vacations, Capp's Joe Palooka story arc featured
a stupid, strong hillbilly named Big Leviticus, a prototype for Li'l Abner. And,
during this period, Capp was also working on samples for the strip that would
become Li'l Abner.
Leaving Joe Palooka, Capp sold Li'l Abner to the United Features Syndicate and
the feature was launched on Monday August 13, 1934.
His younger brother Elliot Caplin also became a comic strip creator, best known
for writing the soap opera strip The Heart of Juliet Jones.
Name: Al Capp
Born: 28 September 1909 New Haven, Connecticut
Died: 5 November 1979 South Hampton, New Hampshire
Al Capp (September 28, 1909 - November 5, 1979) was an American cartoonist best
known for the satiric comic strip, Li'l Abner. He also wrote the comic strips
Abbie and Slats and Long Sam. He won the 1947 National Cartoonist Society Reuben
Award for the comic strip Li'l Abner, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award
posthumously.
Born Alfred Gerald Caplin of Jewish heritage, Capp was the eldest child of Otto
and Tillie Caplin, and a native of New Haven, Connecticut. He lost his right leg
in a trolley accident at the age of nine.
Capp spent five years at Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut
without receiving a diploma. The cartoonist liked to tell how he failed geometry
for nine straight terms.
Ten years later, A. G. Caplin went to New York and found work drawing Mister
Gilfeather, a one-panel, AP-owned property. He did this long enough to hate the
feature and meet Milton Caniff before leaving town abruptly, moving to Boston
and marrying Catherine Wingate Cameron (whom he had met earlier).
Leaving his new wife with her parents in Amesbury, Massachusetts, he
subsequently returned to New York. There he met Ham Fisher, who hired him to
help on Joe Palooka.
During one of Fisher's extended vacations, Capp's Joe Palooka story arc featured
a stupid, strong hillbilly named Big Leviticus, a prototype for Li'l Abner. And,
during this period, Capp was also working on samples for the strip that would
become Li'l Abner.
Leaving Joe Palooka, Capp sold Li'l Abner to the United Features Syndicate and
the feature was launched on Monday August 13, 1934.
His younger brother Elliot Caplin also became a comic strip creator, best known
for writing the soap opera strip The Heart of Juliet Jones.