“ It ’ s phonetic Hebrew — that ’ s what it is, all right — and that ’ s what I was getting at with the name Yokum, more so than any attempt to sound hickish ," said Capp.

Capp is often associated with two other giants of the medium: Milton Caniff ( Terry and the Pirates, Steve Canyon ) and Walt Kelly ( Pogo ).

No matter how much help he had, Capp insisted on drawing and inking the characters ' faces and hands — especially of Abner and Daisy Mae — himself, and his distinctive touch is often discernible.

As is usual with collaborative efforts in comic strips, his name was the only one credited — although, sensitive to his own experience working on Joe Palooka, Capp frequently drew attention to his assistants in interviews and publicity pieces.

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.

According to an apocryphal tale from this era, in a televised face-off, either Capp ( on the Dick Cavett Show ) or ( more commonly ) conservative talk show host Joe Pyne ( on his own show ) is supposed to have taunted iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa about his long hair, asking Zappa if he thought he was a girl.

" As part of a plea agreement, Capp pleaded guilty to the charge of " attempted adultery " ( adultery was, and as of 2011 still is a felony in Wisconsin ) and the other charges were dropped.

Capp is buried in Mount Prospect Cemetery in Amesbury, Massachusetts.

Al Capp, an inductee into the National Cartoon Museum ( formerly the International Museum of Cartoon Art ), is one of only 31 artists selected to their Hall of Fame.

According to the Boston Globe ( as reported on May 18, 2010 ), the town has renamed its amphitheater in the artist's honor, and is looking to develop an Al Capp Museum.

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.

Kitchen is currently compiling a biographical monograph on Al Capp.

Less well-known is its adaptation of Andy Capp, starring James Bolam.

Andy Capp is a British comic strip created by cartoonist Reg Smythe ( 1917 – 1998 ), seen in The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since 5 August 1957.

In the Alan Moore graphic novel " 1969 " a man, dressed as Andy Capp, is seen moving through a London crowd seemingly accompanied by a boy wearing a similar cap, perhaps an allusion to the Buster comic.

" When Fosdick is after a lawbreaker, there is no escape for the miscreant ," Capp wrote in 1956.

According to the Boston Globe ( as reported on May 18, 2010 ), the town has renamed its amphitheater in the artist's honor, and is looking to develop an Al Capp Museum.

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

* Al Capp, an inductee into the National Cartoon Museum ( formerly the International Museum of Cartoon Art ), is one of only 31 artists honored by inclusion into their Hall of Fame.

Kitchen is currently compiling a monograph on the life and career of Al Capp.

According to Al Capp, btfsplk is a rude sound.

During public lectures, Capp demonstrated this sound by closing his lips, leaving his tongue sticking out, and then blowing out air, which is colloquially called a " raspberry " or Bronx cheer.

In August 1919, at the age of nine, Capp lost his left leg in a trolley accident.

Capp spent five years at Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut without receiving a diploma.

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

Besides Dick Tracy, Capp parodied many other comic strips in Li ' l Abner — including Steve Canyon, Superman ( at least twice ; first as " Jack Jawbreaker " in 1947, and again in 1966 as " Chickensouperman "), Mary Worth, Peanuts, Rex Morgan, M. D., Little Annie Rooney and Little Orphan Annie ( in which Punjab became " Punjbag ," an oleaginous slob ).

Capp has been compared, at various times, to Mark Twain, Dostoevski, Jonathan Swift, Lawrence Sterne and Rabelais.

( 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.

In 1948, Capp reached a creative peak with the introduction of the Shmoos, lovable and innocent fantasy creatures who reproduced at amazing speed and brought so many benefits that, ironically, the world economy was endangered.

According to one anecdote ( from Al Capp Remembered, 1994 ), Capp and his brother Elliot ducked out of a dull party at Capp's home — leaving Walt Kelly alone to fend for himself entertaining a group of Argentine envoys who didn't speak English.

Milton Caniff offered another anecdote ( from Phi Beta Pogo, 1989 ) involving Capp and Walt Kelly, " two boys from Bridgeport, Connecticut, nose to nose ," onstage at a meeting of the Newspaper Comics Council in the sixties.

Cartoonist Mell Lazarus, creator of Miss Peach and Momma, wrote a comic novel in 1963 titled The Boss Is Crazy, Too which was partly inspired by his apprenticeship days working with Capp and his brother Elliot at Toby.

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.

Between 1952 and 1972, he hosted at least five television shows – three different talk shows called The Al Capp Show ( 1952 and 1968 ) and Al Capp ( 1971 –' 72 ), Al Capp's America ( a live " chalk talk ," with Capp providing a barbed commentary while sketching cartoons, 1954 ), and a CBS game show called Anyone Can Win ( 1953 ).

Capp had earlier provided the Shmoo for a special Children's Savings Bond in 1949, accompanying President Harry S. Truman at the bond's unveiling ceremony.

The album features his interaction with students at Fresno State College ( now California State University, Fresno ) on such topics as " sensitivity training ," " humanitarianism ," " abstract art " ( Capp hated it ), and of course, " student protest.

On April 22, 1971, syndicated columnist Jack Anderson reported allegations that Capp made indecent advances to four female students when he was invited to speak at the University of Alabama in February 1968.

The following month, Capp was charged in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in connection with another alleged incident following his April 1 lecture at Wisconsin State University-Eau Claire.

A lifelong chain smoker, Capp died in 1979 from emphysema at his home in South Hampton, New Hampshire.

Born in Chicago, Silverstein began drawing at age 12 by tracing the works of Al Capp.

* Laugh at Life with Andy Capp ( No. 12 ) ( 1964 )

* Andy Capp at 50 ( 2006 ) David and Charles Books

* Laugh at Life with Andy Capp ( 1983 ) Castle