| Little Lulu | |
| Author: | Marjorie "Marge" Henderson Buell |
| Status: | Ended |
| Publisher: | The Saturday Evening Post |
| First: | February 23, 1935 |
| Last: | December 30, 1944 |
| Genre: | Comic strip |
Little Lulu is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marjorie Henderson Buell.[1] The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and mischievously strewing the aisle with banana peels. Little Lulu replaced Carl Anderson's Henry, which had been picked up for distribution by King Features Syndicate. The Little Lulu panel continued to run weekly in The Saturday Evening Post until December 30, 1944.
Little Lulu was created as a result of Anderson's success. Schlesinger Library curator Kathryn Allamong Jacob wrote:
Lulu was born in 1935, when The Saturday Evening Post asked Buell to create a successor to the magazine’s Henry, Carl Anderson’s stout, mute little boy, who was moving on to national syndication. The result was Little Lulu, the resourceful, equally silent (at first) little girl whose loopy curls were reminiscent of the artist’s own as a girl. Buell explained to a reporter, "I wanted a girl because a girl could get away with more fresh stunts that in a small boy would seem boorish".[2]
| Marge's Little Lulu | |
| Schedule: | bi-monthly |
| Ongoing: | Y |
| Humor: | Y |
| Publisher: | Dell/Gold Key(Western) |
| Date: | Jan/Feb 1948 – March 1984 |
| Issues: | 268 |
| Writers: | John Stanley |
| Artists: | Irving Tripp John Stanley |
| Tpb: | In the Doghouse |
| Isbn: | 1-59307-345-3 |
| Tpb1: | Lulu Goes Shopping |
| Isbn1: | 1-59307-270-8 |
| Tpb2: | Lulu Takes a Trip |
| Isbn2: | 1-59307-317-8 |
| Tpb3: | Letters to Santa |
| Isbn3: | 1-59307-386-0 |
| Tpb4: | Lulu's Umbrella Service |
| Isbn4: | 1-59307-399-2 |
| Sort: | Little Lulu |
Marjorie Henderson Buell (1904–1993), whose work appeared under the pen name "Marge", had created two comic strips in the 1920s: The Boy Friend and Dashing Dot, both with female leads. She first had Little Lulu published as a single-panel cartoon in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935. The single-panel strip continued in the Post until the December 30, 1944 issue, and continued from then as a regular comic strip. Buell herself ceased drawing the comic strip in 1947. In 1950, Little Lulu became a daily syndicated series by Chicago Tribune–New York News Syndicate, and ran until 1969.
Comic-book stories of the character scripted by John Stanley appeared in ten issues of Dell's Four Color before a Marge's Little Lulu series appeared in 1948 with scripts and layouts by Stanley and finished art by Irving Tripp and others. Stanley greatly expanded the cast of characters and changed the name of Lulu's portly pal from "Joe" to "Tubby", a character that was popular enough himself to warrant a Marge's Tubby series that ran from 1952 to 1961. Little Lulu was widely merchandised, Writer/artist John Stanley's work on the Little Lulu comic book is highly regarded. He did the initial Lulu comics, later working with artists Irving Tripp and Charles Hedinger (Tripp inking Hedinger before eventually assuming both duties),[3] writing and laying out the stories.
He continued working on the comic until around 1959. Stanley is responsible for the many additional characters in the stories. After Stanley, other writers produced the Lulu stories for Gold Key Comics, including Arnold Drake. The comics were translated into French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Portuguese, and other languages. After Buell's retirement in 1972 she signed the rights to Western Publishing. Marge's was dropped from the title, and the series continued until 1984.
See main article: List of Little Lulu characters. The main characters of the Little Lulu comic strip include the following.[4] Full details and supporting and minor characters can be found in the main article of Little Lulu characters. Variations from the comic strip and other media representations are discussed in the main article.
A daily comic strip, entitled Little Lulu, was syndicated by the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate from June 5, 1950, through May 31, 1969.[5] Artists included Woody Kimbrell (1950–1964), Roger Armstrong (1964–1966), and Ed Nofziger (1966–1969).
