Madam & Eve

Madam & Eve is a daily comic strip originating in South Africa. The strip, by Stephen Francis and Rico Schacherl, is syndicated in 13 publications and claims a daily readership of over 4 million people. [The comic's circulation information (number of periodicals and readership) are taken from [http://www.madameve.co.za/all_about_madamandeve.html the official website] .] The strip was first published in July 1992, in a black and white weekly format in "The Weekly Mail" (now the "Mail & Guardian") and in a monthly colour format in "Living" magazine. In 1993 the creators added five daily cartoons, also in black and white. In 2000 Madam and Eve was made into a television sitcom.

Concept

A satirical strip, it started in 1992 and was based around the theme of a middle-class white woman, Gwen Anderson, and her black maid, Eve Sisulu, coming to terms with the new South Africa as the Apartheid era drew to a close. Theirs is a relationship of affectionate squabbling. Madam's mother from England has also become a fully-fledged member of the strip.

Over the years the strip has raised other social and political issues in a humorous way. Even the concept of comic strips themselves has been satirised on occasion, like when they get caught in a crumbling newspaper and end up in an ink flood with Zonker of Doonesbury.

Perhaps in the spirit of equality, neither character is portrayed as particularly sympathetic. Madam is always coming up with silly ideas in order to fit in more with the new way of life. She even went so far as to set up the Madam & Eve Party in order to contest South Africa's first full democratic election in April 1994. The press conference was attended by just one journalist, her son Eric, representing his college newspaper. He was warned off critical questions when Mom raised the issue of his university allowance.

Eve meanwhile keeps coming up with ways of obtaining extra cash out of Madam and others. She once set up a booth claiming to be giving lessons in political correctness. Not hiding her scepticism, Madam paid her 10 Rand for the lesson. "That was your lesson," said Eve. "Sharing your Wealth." While voting in the 1994 election, Madam broke her pencil and Eve would only give her hers for 50 Rand: "I love this new South Africa" thought Eve.

Political Humor

The strip often pokes fun at political figures, both South African and elsewhere in the world (much in the same way, though not as consistently, as the US strip Doonesbury). Past targets have included current South African president Thabo Mbeki, former South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma, businessman Schabir Shaik and Winnie Mandela. Further afield, jabs have been directed at US President George W. Bush, vice president Dick Cheney and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The faces of the politicians are usually not shown.

Even Nelson Mandela has been a source of fun. Although highly regarded both in and out of South Africa, "Madam and Eve" has tended to present him as no better than any other politician. For example, when he and Frederik Willem de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, a series of strips had their lawyers discussing its sharing with Mandela insisting on a 60-40% split on the grounds that he had featured on more magazine covers and Hollywood movies.

Creators

The idea for Madam & Eve originated with Stephen Francis, an American expatriate. Francis moved to South Africa with his wife, Wendy, whom he met at the South African consulate in New York City. They are now divorced. [http://www.exclusivebooks.com/interviews/email/sfrancis.php?Tag=&CID= Exclusive Books 2000 interview with Stephen Francis] ] The three founding creators of the Madam & Eve strip, Harry Dugmore, Rico Schacherl, and Stephen Francis, first worked together on Laughing Stock, a satirical magazine launched in Johannesburg in 1988. Following the closure of the magazine (after 13 issues), the three worked on other projects in the greeting card division of the same company. That company folded, and the trio launched "Madam & Eve" in July 1992. [cite book | author=Francis, S.; Dugmore, H. and Rico | title=Madam & Eve's Greatest Hits | publisher=Penguin Books | year=1998 | pages = Pages 6-7 | id=ISBN 0-14-028241-6] Dugmore left the partnership in 2001.

Rico Schacherl

Known professionally by his first name, Rico is a cartoonist and illustrator living and working in Johannesburg, South Africa. Born in Austria in 1966, he claims he was drawing cartoons ever since he was old enough to hold a pencil. After less-than-successful studies in graphic design and architecture during the late 80s, Rico decided to get a real job as a cartoonist. Besides his work on Madam & Eve, Rico also produces illustrations in a wide variety of styles ranging from serious editorial or humorous magazine illustrations to children's comics.

