Description:

Comic Art 0 - 0 Vibrant original Orphan Annie drawing by Harold Gray



Original Orphan Annie artwork, rendered in Ink and Watercolor on a 3.5" x 6" sheet with 6 punch holes along left margin. Drawn and signed by the Orphan Annie comic creator, Harold Gray as "Harold Gray". Tiny penned notes along lower right edge. The piece could easily be matted such that the punch holes are hidden.


An adorable classic drawing equipped with bubble captions, of both Orphan Annie and her infamous pup Sandy. Annie exuberantly states "Leapin Lizards!/Lookie Sandy - Isn't that our Friend, John Scott Stamm?" , and the beloved Sandy of course says what he says best ,"Arf!" Beautifully rendered in watercolors, in excellent condition with a bold signature and text bubbles. Would be stunning framed!

Annie is a 10-year-old orphan. Her distinguishing physical characteristics are a mop of red, curly hair, a red dress and vacant circles for eyes. Her catchphrases are "Gee whiskers" and "Leapin' lizards!" Annie attributes her lasting youthfulness to her birthday on February 29 in a leap year, and ages only one year in appearance for every four years that pass. Annie is a plucky, generous, compassionate, and optimistic youngster who can hold her own against bullies, and has a strong and intuitive sense of right and wrong.

Sandy enters the story in a January 1925 strip as a puppy of no particular breed which Annie rescues from a gang of abusive boys. The girl is working as a drudge in Mrs. Bottle's grocery store at the time and manages to keep the puppy briefly concealed. She finally gives him to Paddy Lynch, a gentle man who owns a "steak joint" and can give Sandy a good home. Sandy is a mature dog when he suddenly reappears in a May 1925 strip to rescue Annie from gypsy kidnappers. Annie and Sandy remain together thereafter.

Little Orphan Annie displays literary kinship with the picaresque novel in its seemingly endless string of episodic and unrelated adventures in the life of a character who wanders like an innocent vagabond through a corrupt world. In Annie's first year, the picaresque pattern that characterizes her story is set, with the major players - Annie, Sandy and "Daddy" Warbucks - introduced within the strip's first several weeks.

The story opens in a dreary, Dickensian orphanage where Annie is routinely abused by the cold, sarcastic matron, named Miss Asthma (later replaced by an equally mean woman named Miss Treat [a play on the word, "mistreat"]).

One day, the wealthy but mean-spirited Mrs. Warbucks takes Annie into her home "on trial." She makes it clear that she does not like her, and tries to send her back to "the Home", but one of her society friends catches her in the act, and she immediately changes her mind, to her disgust. Her husband Oliver, who returned from a business trip, develops an instant paternal affection for Annie and instructs her to address him as "Daddy." Originally, the Warbucks had a dog named One-Lung, who liked Annie. Their household staff also takes to Annie and they like her. However, the staff despises Mrs. Warbucks, the daughter of a nouveau riche plumber's assistant. Cold-hearted Mrs. Warbucks sends Annie back to "the Home" numerous times, and the staff hates her for that. "Daddy" (Oliver) keeps thinking of her as his "daughter". Mrs. Warbucks often argues with Oliver over how much he "mortifies her when company comes" and his affection for Annie.

A lovely original vibrant drawing, and a classic example of this wonderful cartoon.

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