Li’l Abner on TCM

on February 4, 2009 in Uncategorized

Cinema Retro reports that Li’l Abner–the 1959 film based on Al Capp’s comic strip will be playing this Friday at 11:30 EST.

I’m intrigued because I’ve never seen it, I’m a sucker for a musical, and Trina Robbins gave a great talk on “The Feral Women of Li’l Abner” at Wonder Con last year:

Cartoonist and historian Trina Robbins (From Girls to Grrrlz) presents a slideshow talk on the feral girls—Pig Girl, Hawk Girl, and Wolf Gal—of Li’l Abner’s Dogpatch, a bloodthirsty lot with no compunction about turning Dogpatchers into dinner. Wolf Gal, the starring wild girl of Dogpatch, is strong, beautiful, independent, and—don’t laugh—a feminist. When the little girls of Dogpatch imitate Wolf Gal by taking no guff from the boys, the citizens of Dogpatch react. They want their daughters to grow up as “overworked, wore-out, respectable married drudges,” not “wild an’ happy an’f ree, like th’ wolf gal!!” Robbins connects these cartoon wild women with mythical feral children and more contemporary figures like Misha Defonseca, a Jewish orphan during World War II, who hid from the Nazis in the forests of occupied Europe for four years and eventually teamed up with a family of wolves. Recounting her experiences years later, she wrote, “the only time I ever slept deeply was when I was with wolves… Those were the most beautiful days I had ever experienced.”

And . . . it stars the gorgeous Julie Newmar as Stupefyin’ Jones.

One Response to “Li’l Abner on TCM”

  1. LivelyClamor says:

    Unfortunately, it appears that the Defonseca story has been debunked; however, I still love Wolf Gal. I am just old enough to remember some of the cartoons that were in the paper in the very early 60’s I think — with her in them.

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