Rico specialises in the fields of corporate communications, graphic storytelling and character design for cartoons, animation and education. He has worked on highly successful projects for clients such as Telkom, Old Mutual, Avmin, Pick 'n Pay, SABC Education and the Human Rights Commission. This work includes The Bottom Line, a cartoon strip about the South African workplace, which is widely syndicated in company newsletters. He has also worked for the Mail & Guardian, Tribute, The Teacher, Style Magazine and Penguin Books.

tephen Francis

Stephen Francis, born in the US in 1950, moved to South Africa in 1988 with his then wife, Wendy, whom he met at the South African consulate in New York City. His parents live in New Jersey. The fifth anniversary Madam & Eve book credits many of the strip's original ideas, including the title, to Francis.

Harry Dugmore

Harry Dugmore, born 1961, was the native South African of the founding group. Harry was described in 2000 as handling all of the business for the partnership. He left Rapid Phase in 2001.

Main characters

Madam

Gwen Anderson, also known as Madam, is a typical white South African woman. The original "Madam" is loosely based on Stephen Francis' own mother-in-law, coincidentally named Gwen. Of her family we have met one son, Eric, and her mother and aunt.

Eve

Eve Sisulu is Madam's "domestic maintenance assistant." Eve frequently opens a booth selling different goods and services for a side income, and is sometimes found asleep on her ironing board, both deliberate homages to Charles Schulz' Peanuts (Lucy and Snoopy, respectively).

Mother Anderson

The character of Mother Anderson was originally introduced as Abigail ("Mother") Anderson in 1993. The character visited Madam & Eve on a trip from England, and soon disappeared again from the comic strip. Her first appearance was so popular that the character returned in 1994 and has stayed in the comic since, as a permanent character. A twin sister, Edith, was introduced in 1995, but a year after that character's appearance "Mother Anderson" became known as "Edith Anderson," the name which has stuck since. She is well known for her addiction to gin and tonic.

Thandi

Thandi was introduced in 1994 as Lizeka's baby sister. She has often been "paired" with 80-year-old Mother Anderson. Since Eric and Lizeka no longer appear regularly, Thandi is described, as of 2005, as "Eve's precocious cousin who lives next door."

Recurring characters

Eric Anderson

Eric Anderson, Gwen's son, was introduced in early 1993 as a college student. The character was allowed to graduate from college a few years later, but remained unemployed. When the character reappears it has been said he had been on a trip to India or Tibet.The illustrator's (real name: Enrico Schacherl) real-life brother's name also happens to be Erich.

Lizeka

Lizeka was introduced as Eric's college girlfriend in late 1993. Being Zulu, she allowed the writers to explore humor in having an "interracial couple." As of 2005, this character has all but disappeared from the strip.

The Mielie Lady

Another inspiration of Stephen Francis: Francis would be frequently awoken from naps by a woman street vendor, calling out that she had Mielies (known as ears of corn in the USA & Canada, and maize elsewhere). The writers originally spelled the word "mealies," but settled on "mielies" by 1996. The woman who peddles them past Madam & Eve's house is often paired with Mother Anderson, who often gives chase, wielding a katty (known elsewhere as a slingshot) for having had her nap interrupted.

Parktown Prawns

The Parktown prawn is a large King cricket that manages to create regular havoc in Madam's household whenever it appears, due to its repugnant shape and difficulty to kill using normal insecticides.

The prawns in the cartoon behave like university students who are on holiday - insecticide gives them a drug-trip, and they call it 'zol' - the South African slang for cannabis.

The Prawns have been known to leave a prawn-shaped silhouette in frying pans applied to them to kill them, and to get amusement from scaring the ladies in the Anderson house.

Three Guys on the Back of a Bakkie

Three enigmatic laborers sitting on the back of a bakkie (pickup truck) often appear in strips which have Madam stuck in traffic. Typically, they do nothing but stare at her with otherwise blank expressions, which drives Madam nuts: "It never fails! For years, wherever I go in traffic, I always end up behind these same three guys on the back of a bakkie!" — from the strip of 2 November 2006.