Little Lulu appeared in ten issues of Dell Comics' Four Color comic book series (#74, 97, 110, 115, 120, 131, 139, 146, 158, 165), before graduating to her own title: Marge's Little Lulu in 1948.[6]
With the Dell Comics/Western Publishing split that created Gold Key Comics, Little Lulu went to Gold Key with issue No. 165. Tubby got his own comic series from 1952 to 1961, first appearing in Four Color No. 381, 430, 444, and #461;[7] then his own title Marge's Tubby from No. 5 thru 49. In this series, Tubby had his own adventures without Lulu, especially with the Little Men from Mars.
Upon retirement, Marge sold Little Lulu to Western Publishing. The comic was re–named Little Lulu with No. 207 (September 1972). Publication of the comics ceased in 1984 (with issue No. 268, the last few under the Whitman Comics name), when Western discontinued publishing comics. Artist Hy Eisman retained stories intended for #269–270 (scripted by Paul Kuhn) because the artwork was returned to him after the comic was cancelled. Three of these are to be reprinted in the Lulu fanzine The HoLLywood Eclectern (HE). "The Case of the Disappearing Tutu", slated to be the lead story in Little Lulu No. 270, appears in HE No. 47 (2008).
There were also two giant-sized Annuals (#1–2, 1953–1954), 14 Dell Giants (with seasonal and other themes), a regular-sized unnumbered special on visiting Japan and three Gold Key Specials (two with Lulu on Halloween and summer camp and one with Tubby and the Little Men from Mars). Lulu also appeared in 20 issues of March of Comics and was reprinted in several Golden Comics Digests.
Between 1985 and 1992 Another Rainbow Publishing published a hardbound 18-volume set, the Little Lulu Library, collecting the stories in the Four Color issues, plus the regular series through No. 87.
While Western Publishing's Little Lulu stopped being released in 1984, in Brazil new Lulu stories, penned by local artists, kept being published by Editora Abril.[8] Primaggio Mantovi was responsible for overseeing the production.[9] Luluzinha, Abril's main monthly Lulu comic series, ended in 1993.[10]
Little Lulu was featured on numerous licensed products, and she was the centerpiece of an extensive advertising campaign for Kleenex tissues during the 1940s–50s, being the first mascot for Kleenex tissues; from 1952 to 1965 the character appeared in an elaborate animated billboard in Times Square in New York City. and she was also seen in Pepsi-Cola magazine ads during that period.[11] Kleenex commercials featuring Little Lulu were regularly seen in the 1950s on Perry Como's TV show.[12] Buell (the comics' creator) played an active role in merchandising Little Lulu, often taking a hands-on role in terms and negotiations.[13] Currently, the trademarks on Little Lulu are held by NBCUniversal (which manages the properties of DreamWorks Classics, as well as its parent company, DreamWorks Animation).[14]
Between 1943 and 1948, Lulu appeared in 26 theatrical animated shorts produced by Famous Studios for Paramount Pictures, replacing the Superman shorts of the 1940s.[15] Paramount went on to create a similar character, Little Audrey, after failing to renew the Lulu license (and therefore avoiding the payment of royalty fees).[16]
Lulu was voiced by Cecil Roy,[17] while Tubby was voiced by Arnold Stang.[18] The theme song for the shorts was written and composed by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise, and Sidney Lippman, and performed by the singing group Helen Carroll and the Satisfiers. All musical arrangements were done by Winston Sharples and Sammy Timberg.[19]
In the 1960s, Paramount and Famous Studios produced two new Little Lulu cartoons, "Alvin's Solo Flight" (a Noveltoon cartoon), and "Frog's Legs" (a Comic Kings cartoon), both based on two of John Stanley's comic stories. Cecil Roy reprised her role as Lulu, but Arnold Stang did not return as Tubby, as by that time, he already left Famous Studios to work at Hanna-Barbera Productions where he would perform the voices for Top Cat.
