Capp also lampooned popular recording idols of the day, such as Elvis Presley (" Hawg McCall ," 1957 ), Liberace (" Loverboynik ," 1956 ), the Beatles (" the Beasties ," 1964 )— and in 1944, Frank Sinatra.

In addition to creating Li ' l Abner, Capp also co-created two other newspaper strips: Abbie an ' Slats with magazine illustrator Raeburn van Buren in 1937, and Long Sam with cartoonist Bob Lubbers in 1954, as well as the Sunday " topper " strips Washable Jones, Small Fry ( aka Small Change ), and Advice fo ' Chillun.

Capp was also involved with the Sister Kenny Foundation, which pioneered new treatments for polio in the 1940s.

( When the award name was changed in 1954, Capp also retroactively received a Reuben statuette.

Capp portrayed himself in a cameo role in the Bob Hope film That Certain Feeling, ( for which he also provided promotional art ).

Capp also freelanced very successfully as a magazine writer and newspaper columnist, in a wide variety of publications including Life, Show, Pageant, The Atlantic, Esquire, Coronet, and The Saturday Evening Post.

In addition to his public service work for charitable organizations for the handicapped, Capp also served on the National Reading Council, which was organized to combat illiteracy.

Capp was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2004.

Capp also had a knack for popularizing certain uncommon terms, such as druthers, schmooze and nogoodnik, neatnik, etc.

Capp is also the subject of an upcoming WNET-TV American Masters documentary, The Life and Times of Al Capp, produced by his granddaughter, independent filmmaker Caitlin Manning.

In addition to Capp, Jerry Brondfield also wrote for the strip, with Adams stepping in occasionally.

The Mirror also runs a cartoon strip called Mandy, which started life as Mandy Capp.

Capp designed her in caricature of his wife Catherine ( minus the dirt ), who had also suggested Daisy Mae's name.

Capp also excelled at product endorsement, and Li ' l Abner characters were often featured in mid-century American advertising campaigns.

Capp is also the subject of an upcoming PBS American Masters documentary produced by his granddaughter, independent filmmaker Caitlin Manning.

Capp has also been credited with popularizing many terms, such as " natcherly ," schmooze, druthers, and nogoodnik, neatnik, etc.

" Capp was also caricatured as an ill-mannered, boozy cartoonist ( Capp was a teetotaler in real life ) named " Hal Rapp " in the comic strip Mary Worth by Allen Saunders and Ken Ernst.

Declaring that satire was also protected free speech, he refused to order Capp to cease and desist.

There was also a separate line of comic books, Al Capp's Shmoo Comics ( featuring Washable Jones ), published by the Capp family-owned Toby Press. Comics historian and Li ' l Abner expert Denis Kitchen recently edited a complete collection of all five original Shmoo Comics, from 1949 and 1950.

Based on the comic strip Li ' l Abner by Al Capp, the show is, on the surface, a broad spoof of hillbillies, but it is also a pointed satire on broader topics, ranging from incompetence in the United States federal government to standards of masculinity.

He also made appearances in a number of other TV shows, including the first series of Starting Out, Boon, Minder, Dear John, Farrington of the F. O., Z-Cars, Andy Capp, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Blake's 7, and Casualty.

The Ice Capp can also be prepared as a Supreme, which includes a flavour shot, whipped topping, and either caramel or chocolate syrup.

Capp had previously spoofed the idea of a theme park based on his characters in Li ' l Abner, in a 1955 Disneyland parody called " Hal Yappland.

* Frank Sinatra, who was frequently spoofed by Al Capp in Li ' l Abner, has a line in the MGM musical On the Town ( 1949 ) about cops " multiplyin ' like shmoos!

Alfred Gerald Caplin ( September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979 ), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip Li ' l Abner.

Also during this period, Capp was working at night on samples for the strip that would eventually become Li ' l Abner.

Capp peopled his comic strip with an assortment of memorable characters, including Marryin ' Sam, Hairless Joe, Lonesome Polecat, Evil-Eye Fleegle, General Bullmoose, Lena the Hyena, Senator Jack S. Phogbound ( Capp's caricature of the anti-New Deal Dixiecrats ), the ( shudder!

Fans of the strip ranged from novelist John Steinbeck, who called Capp " possibly the best writer in the world today " in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature — to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp " the only robust satirical force in American life.

( Siegel and Shuster had earlier poked fun at Capp in a Superman story in Action Comics # 55, December 1942, in which a cartoonist named " Al Hatt " invents a comic strip featuring the hillbilly " Tiny Rufe.

Capp briefly resigned his membership in 1949 to protest their refusal of admission to Hilda Terry, creator of the comic strip Teena.

1956 saw the debut of the Bald Iggle, considered by some Abner enthusiasts to be the creative high point of the strip, as well as Mammy's revelatory encounter with the " Square Eyes " Family — Capp ’ s thinly-veiled appeal for racial tolerance.

After Capp quit his ghosting job on Ham Fisher's Joe Palooka in 1934 to launch his own strip, Fisher badmouthed him to colleagues and editors, claiming that Capp had " stolen " his idea.

" In 1950, Capp introduced a cartoonist character named " Happy Vermin "— a caricature of Fisher — who hired Abner to draw his comic strip in a dimly lit closet, ( after sacking his previous " temporary " assistant of 20 years, who had been cut off from all his friends in the process ).

" The article recounted Capp's days working for an unnamed " benefactor " with a miserly, swinish personality, who Capp claimed was a never-ending source of inspiration when it came time to create a new unregenerate villain for his comic strip.

Fisher retaliated clumsily, doctoring photostats of Li ' l Abner and falsely accusing Capp of sneaking obscenities into his comic strip.

Another " feud " seemed to be looming when, in one run of Sunday strips in 1957, Capp lampooned the comic strip Mary Worth as " Mary Worm.

Allen Saunders, the creator of the Mary Worth strip, returned Capp's fire with the introduction of the character " Hal Rapp ," a foul-tempered, ill-mannered, and ( ironically ) inebriated cartoonist, ( Capp was a teetotaler ).

In point of fact, Capp maintained creative control over every stage of production for virtually the entire run of the strip.

Fascinated by Frazetta's abilities, Capp initially gave him a free hand in an extended daily sequence ( about a biker named " Frankie ," a caricature of Frazetta ) to experiment with the basic look of the strip by adding a bit more realism and detail ( particularly to the inking ).

As Li ' l Abner reached its peak years, and following the success of the Shmoos and other high moments in his work, Al Capp achieved a public profile that is still unparalleled in his profession, and arguably exceeded the fame of his strip.

Besides his use of the comic strip to voice his opinions and display his humor, Capp was a popular guest speaker at universities, and on radio and television.

The resulting publicity led to hundreds of papers dropping his comic strip, and Capp, already in failing health, withdrew from public speaking.

On November 13, 1977, Capp retired with an apology to his fans for the recently declining quality of the strip, which he said had been the best he could manage due to declining health.

Shortly after the war, Rockwell was contacted by writer Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp, with the suggestion that the three of them should make a daily comic strip together, with Caplin and his brother writing and Rockwell drawing.

From a recommendation, writer Jerry Caplin, a. k. a. Jerry Capp, brother of Li ' l Abner creator Al Capp, invited Adams to draw samples for Capp's proposed Ben Casey comic strip, based on the popular television medical-drama series.