Other characters

*The "little aliens" come to earth and have to decide whether South Africans have developed as a species, if not they will destroy them.
*The tokoloshes are small creatures from African folklore, they try to take the characters away at night if they don't have bricks under their beds.

Books

Annual collections

#"The Madam & Eve Collection" - First printed September 1993, reprinted 1999 - ISBN 0-620-17869-8
#"Free at Last" - First printed 1994 - ISBN 0-14-024833-1
#"All Aboard for the Gravy Train" - First printed 1995 - ISBN 0-14-025652-0
#"Somewhere over the Rainbow Nation" - First printed 1996, reprinted 1998 - ISBN 0-14-026420-5
#"Madams Are from Mars, Maids Are from Venus" - First printed 1997, reprinted 1998 - ISBN 0-14-026656-9
#"Madam & Eve's Greatest Hits: Five Year Anniversary Special Edition" - First printed 1998 - ISBN 0-14-028241-6
#"It's a Jungle Out There" - First printed 1998 - ISBN 0-86486-411-6
#"International Maid of Mystery" - First printed 1999 - ISBN 0-86486-443-4
#"The Madams are Restless" - First printed 2000 - ISBN 0-620-26306-7
#"Crouching Madam, Hidden Maid" - First printed 2001 - ISBN 0-620-27931-1
#"Madam & Eve: 10 Wonderful Years" - First printed 2002 - ISBN 0-620-29248-2
#"The Maidtrix" - First printed 2003 - ISBN 0-620-30709-9
#"Gin & Tonic for the Soul" - First printed 2004 - ISBN 0-620-30709-9
#"Desperate Housemaids" - First printed 2005 - ISBN 0-620-34459-8
#"Madams of the Caribbean" - First printed 2006 - ISBN 0-620-37052-1
#"Bring me my (new) Washing Machine" - First printed 2007 - ISBN 0-620-39600-4

pecial collections

#"Has Anyone seen my Vibrating Cellphone?" - First printed 2000 - ISBN 0-620-25271-5
#"Madam & Eve's SA Survival Handbook" - First printed 2001 - ISBN 0-620-27930-3

The first of these was a special edition produced with Vodacom. The second featured the "Madam & Eve" characters with text by Gus Silber.

TV show

A thirty minute live action TV show was produced and shown on South African TV. The TV show appeared on eTV in 2000. In 2002 the show was nominated for the Rose d' Or Competition. The cast consists of
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0068561/ Val Donald Bell] - Gwen "Madam" Anderson
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0419562/ Tina Jaxa] - Eve Sisulu
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1083094/ Pat Sanders] - Gwen's mother. Pat Sanders died in July 2005. The Madam & Eve comic strip dated 27 July 2005 was dedicated to her.
* Joe Mafela - Sol
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0829935/ Jenny Steyn] - Marge, Gwen's neighbourThe show was directed by Mark Graham and produced by [http://www.penguinfilms.co.za Penguin Films] .

International coverage

Some art from Madam and Eve has been placed into galleries, such as the exhibit at the Caisa Gallery, Helsinki, Finland, which lasted until 30 June 2005. The comic has also been covered and reviewed internationally, including a "New York Times" article by Bill Keller, published on 5 April 1993, a "Washington Post" article by Paul Taylor, France's newspaper "Liberation", in 1994, and the international magazine "The Economist", in 1997. Their cartoon collection books have been published in Denmark, France and Sweden, and some cartoons are occasionally reprinted in a comics magazine in Norway.

Because the comic is available online, and the books are available internationally, the cartoonists have, on occasion, explained some topics to their international readers through their characters. Many of these have been translations, such as mielies being corn or maize, or a "robot" being a traffic light/signal.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.madamandeve.co.za/ Madam & Eve Official Site]
* [http://www.rico.co.za/ Personal site of Madam & Eve's artist Rico]
* [http://madamandeveblog.blogspot.com/ Rico's Madam & Eve blog]
* [http://www.employees.org/%7Elwood/madam-and-eve/ Alternate Madam & Eve comic browser]