BT-Hist Lit Orph Annie

In this book,the entire history of Little Orphan Annie is chronicled,from her conception at Harold Gray's drawing board to the musical-based movie of the early 1980s.There is much detail and more than one chapter given to Harold Gray,the cartoonist who found in his Little Orphan Annie strip the perfect way to state his views on old-fashioned capitolism.He made it big as a cartoonist as "Daddy" Warbucks made it big as a millionaire.(It is not made clear how Warbucks got his fortune,but his name implies war-profiteering.He sure did go full-force as a munitions supplier during World war Two.)Annie's earlier exploits-from the Home to the Warbucks mansion and onward-are fascinating for those who want to know the early history.Annie went through the Great Depression,the New Deal, World War Two,and more with references to Unions, organized labor,war profiteering,crime-controled groups,mental institutions and psychiatry that brought criticisms galore from many.The later years are covered,too-after Gray's death when successors tried and failed to keep it going, the revival with the new stage-musical,the new Annie strip by Leonard Starr-and the musical-based movie.None of these are true continuations-but they show that Harold Gray's orphan can be timeless as well as timely.