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A Complete History of Andy Capp
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D.D.Degg
Jul 25, 2012, 8:37:51 PM7/25/12
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Paul Slade has posted a history of the Andy Capp
comic strip and its creator Reg Smythe.
Some highlights:
"Smythe invented Andy Capp for the Daily Mirror in 1957, personally
writing, drawing, inking and lettering every line of the 15,000 Andy
cartoons he produced over the following 40 years. When he died in
1998, the strip was syndicated to 1,700 newspapers – 1,000 in America
alone – translated into 14 languages and read by a combined audience
of 250 million people in 52 countries round the world."
"That cartoon appeared in the Daily Mirror on August 20, 1957, just
two weeks after the first Andy Capp of them all. Andy was then a
single-panel cartoon, appearing only in the paper’s North-of-England
edition, and would not get national publication until the following
April."
"This is the strip’s most brutal phase by far, but we do get the
occasional glimpse of Flo fighting back. In December 1957, for
example, she slings a hammer at the back of Andy’s head, and in July
1960, it’s a rolling pin. In May the following year, she knocks him
cold with a metal poker, and her reaction makes it clear that she’s
done so before. 'I won’t sleep a wink,' Flo says as she heads off to
bed alone. 'E’s never stayed out this long before.'"
"Smythe’s biggest leap in making the strip more palatable came in
1961’s Valentine’s Day strip, where he first hits on the device of
showing fights as a cloud of dust with a few random feet and fists
sticking out. In this instance, the fight is between Andy and a
stranger in the street, but it wouldn’t be long before he was using
the device to depict Andy and Flo’s combat too."
And so much more, like:
"The beginning of the end came on May 6, 1997, when Reg’s wife Vera
died at the age of 80. “Vera died and Smythe’s long-time girlfriend,
Jean, whom Vera had known about, moved in with him,” Layson tells
Hagerty. A year later, Reg and Jean married in a private ceremony at
the White Gates bungalow. And a few weeks after that, Smythe himself
died, succumbing to lung cancer on June 13, 1998, aged 81."
"By the time Smythe died, he’d built up his stockpile of unused Andy
strips still further, giving the Mirror a store big enough to keep the
feature running for over two years."
The Mirror hired Rogers Kettle and Mahoney to continue the strip and:
"[Layson] set his new team to work, and began slowly feathering their
contribitions in with the pile of Smythe strips he was still using. At
first, the new strips were uncredited.
“Because Reg Smythe had left a huge weight of material, he was able to
mix and match. Some strips were the two Rogers’ and some were Reg
Smythe’s. So he kind of eased it in to a new transition.”
The history continues up to this year, where for the first time
I learn that the new writers on the strip are
Lawrence Goldsmith and Sean Garnett
(that Sean Garnett name had eluded me).
Fascinating reading for longtime fans of Reg Smythe and Andy Capp:
http://www.planetslade.com/andy-capp-reg-smythe01.html
D.D.Degg
hat tip to http://kleefeldoncomics.blogspot.com/ for the link
comic strip and its creator Reg Smythe.
Some highlights:
"Smythe invented Andy Capp for the Daily Mirror in 1957, personally
writing, drawing, inking and lettering every line of the 15,000 Andy
cartoons he produced over the following 40 years. When he died in
1998, the strip was syndicated to 1,700 newspapers – 1,000 in America
alone – translated into 14 languages and read by a combined audience
of 250 million people in 52 countries round the world."
"That cartoon appeared in the Daily Mirror on August 20, 1957, just
two weeks after the first Andy Capp of them all. Andy was then a
single-panel cartoon, appearing only in the paper’s North-of-England
edition, and would not get national publication until the following
April."
"This is the strip’s most brutal phase by far, but we do get the
occasional glimpse of Flo fighting back. In December 1957, for
example, she slings a hammer at the back of Andy’s head, and in July
1960, it’s a rolling pin. In May the following year, she knocks him
cold with a metal poker, and her reaction makes it clear that she’s
done so before. 'I won’t sleep a wink,' Flo says as she heads off to
bed alone. 'E’s never stayed out this long before.'"
