Schertz, Texas 78154. This aircraft first flew in 1966 and remained in service until 1998. Even the trademark comic "signs" that clutter the backgrounds of Will Elder's panels had a precedent in Li'l Abner, in the residence of Dogpatch entrepreneur Available Jones, though they're also reminiscent of Bill Holman's Smokey Stover. Each member of Johnsons team was cautioned that design and production of the new XP-80 fighter jet must be carried out in strict secrecy. In America's Great Comic Strip Artists (1997), comics historian Richard Marschall analyzed the overtly misanthropic subtext of Li'l Abner: Capp was calling society absurd, not just silly; human nature not simply misguided, but irredeemably and irreducibly corrupt. I wonder what the derivation is? It was Kellys unconventional organizational approach that allowed the Skunk Works to streamline work and operate with unparalleled efficiency. "A wish is a wish," says the genie. The Creator of Li'l Abner Tells Why His Hero Is (SOB!) (Response: ", "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for, "Th' ideel o' ev'ry one hunnerd percent, red-blooded American boy! The odor put out by Skonk Works was so hideous people avoided the area and the people who worked there. Taking action to help you protect what matters most. The name skunkworks originates from a cartoon series called " Li'l Abner " by Al Capp. In June 1943, the U.S. Armys Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its dire need for a jet fighter to counter a rapidly growing German jet threat. They also released an archive hardcover reprint of the complete Shmoo Comics in 2009, followed by a second Shmoo volume of complete newspaper strips in 2011. ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skunk_Works&oldid=1140117891, Lockheed Martin-associated military facilities, Research organizations in the United States, Research and development in the United States, Buildings and structures in Burbank, California, Buildings and structures in Palmdale, California, Science and technology in Greater Los Angeles, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 14:51. Local attractions that reappeared in the strip included the West Po'k Chop Railroad; the "Skonk Works", a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch; and the General Jubilation T. Cornpone memorial statue. This dunks Upper Slobbovia into Lower Slobbovia, and raises the latter into the formera classic example of a literal revolution. On paper, the specifications read like works of pure fantasy: a spy plane capable of taking crystal-clear photographs from 70,000 feet. [30] The favorite dish of the starving natives was raw polar bear (and vice versa). There have been many stories over the years about the names origin: It evolved from a comic strip or the color of a tent it was housed in or because what was inside that tent smelled so bad. This would prove to be a common practice within the Skunk Works. Most notably, a majority of classified testing is thought to be conducted at sites such as the Nevada Test Site. In response to the question "Which side does Abner part his hair on? [1] In November 1941, Kelsey gave the unofficial nod to Johnson and the P-38 team to engineer a drop tank system to extend range for the fighter, and they completed the initial research and development without a contract. Pappy Yokum utters this tagline when, thinking he is dreaming, actually commands a bottle genie to do his bidding. Underground cartoonist and Li'l Abner expert Denis Kitchen has published, co-published, edited, or otherwise served as a consultant on nearly all of them. Al Capp was a master of the arts of marketing and promotion. Brown, Rodger, "Dogpatch USA: The Road to Hokum" article, Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 05:42, explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, 418 Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron, "This Day in Jewish History / Al Capp, Choleric Creator of Li'l Abner, Dies an Embittered Man", Li'l Abner "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Daisy Mae "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Mammy Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Pappy Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Honest Abe "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Tiny Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Marryin' Sam "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Kickapoo Joy Juice page at deniskitchen.com, Joe Btfsplk "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary Michael Schumacher, Denis Kitchen Google Books, General Bullmoose "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Earthquake McGoon "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Evil-Eye Fleegle "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Sadie Hawkins "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Fearless Fosdick "biography" at deniskitchen.com, The Shmoo "biography" at deniskitchen.com. Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, also known as The Complete Li'l Abner, is a series collecting the American comic strip Li'l Abner written and drawn by Al Capp, originally distributed by the syndicate United Feature Syndicate and later by Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, in total during 43 years before the strip ended. "What?" But in 1947 Capp sued United Feature Syndicate for $14 million, publicly embarrassed UFS in Li'l Abner, and wrested ownership and control of his creation the following year."[51]. These scaled-down demonstrators, built in only 18 months, were a revolutionary step forward in aviation technology because of their extremely small radar cross-section. In the same neighborhood was a plastic factory that produced a terrible odor that permeated the tent. The following is a partial list of characteristic expressions that reappeared often in Li'l Abner: Li'l Abner had several toppers on the Sunday page, including[4]. [10] Pappy is dull-witted and gullible (in one storyline after he is conned by Marryin' Sam into buying Vanishing cream because he thinks it makes him invisible when he picks a fight with his nemesis Earthquake McGoon), but not completely without guile. [64] The character was voiced by Frank Graham.[65]. This project marked the birth of what would become the Skunk Works, with founder Kelly Johnson at its helm. It first appeared in 1942 and proved so popular that it ran intermittently in Li'l Abner over the next 35 years. Similarities between Li'l Abner and the early Mad include the incongruous use of mock-Yiddish slang terms, the nose-thumbing disdain for pop culture icons, the rampant black humor, the dearth of sentiment and the broad visual styling. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}343653N 1180707W / 34.614734N 118.118676W / 34.614734; -118.118676. He also had notoriously bad aim often leaving a trail of collateral damage (in the form of bullet-riddled pedestrians) in his wake. This vital reconnaissance, unobtainable by other means, averted a war in Europe and a nuclear crisis in Cuba. Kelly Johnson's elite engineering group was originally housed in a rented circus tent adjacent to a smelly plastics factory. Al Capp also wrote two other daily comic strips:[4]. Al Capp ended his comic strip with the final gesture of setting a date for Sadie Hawkins Day. The story concerns Daisy Mae's efforts to catch Li'l Abner on Sadie Hawkins Day. [46][47] 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. ", signaled the end of all further discussion. "Capp was an aggressive and fearless businessman," according to publisher Denis Kitchen. "When Fosdick is after a lawbreaker, there is no escape for the miscreant", Capp wrote in 1956. Consequently, Salomey is frequently targeted by unscrupulous sportsmen, hog breeders and gourmands (like J.R. Fangsley and Bounder J. Roundheels), as well as unsavory wild boars with improper intentions (such as Boar Scarloff and Porknoy). Our Inspiration. Skunk Works name was taken from the "Skonk Oil" factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner. By 1960, Soviet radar and surface-to-air missile technology had caught up with the U-2. Others include double whammy, skunk works and Lower Slobbovia. The staff was cautioned that they had to operate in strict secrecy. In the midst of the Great Depression, the hardscrabble residents of lowly Dogpatch allowed suffering Americans to laugh at yokels even worse off than themselves. The NCS had originally disallowed female members into its ranks. (Upon his retirement in 1977, Capp declared Mammy to be his personal favorite of all his characters.) Fosdick lived in squalor at the dilapidated boarding house run by his mercenary landlady, Mrs. Flintnose. Fosdick battled a succession of archenemies with absurdly unlikely names like Rattop, Anyface, Bombface, Boldfinger, the Atom Bum, the Chippendale Chair, and Sidney the Crooked Parrot, as well as his own criminal mastermind father, "Fearful" Fosdick (aka "The Original"). Using sheets of titanium coated with heat-dissipating black paint, engineers created the SR-71 Blackbird. The demise of KSP in 1999 stopped the reprint series at Volume 27 (1961). Mind Works is dedicated to excellence in psychology and counseling. Capp, a lifelong chain smoker, died from emphysema two years later at age 70, at his home in South Hampton, New Hampshire, on November 5, 1979. During most of the epic, the impossibly dense Abner exhibited little romantic interest in her voluptuous charms (much of it visible daily thanks to her famous polka-dot peasant blouse and cropped skirt). Most Dogpatchers were shiftless and ignorant; the remainder were scoundrels and thieves. As with virtually all Skunk Works projects that followed, the mission was secretive and the deadline was remarkably tight. One day, when the Department of the Navy was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the P-80 project, the call was accidentally transferred to Culvers desk. Oh hell, it's like a fighter retiring. Email the City of Schertz. Comparing Capp to other contemporary humorists, McLuhan once wrote: "Arno, Nash, and Thurber are brittle, wistful little prcieux beside Capp!" [12] Pursued by local lovelies Hopeful Mudd and Boyless Bailey, Tiny