- The Lockhorns
Infobox comic strip
title= The Lockhorns
caption= The Lockhorns
author= Bunny Hoest and John Reiner
url= [http://www.thelockhorns.com/ The Lockhorns]
rss=
atom=
status= Running
syndicate=King Features Syndicate
publisher=
first=1968
last=
genre=
rating=
preceded by=
followed by="The Lockhorns" is a United States one-panel syndicated daily
comic strip about a married couple, Leroy and Loretta Lockhorn, who constantly argue. It is a pure satire of married life. Leroy and Loretta show how foolish it is to be unkind to the people we love. "The Lockhorns" was created in 1968 by William Hoest.The characters in the strip demonstrate their mutual affection by making humorously sarcastic comments on one another's failings as spouses.
This strip was first entitled "The Lockhorns of
Levittown ". Once the strip was syndicated nationally, the name was shortened to "The Lockhorns". Bill Hoest died in 1988, but Bill's wife, Bunny, continues the strip with the help of Bill's long-time assistant,John Reiner .Bill Hoest received the
National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip for 1975 and 1980.The Lockhorns
*Leroy Lockhorn - The man of the house who drinks a lot, plays golf too much, and chases everything good- looking in a skirt.
*Loretta Lockhorn - The woman of the house who is a shop-a-holic, who drives terribly, and does most of the handiwork around the house because either Leroy is too lazy to do it, or because he feels she should earn all the money she spends.
*Loretta's Mother - Never named and rarely seen (usually only during the Christmas season when she comes to stay), but hated mercilessly by Leroy.
*Marriage Counselor - Whom Leroy and Loretta routinely see, but to no avail.
*Arthur the Bartender - local saloonkeeper to whom Leroy often bemoans his circumstances.Divorce
Outside of the obvious reason for not getting a divorce (because the strip would thus end), the main reason the Lockhorns don't is because Leroy figured out it would be cheaper for him to stay married. This has been noted in a few strips over the years:
*Leroy told Loretta in one that they might manage to swing a divorce if they took out a home improvement loan on their house.
*Leroy once noted to a friend that 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and figured the other 50% couldn't afford it.
*In one skit where Loretta buys afur coat , she tells Leroy that the payments on it are cheaper thanalimony .
*Another mention of divorce is when Leroy is flirting with another woman. Loretta, looking on, remarks to another woman, "I haven't once thought of divorce. I've thought of it a hundred times."Location
Many of the business and institutions pictured in the comic are real, and are located in or near Huntington, NY, on the North Shore of Long Island.
Parodies
*"Marital Mirth", part of the "Super-Fun-Pak Comics" in "
Tom the Dancing Bug ", is a parody of "The Lockhorns".
*The comic strip "The Better Half " is often seen as a tamer version of "The Lockhorns".
*MAD Magazine used the Lockhorns in one sketch where a portrait ofSigmund Freud is used in the context of marriage counseling. The Lockhorns are shown in the "before" part of seeing Freud, with a real life man and woman embracing in passionate kissing as the "after".
*The comic strip "Liō " once had the title character call the cops on Leroy and Loretta for disturbing the peaceReferences
*Strickler, Dave. "Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index." Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.
External links
* [http://www.thelockhorns.com Official Site]
* [http://www.reuben.org/ncs/awards.asp NCS Awards]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/lockhorn.htm The Lockhorns at Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
* [http://lockhornsaloud.livejournal.com/ Lockhorns Aloud] read daily by comedian Jill Bernard
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