- Andy Capp
Andy Capp is a long-running British
comic strip character created by Reginald Smythe, seen in the "The Daily Mirror " and "The Sunday Mirror " newspapers sinceAugust 5 ,1957 . The strip is syndicated internationally byCreators Syndicate . Originally a single-panel cartoon, Smythe later expanded it to four panels. The character is also licensed as themascot for a line of snack foods, and a defunct chain of miniature golf courses inBrevard County, Florida . Smythe received theNational Cartoonist Society Humor Comic Strip Award for the strip for 1974.Character
Andy is a
working class figure, living inHartlepool , North-EastEngland . His hobbies includepigeon racing ,snooker , football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off), occasionallycricket and rugby, betting on horses, getting drunk (often falling in the canal and, always, seven nights a week, arriving home late as a result), fishing (and not catching anything bigger than agoldfish ), womanizing, lying on the sofa and fighting with his long-suffering wife, Flo.He was always seen with a
cigarette dangling from his lip until the 1980s, perhaps because this was when Reg gave up smoking himself. Similarly, he no longer indulges in fisticuffs with Florrie, because of concerns about the depiction ofdomestic violence . Instead, they now attend marriage counseling. Andy's trademarkcloth cap is always pulled down over his face.Andy and Florrie are always on the verge of
poverty . Andy is unemployed and lacks motivation, rent on the house and contents are constantly in arrears, and Percy the rent collector despairs of ever being paid. Their furniture has been repossessed on several occasions. Somehow, they always manage to recover it, and Andy is always able to affordbeer and betting (usually by borrowing from Florrie). The strip is almost exclusively shown in one of three locations: the pub, the street, or in the Capp's house at No. 37 Durham Street (generally with Andy on the couch and Florrie yelling from the next room). Lesser visited places include the race track (although Andy frequently bets by listening to the radio, thus saving him the trip), marriage counseling (in one memorable cartoon, a panoramic shot is given of the counseling office, with several entire file cabinets dedicated entirely to the Capps), and the football pitch (where Andy is either being sent off, or carried off).Andy and Flo's best friends are their neighbours Chalkie and Rube White. Chalkie is like Andy, a hard-drinking, hard-scrabble type who can often be seen sharing a pint with Andy at the corner pub; however, Chalkie seems to be more mellow than Andy and more tolerant of his wife. Also unlike Andy, Chalkie was known to be employed, if intermittently, during much of the strip's run. Rube is Flo's confidante, and the two often trade gossip about their husbands' latest escapades. The
Vicar is also seen often; Andy despairs of his holier-than-thou attitude, and he is constantly criticizing Andy for his drinking and gambling, and often lets his opinion be known to Flo, who frequently agrees with his assessments of Andy's character. Percy Ritson the rent collector and Jackie the barman are often seen, as well. Flo's mother, anunseen character , is often engaged in conversation at the door, but never actually comes inside or is physically seen in the comic strip. Flo's mum is often the subject of Andy's pointed barbs about her weight and less-than-sunny disposition, but she has been known to give as good as she gets. Flo has an older sister, Polly, who is never seen.Continuation
Reg Smythe died on
June 13 ,1998 , and the original strip has been continued in a highly regardedpastiche of his style. For some time the writer and artist were uncredited, but in November 2004 the strip began to carry a credit for Roger Mahoney andRoger Kettle .yndication
Despite its local milieu, the comic strip is syndicated in 50 countries throughout the world.