was even dumber and more awkward than Abner, if that can be imagined. The style of the Fosdick sequences closely mimicked Tracy, including the urban setting, the outrageous villains, the galloping mortality rate, the crosshatched shadows, and the lettering style even Gould's familiar signature was parodied in Fearless Fosdick. What sets the Skunk Works apart is its unique approach created by founder Kelly Johnson. The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Lil Abner, which was immensely popular from 1935 through the 1950s. Engineers from Skunk Works subsequently developed the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 . "[15][16][17], At the request of the comic strip copyright holders, Lockheed changed the name of the advanced development company to "Skunk Works" in the 1960s. [50], Capp has also been credited with popularizing many terms, such as "natcherly", schmooze, druthers, and nogoodnik, neatnik, etc. Although ostensibly set in the Kentucky mountains, situations often took the characters to different destinations including New York City, Washington, D.C., Hollywood, the South American Amazon, tropical islands, the Moon, Mars, etc. ), In the late 1940s, newspaper syndicates typically owned the copyrights, trademarks and licensing rights to comic strips. A total of six Collier trophies, the most prestigious award in the aeronautics industry, have been collected by the Skunk Works division since 1943, but its quite possible the divisions most impressive legacy has yet to be written. There was, however, one fellow (whose name I forget) who ran the "skunk works" skinning dead skunks (the unpleasant animal). There was an engineer working on the XP-80 team named Irv Culver. In many localities, the tradition continues. Four operational missions were conducted over China, but the camera packages were never successfully recovered. The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp 's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner, which was immensely popular from 1935 through the 1950s. [6] Early in the strip's history, Abner's primary goal in the storyline was evading the marital designs of Daisy Mae Scragg, the virtuous, voluptuous, barefoot Dogpatch damsel and scion of the Yokums' blood feud enemies the Scraggs, who were her character's bloodthirsty kinfolk. City Building Map Among the original TV characters were "Mr. Ditto", "Harris Tweed" (a disembodied suit of clothes), "Swenn Golly" (a Svengali-like mesmerist), counterfeiters "Max Millions" and "Minton Mooney", "Frank N. Stein", "Batula", "Match Head" (a pyromaniac), "Sen-Sen O'Toole", "Shmoozer" and "Herman the Ape Man". Kelly Johnson and his team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven less than was required. Both the Trump and Panic parodies were drawn by EC legend, Will Elder. Li'l Abner: Al Capp, Skunk Works, Dogpatch USA, Shmoo, Fearless Fosdick, Frank Frazetta, Basil Wolverton, Bob Lubbers, Lower Slobb It even made the cover of Life magazine on March 31, 1952 illustrating an article by Capp titled "It's Hideously True!! In mid-1939[12] when Lockheed was expanding rapidly, the YP-38 project was moved a few blocks away to the newly purchased 3G Distillery, also known as Three G or GGG Distillery. Pappy was so lazy and ineffectual, he didn't even bathe himself. The Skunk Works name was taken from the "Skonk Oil" factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner. Capp is also the subject of an upcoming PBS American Masters documentary produced by his granddaughter, independent filmmaker Caitlin Manning. Skunk Works is an industry leader in rapid prototyping, pushing the boundaries of whats possible to quickly design, develop and test innovative solutions. Her authority was unquestioned, and her characteristic phrase, "Ah has spoken! Capp also excelled at product endorsement, and Li'l Abner characters were often featured in mid-century American advertising campaigns. "He knew how to take an otherwise ordinary drawing and really make it pop. He was succeeded by Ben Rich. [5] Abner had no visible means of support, although his character earned his livelihood as a "crescent cutter" for the Little Wonder Privy Company and later "mattress tester" for the Stunned Ox Mattress Company. During September 2015 the proposed aircraft was deemed to have developed into more of a tactical reconnaissance aircraft, instead of strategic reconnaissance.