When Li’l Abner Made It To Broadway

The acclaimed comic strip was adapted for the stage as a musical, with song lyrics by a multiple-award winner.

by Rich Watson 

Some comic strips were adapted for the stage. Annie may be the best known, but others, such as Peanuts, Doonesbury and The Addams Family, made the transition.

In 1956, Li’l Abner, a satirical strip about hillbilly life, debuted on Broadway as a musical and lasted for 693 performances.

Not only did it have some future stars, the words for the songs were composed by a famous lyricist straight out of Tin Pan Alley.

Cartoonist Barbara Brandon-Croft Is The Daughter of Another Notable Cartoonist

One pioneering comics artist produced another, a daughter who writes about the lives of black women.

by Rich Watson

You may not know the name Barbara Brandon-Croft, but in recent years her cartoon work has gained attention. Her strip Where I’m Coming From strives to tell the truth about black women, their triumphs and struggles, like no other strip has before.

She got her talent from her father, another noteworthy black comics artist.

The Blondie Movies Were Episodes of a Sitcom Show Before Television

The comic strip about domestic life had a long life on the silver screen in the forties.

by Rich Watson 

The comic strip Blondie, a comedy about a Jazz Age flapper turned housewife, her ne’er-do-well husband, and their family and friends, was created by Chic Young in 1930. While successors have continued the strip into the 21st century, including his son Dean, its heyday was the Depression and the WW2 era. 

It was during this period that Hollywood made an ongoing series of Blondie movies.