Amazing Al Capp At AnimationArchive.org
Stephen Worth says:
Today, we posted more amazing "Cappiana" from the collection of cartoonist, Mike Fontanelli at the ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive, including...CAPPtivating Heroes: Jack Jawbreaker and Fearless Fosdick Fight Crime• Al Capp's infamous "Jack Jawbreaker" story -- a devastating satire of the notorious exploitation of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster by DC Comics.
• More than a dozen rare Wildroot Cream-Oil strips, as well as original artwork and Nat King Cole's version of the jingle.
• Two complete Fearless Fosdick stories, including Capp's over-the-top masterpiece of surreal violence, "The Case of the Chippendale Chair (or Kiss The Blood Off My Springs)"
Capp's sense of humor was decades ahead of its time, predating the sort of sick humor that is so popular in comics and cartoons today. It's amazing what he got away with in "family newspapers" during the 50s!
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Capp was incredibly funny and irreverent. He was a lot of fun to watch on those rare occasions when he'd guest on a talk show.
He was also an arch-conservative and bigot of the brown-shirt variety.
A notorious drunk, more often than not his assistants had to draw the strip because he was unable to.
Any rape jokes in this set?
Yeah, I know, I'm a spoilsport. But there are certain things that can permanently spoil an artist for me, and this is one of them. YMMV, I guess.
IIRC, he wasn't a complete right-wing nut job until later in life. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that in his early years he wasn't as bad.
What's the date on the rape cartoon?
There's always this famous heated exchange from the Bed-In in Toronto between Al Capp, John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZkRdPxQENU
AIRSHIP: Capp was a lifelong teetotaler. He was far from being a "drunk".
HALLOWEEN JACK: You've got the wrong Al. Al Franken is the one with the rape jokes. (Capp was convicted of attempted adultery, not rape.)
I thought it would be nice to discuss an artist's work here. Wrong crowd for that, I guess.
If you're interested in who Al Capp actually was, see the excellent wikipedia entry on him
I always find that the comments of people who have actually taken the time to read about the subject they're talking about are the most useful.
The fact that Al Capp was one of the greatest cartoonists and satirists of the 20th century is self evident if you bother to read the stories posted at the Animation Archive.
#4, after going to the Wikipedia article, I must concede I was apparently wrong about Capp's drinking.
Most of what I knew about Capp came from what I saw on TV after he turned conservative and the first-person stories told me by my art teacher, who purported to have been one of Capp's assistants. Reading the article, it appears that he may have made that up.
My teacher had been crippled by polio in the 50's, and claimed that he was well on his way to a career as a successful cartoonist when he was disabled by his disease. Maybe he became bitter and took it out on Capp? I don't know, and he died decades ago so I guess I never will.
That's interesting Airship, because Capp himself was crippled, having lost a leg in an accident as a boy. A few months back, we posted scans of a comic book autobiography of Capp titled "Al Capp by Li'l Abner" where Capp straightforwardly illustrates his accident and how he dealt with the problems it caused for him. It's an interesting read...
ReCAPP- A Bio Of The Creator Of Li'l Abner
(Scroll down to the comic book)
Capp was an extremely complex personality, and great satirists like him are often misinterpreted and misrepresented by those who either don't understand, or just don't want to understand. That's why we've been presenting this series of articles on his life and career. We'd like to set the record straight.
If you had to sum up Al Capp in a nutshell, you would have to say that he passionately hated liars and phonies. Although it may have appeared so on the surface, he wasn't partisan, and he never changed his stripes. He had disdain for all of hypocrites equally and used simple humor about ignorant people to make fun of very pompous stupid people. He wasn't one to back down from a fight, and he stood up for what he believed and willingly took the flack that created. Right or wrong, you have to respect a guy like that.
"Brown shirt bigot"?...Interesting choice of hyperbole to level at a Jewish artist who contributed public service work to B'nai B'rith, used his public voice and celebrity against racism, sexism, and censorship, and contributed to the war effort- yes, on the Allies' end. Now I'd love to hear about some of his Brown Shirt activities- did he actually march with Ernst Rohm or just send a check?
Not to let facts or truth get in the way of a good emotions-manipulating mud-slinging...Call me a liberal for Capp.
Great stuff! Always great to see this brilliant work actually on display, as well as just under discussion. Thanks ASIFA, thanks BoingBoing, and thanks Mike Fontanelli.
Al Capp was brilliant. He got wounded in the Culture Wars. Both these things are true. His brilliance is the more important of them.
Meanwhile:
RackinFrackin, aren't you Mike Fontanelli?
[What's the date on the rape cartoon?]
1971. The drawing is out-of-context; it was included in a satirical essay in which Capp targeted the lax violent crime laws in NYC at the time, (and in particular the famously dangerous Central Park.)
An earlier comment dismisses it as a "rape joke", which isn't accurate or fair. That's like dismissing "Borat" for being anti-Semitic.
[RackinFrackin, aren't you Mike Fontanelli?]
Guilty.
RackinFrackin makes a living claiming to be Fontanelli. He's actually Fontanelli's disgruntled former towel boy, Manuel, discharged in 2005 after a series of "inappropriate touching" accusations in New York's Central Park. (The Fontanelli pool has since been cleaned thoroughly, and the towels burned).