[11]. Uncle Sam needed a counterpunch, and Johnson got a call. [44] Journalism Quarterly and Time have both called him "the Mark Twain of cartoonists". The trophy is awarded annually by the National Aeronautic Association for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles, the value of which has been thoroughly demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year. Other fictional locales included Skonk Hollow, El Passionato, Kigmyland, the Republic of Crumbumbo, Lo Kunning, Faminostan, Planets Pincus Number 2 and 7, Pineapple Junction and, most notably, the Valley of the Shmoon. According to publisher Denis Kitchen, Capp's "hapless Dogpatchers hit a nerve in Depression-era America. Other familiar silent comedy veterans in the cast include Bud Jamison, Lucien Littlefield, Johnny Arthur, Mickey Daniels, and ex-Keystone Cops Chester Conklin, Edgar Kennedy and Al St. John. [7] Some of the group of independent-minded engineers were later involved with the XP-80 project, the prototype of the P-80 Shooting Star. Lockheed was chosen to develop the jet because of its past interest in jet development and its previous contracts with the Air Force. Its name was taken from the moonshine factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner . Li'l Abner also featured a comic strip-within-the-strip: Fearless Fosdick was a parody of Chester Gould's plainclothes detective, Dick Tracy. It is responsible for a number of aircraft designs, highly classified R&D programs, and exotic aircraft platforms. In 1946 Capp persuaded six of the most popular radio personalities (Frank Sinatra, Kate Smith, Danny Kaye, Bob Hope, Fred Waring and Smilin' Jack Smith) to broadcast a song he'd written for Daisy Mae: (Li'l Abner) Don't Marry That Girl!! Johnson promised the Pentagon theyd have their first prototype in 150 days. No other cartoonist to date has come close to Capp's televised exposure. One main building still remains at 2777 Ontario Street in Burbank (near San Fernando Road), now used as an office building for digital film post-production and sound mixing. Durward Kirby was the announcer. [54] Li'l Abner was also parodied in 1954 (as "Li'l Melvin" by "Ol' Hatt") in the pages of EC Comics' humor comic, Panic, edited by Al Feldstein. During AirVenture 2003, for example, a 4-year-old girl took one look at a picture of an artists drawing of the Lockheed Martin Space plane with the distinctive skunk on the tail and asked if it was a ride at Disneyland because the mascot was obviously Flower from the movie Bambi.. German jets had appeared over Europe. [3] Theirs is the official Lockheed Skunk Works story: The Air Tactical Service Command (ATSC) of the Army Air Force met with Lockheed Aircraft Corporation to express its need for a jet fighter. compiling a monograph on the life and career of Al Capp. There was not much industry in Dogpatch. A Mach-3 aircraft that could fly continuously for hours on end and literally outrun missiles. The stage musical, with music and lyrics by Gene de Paul and Johnny Mercer, was adapted into a Technicolor motion picture at Paramount in 1959 by producer Norman Panama and director Melvin Frank, with an original score by Nelson Riddle. Ruled by Good King Nogoodnik (sometimes known as King Stubbornovsky the Last), the Slobbovian politicians were even more corrupt than their Dogpatch counterparts. He lived in a ramshackle log cabin with his pint-sized parents. Li'l Abner himself was a mattress tester, and most others were either moonshiners or bootleggers. Capp turned that world upside-down by routinely injecting politics and social commentary into Li'l Abner," wrote comics historian Rick Marschall in America's Great Comic Strip Artists (1989). The F-117 Nighthawk was developed in response to theurgent national needfor a jet fighter that could operate completely undetected by the enemy. The name "Skunk Works" and the skunk design are now registered trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. 1,193,227 People also liked Fun Fact Skunk Works Blue Interesting Fact During the extended peak of the strip, the workload grew to include advertising, merchandising, promotional work, comic book adaptations, public service material and other specialty work in addition to the regular six dailies and one Sunday strip per week. Terrifically long hours. Comics historian Don Markstein commented that Capp's "use of language was both unique and universally appealing; and his clean, bold cartooning style provided a perfect vehicle for his creations."[35]. An engineer named Irv Culver was a fan of Al Capp's newspaper comic strip, "Li'l Abner." The original "Skonk Works" was a liquor still where something was always brewing in Al Capp's comic strip Li'l Abner. We have invested in developing and demonstrating hypersonic technology for over 30 years. Al Capp once told one of his assistants that he knew Li'l Abner had finally "arrived" when it was first pirated as a pornographic Tijuana bible parody in the mid-1930s. Almost every line was followed by two exclamation marks for added emphasis. Learn how we are strengthening the economies, industries and communities of our global partner nations. After a series of successful test flights beginning in 1977, the Air force awarded Skunk Works the contract to build the F-117 stealth fighter on November 1, 1978. Unlike any other strip, and indeed unlike many other pieces of literature, Li'l Abner was more than a satire of the human condition. [5] Secretly, a number of advanced features were being incorporated into the new fighter including a significant structural revolution in which the aluminum skin of the aircraft was joggled, fitted and flush-riveted, a design innovation not called for in the army's specification but one that would yield less aerodynamic drag and give greater strength with lower mass.