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Andy Capp
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Andy Capp is a long-running British comic strip character created by Reg Smythe, seen in the The Daily Sport and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since August 5, 1957. The strip is syndicated internationally by Creators Syndicate. Originally a single-panel cartoon, Smythe later expanded it to four panels. The character is also licensed as the mascot for a line of snack foods, and a defunct chain of miniature golf courses in Brevard County, Florida. Smythe received the National Cartoonist Society Humor Comic Strip Award for the strip in 1974.
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Encyclopedia
Andy Capp is a long-running British comic strip character created by Reg Smythe, seen in the The Daily Sport and The Sunday Mirror newspapers since August 5, 1957. The strip is syndicated internationally by Creators Syndicate. Originally a single-panel cartoon, Smythe later expanded it to four panels. The character is also licensed as the mascot for a line of snack foods, and a defunct chain of miniature golf courses in Brevard County, Florida. Smythe received the National Cartoonist Society Humor Comic Strip Award for the strip in 1974. The name is a pun on handicap.
Character
Andy is a working class figure, living in Hartlepool, North-East England. His hobbies include pigeon racing, snooker, football (which always involves fights with the other players, and frequently ends with Andy being sent off), occasionally cricket and rugby, betting on horses, getting drunk (often falling in the canal and, always, seven nights a week, arriving home late as a result), fishing (and not catching anything bigger than a goldfish), womanising, lying on the sofa and fighting with his long-suffering wife, Flo.
He was always seen with a cigarette dangling from his lip until the 1980s, perhaps because this was when Reg gave up smoking himself. Similarly, he no longer indulges in fisticuffs with Florrie, because of concerns about the depiction of domestic violence. Instead, they now attend marriage counselling. Andy's trademark cloth cap is always pulled down over his face.
Andy and Florrie are always on the verge of poverty. Andy is unemployed and lacks motivation, rent on the house and contents are constantly in arrears, and Percy the rent collector despairs of ever being paid. Their furniture has been repossessed on several occasions. Somehow, they always manage to recover it, and Andy is always able to afford beer and betting (usually by borrowing from Florrie). The strip is almost exclusively shown in one of three locations: the pub, the street, or in the Capp's house at No. 37 Durham Street (generally with Andy on the couch and Florrie yelling from the next room). Lesser visited places include the race track (although Andy frequently bets by listening to the radio, thus saving him the trip), marriage counselling (in one memorable cartoon, a panoramic shot is given of the counselling office, with several entire file cabinets dedicated entirely to the Capps), and the football pitch (where Andy is either being sent off, or carried off).
Andy and Flo's best friends are their neighbours Chalkie and Rube White. Chalkie is like Andy, a hard-drinking, hard-scrabble type who can often be seen sharing a pint with Andy at the corner pub; however, Chalkie seems to be more mellow than Andy and more tolerant of his wife. Also unlike Andy, Chalkie was known to be employed, if intermittently, during much of the strip's run. Rube is Flo's confidante, and the two often trade gossip about their husbands' latest escapades. The Vicar is also seen often; Andy despairs of his holier-than-thou attitude, and he is constantly criticising Andy for his drinking and gambling, and often lets his opinion be known to Flo, who frequently agrees with his assessments of Andy's character. Percy Ritson the rent collector and Jackie the barman are often seen, as well. Flo's mother, an unseen character, is often engaged in conversation at the door, but never actually comes inside or is physically seen in the comic strip. Flo's mum is often the subject of Andy's pointed barbs about her weight and less-than-sunny disposition, but she has been known to give as good as she gets. Flo has an older sister, Polly, who is never seen.
Continuation
Reg Smythe died on June 13, 1998, and the original strip has been continued in a highly regarded pastiche of his style. For some time the writer and artist were uncredited, but in November 2004 the strip began to carry a credit for Roger Mahoney and Roger Kettle.
Syndication
Despite its local milieu, the comic strip is syndicated in 50 countries throughout the world.
Statue
Shortly after Reg Smythe died, a campaign was started to have a statue of Andy Capp erected in his, and Smythe's home town, Hartlepool, as a commemorative gesture. However, no local businesses could be found to sponsor the venture, as it was deemed the cartoon was too politically incorrect, and perpetuated a negative stereotype of the Northeast.
After many years of public and even national debate, a bronze statue was commissioned. The statue was unveiled on June 28, 2007 (several months in advance of the strip's 50th anniversary) by Reg's widow Jean. It has pride of place outside the Harbour of Refuge pub, in Croft Terrace in the Headland area of the town. Designed by Shrewsbury-based sculptor Jane Robbins, the 5 ft 8 inch statue cost £20,000.
Book collections
Several collections of Andy Capp strips have been published by The Daily Mirror since 1958; its more current collections are The Andy Capp Collection: No. 1 and The Andy Capp Collection: 2005, and are widely available.
In the United States, Fawcett published several Andy Capp collections from the mid-1960s through the 1980s. These books are now out of print, though many used bookstores may still have some copies; as with collections of many 20th-century comic strips, quite a number of them appear on eBay almost constantly.
Adaptations
In 1981, a stage musical based on the strip had a short run at London's Aldwych Theatre, with songs by Alan Price and Trevor Peacock, starring Tom Courtenay as Andy Capp.
An attempt to transfer Andy Capp to television in 1988 met with little success. The well known British character actor James Bolam played Andy on ITV. The series consisted of 6 episodes that were shown once and have never been repeated.
Related series
When the children's comic Buster was launched in 1960, its masthead character was entitled Buster: Son of Andy Capp. Buster wore a cloth cap similar to Andy's until 1992, but the connection was not recognised in the parent strip and had limited development in the children's comic. Buster did often refer to his father, and he was seen in the comic itself attempting to find a gas leak in three frames of the 18 June 1960 issue. He was also shown in two drawn photographs in the 2 July 1960 issue, the first of which was displayed by Buster's mum with the pronouncement "It's a photo of Buster taken with Andy! You can see he's got his dad's fine straight nose". Buster's mum was often referred to by name and was consistently drawn to resemble Andy's wife Flo.
The Mirror currently runs a cartoon strip called Mandy, which started life as Mandy Capp. It is the tale of a sassy single mother and her travails with work, dating and her home and social life. Her relationship to Andy is unclear, but the two strips have never had a crossover.
External links
- , British Cartoon Archive, University of Kent
- German newspaper article named "A comic-hero on his way through Europe" about Ultras Nürnberg‘s mascot Jacky (=Andy) – Nice Photos:
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