ABC aired two half-hour live-action specials based on the comic on Saturday morning as part of ABC Weekend Special. Little Lulu was released on November 4, 1978 and The Big Hex of Little Lulu on September 15, 1979. The cast included:
Little Lulu was adapted for the Japanese TV series Ritoru Ruru to Chitchai Nakama (Little Lulu and Her Little Friends), was directed by Seitaro Kodama, produced by the Japanese studio Nippon Animation and written by Niisan Takahashi. the TV series was issued in Japan by ABC and NET. Lulu was interpreted by Eiko Masuyama in the first 3 episodes and Minori Matsushima for the remainder, Keiko Yamamoto interpreted to Tubby Tompkins, Alvin was performed by Sachiko Chichimatsu and Annie and Iggy Inch were performed by Junko Hori and Yoneko Matsukane respectively. The music was composed by Nobuyoshi Koshibe, The main theme in the original language was composed by and the end theme "Watashi wa Lulu" (I am Lulu) was composed only by Mitsuko Horie. An English-dubbed version of the anime was made for the American market by ZIV International in 1978, this same company distributed globally the TV series, the show lasted from 1976 to 1977 with 26 episodes in total.
In 1995, Little Lulu was adapted for The Little Lulu Show,[20] an HBO animated series with the voices of Tracey Ullman (Season 1) and Jane Woods (Seasons 2–3) as Lulu Moppet. The series was produced by Canada's CINAR (now WildBrain) after Marge's death in 1993. The series ended in 1998, but continued to air on Family Channel and Teletoon Retro in Canada.
In 2009 Luluzinha Teen e sua Turma (English: Teen Little Lulu and her Gang), a Brazilian comic book series depicting Lulu and her friends as teenagers, was launched.[21] [22] The book was created in an attempt to rival Monica Adventures, another comic book which also adapts a popular franchise (in this case, Brazilian Monica's Gang) by using a manga style and presenting its original characters now as teenagers.
Lulu and Tubby have their first kiss in #50, a commemorative edition.[23]
Luluzinha Teen e sua Turma became very popular in its introduction, being one of the best-selling comics in Brazil for a while, second only to its "rival". Nevertheless, unlike Monica Adventures (which is still being published), Little Lulu
Lulu fans hold an annual gathering at San Diego Comic-Con in which they perform a play adapted from a classic Lulu story.[25]
See main article: Little Lulu Library. Published by Another Rainbow Publishing, were a series of six-book box sets released from 1985 to 1992. They were published in reverse order, with Set VI being released first, then counting down to Set I. Each of the six sets contains three volumes, each with about six comics. The comics are printed in black and white; however, the covers are printed in full color. The books are about 9" by 12", with the pages being larger than the original comic book pages.
In 2004, Dark Horse Comics obtained the rights to reprint Little Lulu comics. 18 black and white volumes, plus an unnumbered color special, were published through early 2008. After a short hiatus, the series resumed in mid-2009 in full color. Volumes 4 and 5 were originally published before the first three volumes, as it was felt that their content was more accessible.
Dark Horse later began issuing Giant Size volumes; each collects three of their reprint books.
In 2010, Dark Horse reprinted the companion Tubby series (Little Lulu's Pal Tubby) in volumes similar to their Lulu volumes.
In May 2018, Drawn & Quarterly announced that they will be reprinting John Stanley's Little Lulu comics in a multi-volume best-of series, beginning in spring 2019.[26] Drawn & Quarterly reprinted a selection of John Stanley's stories for Free Comic Book Day 2019.[27]
In 2009, Drawn & Quarterly printed a volume of John Stanley Tubby comics as part of their John Stanley Library series.
As a cameo appearance, Little Lulu was planned for the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but rights to the character could not be obtained in time. In 1994, an organization called Friends of Lulu was founded that lasted until 2011, its name was based on Little Lulu. In 2006, Buell's family donated a collection of Buell's artwork and related papers as Marge Papers to the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. She finally makes a cameo appearing on a comic cover in The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives" (2007), being read by Alan Moore.
In Brazil, the expression for "boys' club" (an environment that excludes women) is "clube do Bolinha" (meaning "Tubby's club").[28]
Michelle Ann Abate. "From Battling Adult Authority to Battling the Opposite Sex: Little Lulu as Gag Panel and Comic Book". Chapter 3 in Funny Girls: Guffaws, Guts, and Gender in Classic American Comics. Jackson MS: University of Mississippi Press, 2019. pp. 63–89.
Craig Shutt. "Little Lulu, Big Media Star." Hogan's Alley no.15 (2007), pp. 32–43.