Skippy (comic strip)

Skippy was a comic strip drawn by Percy Crosby, considered one of the classics of the American newspaper strip.

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It started in 1923 as a cartoon in the original Life weekly humor magazine, and became a comic strip starting in 1925. It was picked up by William Randolph Hearst's King Features Syndicate, though Crosby retained the copyright-- one of the few artists of the time to do so.

Related Topics:
1923 - Life - 1925 - William Randolph Hearst - King Features Syndicate

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The strip became enormously popular-- at one point the strip alone guaranteed Crosby $2,350 a week, an enormous sum in those days. Crosby published a Skippy novel and other books, there were Skippy dolls, toys, and comic books, and the comic was adapted as a movie by Paramount. It was a huge hit, winning its director, Norman Taurog, the Academy Award for Best Director, and boosting the career of Jackie Cooper, who played Skippy. Crosby hated the film, and though he had to allow a previously contracted sequel (Sooky) to be made the next year, he never let another Skippy movie be made.

Related Topics:
Movie - Norman Taurog - Jackie Cooper

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The strip focussed on Skippy Skinner, a young boy living in the city. He's drawn with a sketchy line suggesting restlessness, usually wearing an enormous collar and tie, and a floppy checked hat. The other characters are only vaguely defined-- Skippy's parents seem kind but do not pay him much attention; he has a few friends (notably Sooky) without much personality, except for Butch O'Leary, the neighborhood bully. Skippy himself is an odd mix of mischief and melancholy; he may equally be found stealing from the corner fruit stand, or failing the master skates or baseball, or complaining about the adult world, or staring sadly at an old relative's grave ("And only last year she gave me a tie.") The strip most resembles the early years of Peanuts-- indeed, Charles Schulz was a great fan of Skippy-- though without the fantasy elements.

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During the war years, Crosby's politics increasingly intruded on the strip, and it began to lose readers. Negotiations on a new contract failed, and Crosby ended Skippy in 1945. His final years were tragic: he was unable to find steady work, drifted into alcoholism, and after a suicide attempt, he was placed in Kings Park asylum, in 1949. He was certainly not mentally ill, but he was unable to get released, and died at Kings Park in 1964.

Related Topics:
1945 - 1949 - 1964

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