RackinFrackin, I know Mike Fontanelli. Mike Fontanelli is a friend of mine. You, sir, are no Mike Fontanelli. But, then, damn few of us are.
[Now I'd love to hear about some of his Brown Shirt activities- did he actually march with Ernst Rohm or just send a check?]
Ha ha! You've been reading Capp, Surfer Joe!
A big part of the fun in Fosdick is the stylization of it. "Abner" was absurd melodrama, with hammy acting (a subtler idea that MAD really ran with beautifully). "Abner" characters pointed skyward and arched their backs to make ham-fisted declarations ("Ah RESPECKS big words!").
In Fosdick, you get a sort of total archness, from the expressionistic staging to the heavy lines, right down to the (sometimes) primitive perspective, with some of the most absurd poses, action, and acting ever. Sure, it started with Gould, but it went to its own crazily original world quickly. (Who else looked at "Tracy" and saw THAT?). Even Kurtzman, fellow genius that he was, couldn't surpass it or exceed it, because Capp left nothing on the field. With Fosdick, it's all on the scoreboard for us...the collision of extremes in style and subject is half the gag in Fosdick.
"Ha ha! You've been reading Capp, Surfer Joe!"
Reading Capp keeps my hair smooth, but never (ugh!) greasy.
"...he never changed his stripes."
From New Deal Democrat to Nixon Republican takes a whole lot of stripe-changing along the way.
Oh, so this is where The Tick's "Chairface Chippendale" comes from. I had no idea.
I don't know if Capp was specifically a "New Deal" guy- I've never heard anything quite that specific. But the basic claim he always made was that the left had deserted him, rather than vice-versa. I would certainly agree that his politics changed...but I think that if the counter culture and the SDS had emerged during the forties, he'd have mocked their excesses then, and just as hard.
The far more interesting point is that when he was on my side his work was broadly admired and (here's the key) very popular free speech; when he changed targets he became a (Jewish) Brown Shirt and a (teetotaling) drunk, and his many, many humanitarian credentials were kicked to the curb, along with his unmistakable genius.
It happened to his friend Charlie Chaplin earlier, but Chaplin's leftist "sins" are deemed forgivable and his greatness on film was allowed to triumph over the convoluted contemporary context*.
As a liberal, I have watched the far right try to tar and feather my side for more than twenty years- making us over with the phrase "the 'L' word", and marginalizing the many great historical achievements of liberalism since the liberal beginnings of this great country. Now it sickens me to watch my side trying to do the same, to sink to that level.
I guess art only matters if we agree with and admire everything the artist ever said or did. Death to the unhip.
* That's for you, Nattering Nabobs!
From New Deal Democrat to Nixon Republican takes a whole lot of stripe-changing along the way.
The only difference there is the particular target of Capp's satire. Capp himself and the type of targets he chose were exactly the same.
''Capp himself and the type of targets he chose were exactly the same.''
Nope. ''Joanie Phonie'' was a cheap shot at Joan Baez, a wonderful person without guile or duplicity. Many of us were embarrassed for him.
Joan Baez herself doesn't agree with you. She eventually took Capp's criticisms to heart, as she honestly admitted in her 1987 autobiography "And A Voice To Sing With. "Mr Capp confused me considerably. I'm sorry he's not alive to read this, it would make him chuckle!"
Capp has said he actually based Joanie on a type, not specifically on Baez, but it doesn't really matter. In 1969, Baez felt differently and took Capp to court to stop the strips from being published. Many newspapers either dropped the strip altogether or ran censored versions - a far, far greater crime. The judge in the case, incidentally, ruled that satire is also free speech, just as much as protest songs, and refused to order Capp to cease and desist. Every satirist on the planet can be thankful for that.
Why isn't Joan Baez fair game for satire?
Every public figure is fair game for satire; only the weak and helpless should be off-limits. I had a girlfriend who did a devastating imitation of Baez's voice. I did Dylan (not so well), and we sang a parody duet I wrote called ''Who Killed What's-His-Name?"
Even the St. Pauls of Cappianity are worthy of satire, including the apostle sock puppets.
It's all about you - isn't it, Buddy? Forgive me, I forgot.
Rackin', that was a cheap shot at Buddy, a wonderful person without guile or duplicity. Many of us were embarrassed for you.
I've learned today that satire is only applicable to the duplicitous, guileful, and unwonderful.
On the other hand, Buddy, I'm shocked by your repeated attacks on a one-legged and dead man. Many of us were embarrassed for you.
You've been reading Capp again!
My God, you're right. My comments constitute satire- cheap shots at an helpless Italian and a guy who imitates Dylan at parties. I'm embarrassed for me.
And reading over these comments, I'm still doing it. More satire! I can't seem to stop! This must be what happened to Capp. Poor guileless, satirical, one-legged bastard!
My Gawd, it seems to be effecting me too! I feel a satirical swoon coming on...
I will now compose a protest song in the fleeting moments before my soul is hushed - sung to the tune of "Lesbian Seagull" from Beavis and Butthead - called "Surfer Joe Is Blowin' In The Wind and Breaking Wind At The Same Time"
I fear it may not be "sans guile", however.
Maestro?...
[Poor guileless, satirical, one-legged bastard!]
I'm a three-legged bastard, does that count?
I wish to state at this time that many of us were embarrassed for me.