Happy Hooligan

Infobox Comic strip
title=Happy Hooligan


caption= Hooligan as he appeared in a 1902 strip
creator=Frederick Burr Opper
status=Ended
syndicate=New York American/King Features Syndicate
comictype=print
genre=Humor
first=March 11 1900
last=August 14 1932
website=

"Happy Hooligan" was a popular and influential early American comic strip by Frederick Burr Opper.

History

"Happy Hooligan", the first major comic strip by already celebrated cartoonist Opper, [cite web |url=http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=291 |title=Frederick Burr Opper |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Ohio History Central |authorlink=Ohio Historical Society |year=2005 |publisher=Ohio Historical Society] debuted with a Sunday strip on March 11 1900 in the William Randolph Hearst newspapers, and was one of the first popular comics with King Features Syndicate. It told the adventures of a well-meaning hobo who encountered a lot of misfortune and bad luck, partly because of his looks and his low position in society, but who did not lose his smile over it.cite web |url=http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/cartoonamerica/cartoon-laughs.html |title=Happy Hooligan Makes a Grand Hit! |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Cartoon America: a Library of Congress Exhibition |authorlink=Library of Congress] He was contrasted by his two brothers, the sour Gloomy Gus and the snobbish Montmorency, both just as poor as Happy. Montmorency wore a top hat and monocle, but was otherwise as ragged as his siblings.

Like the other major comics by Opper, "And Her Name Was Maud" and "Alphonse and Gaston", "Happy Hooligan" initially did not run on a regular schedule, skipping Sundays from time to time, while some other weeks two pages appeared at once; the character also played a role in some of Opper's daily strips. After a few years though, "Happy Hooligan" became a regular appearing comic with both daily strips and Sunday pages.

Opper was one of the most popular comic creators of his time, [cite web |url=http://www.kingfeatures.com/history/historyeIncM.htm |title=Hearst's Comics Increase Sales |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=King Features Syndicate |authorlink=King Features Syndicate] and "Happy Hooligan" and his other series got collected in book form, turned into merchandise products, and became immensely popular. [cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,776843,00.html |title=Happy Khuligan |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Time |authorlink=Time (magazine) |date=1946-05-27] [cite web |url=http://www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart10/hearst.html |title= William Randolph Hearst and the Comics |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Joseph F. D'Angelo, President, King Features Syndicate] The comic got translated as well and was, together with the "Katzenjammer Kids" and "And Her Name Was Maud", one of the first North American comics to be published in Argentina, as "Cocoliche". [cite web |url=http://www.buchmesse.de/comic-argentina/e1900f.htm |title=La Historieta Argentina |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Frankfurter Buchmesse |authorlink=Frankfurt Book Fair] The comic was also probably the very first American comic to be adapted to a movie, when J. Stuart Blackton directed 6 live action shorts of it between 1900 and 1902. [cite web |url=http://www.toonopedia.com/hooligan.htm |title=Happy Hooligan |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Don Markstein |authorlink=Don Markstein's Toonopedia] Some 15 years later, more than 50 animated movies were made of the series as well.

As Opper did not use an assistant, the series ended on August 14 1932 when Opper abandoned it due to failing eyesight. While lacking lasting popularity, the series remained influential and has inspired e.g. Jules Feiffer and Rube Goldberg and was arguably a major inspiration for Charlie Chaplin's "The Tramp" character. [cite web |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,910181-4,00.html |title=The Comics on the Couch |accessdate=2007-02-24 |author=Time |authorlink=Time (magazine) |date=1971-12-13 |quote="There was a connection between Happy Hooligan and Chaplin," says Italian Director Federico Fellini [...] ] It was called "Opper's greatest comic character" by comics artist Coulton Waugh. [cite web |url=http://library.osu.edu/sites/exhibits/cartoonists/opper.html |title=Frederick Burr Opper |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Ohio State University |authorlink=Ohio State University |publisher=Ohio Cartoonists: Exhibition] "Happy Hooligan" is also cited as the first comic to use speech balloons on a regular basis as an integral part of the comic ("The Yellow Kid" used speech balloons as early as 1896, but did not use them as the main means of communication). [cite web |url=http://www.imageandnarrative.be/painting/pascal_levevre.htm |title=The Battle over the Balloon |accessdate=2007-02-16 |author=Pascal Lefèvre |year=2006 |month=July |publisher=Image & Narrative: Online Magazine of the Visual Narrative]

Notes

Everything not directly referenced in the text can be sourced to the [http://www.toonopedia.com/hooligan.htm Toonopedia entry] for "Happy Hooligan".

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1112850/ IMDb entry]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/hooligan.htm Toonopedia entry]
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/o/opper.htm Opper biography at Comiclopedia]
* [http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/sheetmusic,131 Happy Hooligan Dance and Two Step (sheet music)]