tatue
Shortly after Reg Smythe died, a campaign was started to have a statue of Andy Capp erected in his, and Smythe's home town, Hartlepool, [cite web | url = http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk | title = this is hartlepool | accessdate = 2008-05-03] as a commemorative gesture. However, no local businesses could be found to sponsor the venture, as it was deemed the cartoon was too politically incorrect, and perpetuated a negative
stereotype of the Northeast. After many years of public and even national debate, a bronze statue was commissioned. The statue was unveiled onJune 28 ,2007 (several months in advance of the strip's 50th anniversary) by Reg's widow Jean. It has pride of place outside the Harbour of Refuge pub, in Croft Terrace in the Headland area of the town. Designed by Shrewsbury-based sculptor Jane Robbins, the 5 ft 8 inch statue cost £20,000. [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/tees/6248444.stm | title = Home town gains Andy Capp statue | publisher = BBC News | date =2007-06-28 | accessdate = 2008-05-03]Book collections
Several collections of "Andy Capp" strips have been published by "The Daily Mirror" since 1958; its more current collections are "The Andy Capp Collection: No. 1" and "The Andy Capp Collection: 2005", and are widely available.
In the United States, Fawcett published several "Andy Capp" collections from the mid-1960s through the 1980s. These books are now out of print, though many used bookstores may still have some copies; as with collections of many 20th-century comic strips, quite a number of them appear on
eBay almost constantly.Adaptations
In 1981, a stage musical based on the strip had a short run at London's
Aldwych Theatre , with songs byAlan Price andTrevor Peacock , starringTom Courtenay as Andy Capp.An attempt to transfer Andy Capp to television in 1988 met with little success. The well known British character actor James Bolam played Andy on ITV. The series consisted of 6 episodes that were shown once and have never been repeated.
Related series
When the children's comic "Buster" was launched in 1960, its masthead character was entitled "Buster: Son of Andy Capp". Buster wore a cloth cap similar to Andy's until 1992, but the connection was not recognised in the parent strip and had limited development in the children's comic. Buster did often refer to his father, and he was seen in the comic itself attempting to find a gas leak in three frames of the
18 June 1960 issue. He was also shown in two drawn photographs in the2 July 1960 issue, the first of which was displayed by Buster's mum with the pronouncement "It's a photo of Buster taken with Andy! You can see he's got his dad's fine straight nose". Buster's mum was often referred to by name and was consistently drawn to resemble Andy's wife Flo.The Mirror currently runs a cartoon strip called "Mandy", which started life as "Mandy Capp". It is the tale of a sassy single mother and her travails with work, dating and her home and social life. Her relationship to Andy is unclear, but the two strips have never had a crossover.
References in other media
An Andy Capp character appeared in an episode of the third season of "
Family Guy " entitled "And the Wiener Is... ", when he is seen at the Drunken Clam (with aCockney accent rather than his native Hartlepool) withPeter Griffin before getting into a fight with Flo when she caught him drinking.In "
The Simpsons " episode "Marge vs. the Monorail ", Homer is seen reading "Andy Capp" in the newspaper. He roughly summarizes the comic when he laughs and says, "Oh, Andy Capp, you wife-beating drunk!" Homer also lies down on the couch in Andy's characteristic style in "Make Room for Lisa ", stating "That Andy Capp was on to something."ConAgra Foods manufactures a line of snack products in the U.S. known as "Andy Capp's fries ".Andy Capp is the symbol for the SUNY Oneonta Rugby Football Club, ORFC and the Ultras of the German football club
1. FC Nuremberg have Andy, called "Jacky", as mascot.There are also Andy Capp slot machines located in the Golden Moon Hotel & Casino in Philadelphia, MS. hi
References
External links
* [http://opal.ukc.ac.uk/cartoonx-cgi/ccc.py?mode=summary&search=Andy+Capp Andy Capp] , British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent
* [http://www.creators.com/comics/andy-capp.html daily Andy Capp comics at Creators Syndicate]
* [http://www.comics.com/creators/andycapp/ Comics.com]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/andycapp.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
* German newspaper article named "A comic-hero on his way through Europe" about "Ultras Nürnberg"‘s mascot Jacky (=Andy) – Nice Photos: [http://www.nn-online.de/artikel.asp?art=739607&kat=31&man=3 Nürnberger Nachrichten (Newspaper)]
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