- 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 byFrederick 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 onMarch 11 1900 in theWilliam Randolph Hearst newspapers, and was one of the first popular comics withKing Features Syndicate . It told the adventures of a well-meaninghobo 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 inArgentina , 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, whenJ. 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.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)]
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