"Smythe’s biggest leap in making the strip more palatable came in
1961’s Valentine’s Day strip, where he first hits on the device of
showing fights as a cloud of dust with a few random feet and fists
sticking out. In this instance, the fight is between Andy and a
stranger in the street, but it wouldn’t be long before he was using
the device to depict Andy and Flo’s combat too."
And so much more, like:
"The beginning of the end came on May 6, 1997, when Reg’s wife Vera
died at the age of 80. “Vera died and Smythe’s long-time girlfriend,
Jean, whom Vera had known about, moved in with him,” Layson tells
Hagerty. A year later, Reg and Jean married in a private ceremony at
the White Gates bungalow. And a few weeks after that, Smythe himself
died, succumbing to lung cancer on June 13, 1998, aged 81."
"By the time Smythe died, he’d built up his stockpile of unused Andy
strips still further, giving the Mirror a store big enough to keep the
feature running for over two years."
The Mirror hired Rogers Kettle and Mahoney to continue the strip and:
"[Layson] set his new team to work, and began slowly feathering their
contribitions in with the pile of Smythe strips he was still using. At
first, the new strips were uncredited.
“Because Reg Smythe had left a huge weight of material, he was able to
mix and match. Some strips were the two Rogers’ and some were Reg
Smythe’s. So he kind of eased it in to a new transition.”
The history continues up to this year, where for the first time
I learn that the new writers on the strip are
Lawrence Goldsmith and Sean Garnett
(that Sean Garnett name had eluded me).
Fascinating reading for longtime fans of Reg Smythe and Andy Capp:
http://www.planetslade.com/andy-capp-reg-smythe01.html
D.D.Degg
hat tip to http://kleefeldoncomics.blogspot.com/ for the link
flysc...@gmail.com
Jul 26, 2012, 12:27:28 PM7/26/12
to
Somewhere I have/had stashed away a long interview, Playboy-style, with Smythe from the 1970s from some men's magazine. In it, he related the story on page 6 of this essay about how he came up with the name, and I recall/paraphrase what he said:
"Of course, this all gets lost in translation for overseas syndication, because they'll call it 'Casket Carl," or something, 'Willie Wacker." For a while it was running in Italy under three different names--Andy Capp, 'Carlos,' and one newspaper had him running under a different name, a beautiful name: 'Angelo Cappello'!!"
"Of course, this all gets lost in translation for overseas syndication, because they'll call it 'Casket Carl," or something, 'Willie Wacker." For a while it was running in Italy under three different names--Andy Capp, 'Carlos,' and one newspaper had him running under a different name, a beautiful name: 'Angelo Cappello'!!"
Blinky the Wonder Wombat
Jul 26, 2012, 2:26:26 PM7/26/12
to
On Thursday, July 26, 2012 12:27:28 PM UTC-4, flysc...@gmail.com wrote:
> Somewhere I have/had stashed away a long interview, Playboy-style, with Smythe from the 1970s from some men's magazine. In it, he related the story on page 6 of this essay about how he came up with the name, and I recall/paraphrase what he said:
>
> "Of course, this all gets lost in translation for overseas syndication, because they'll call it 'Casket Carl' or something, 'Willie Wacker." For a while it was running in Italy under three different names--Andy Capp, 'Carlos,' and one newspaper had him running under a different name, a beautiful name: 'Angelo Cappello'!!"
D'oh! All the years I never once picked up on the significance of the name "Andy Capp".
> Somewhere I have/had stashed away a long interview, Playboy-style, with Smythe from the 1970s from some men's magazine. In it, he related the story on page 6 of this essay about how he came up with the name, and I recall/paraphrase what he said:
>
> "Of course, this all gets lost in translation for overseas syndication, because they'll call it 'Casket Carl' or something, 'Willie Wacker." For a while it was running in Italy under three different names--Andy Capp, 'Carlos,' and one newspaper had him running under a different name, a beautiful name: 'Angelo Cappello'!!"
D'oh! All the years I never once picked up on the significance of the name "Andy Capp".
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