Little Orphan Annie

About this film

Little Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. It took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and debuted on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News. The plot follows the adventures of Annie, her dog Sandy, and her benefactor Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks. Secondary characters include Punjab, the Asp and Mr. Am. The strip attracted adult readers with political commentary targeting (among other things) organized labor, the New Deal and communism. Little Orphan Annie was adapted to a 15-minute radio show debuting on WGN Chicago in 1930 going national on NBC's Blue Network beginning April 6, 1931. One of the first comic strips adapted to radio, it attracted about 6 million fans leaving the air in 1942. In 1931 radio had yet to establish coast-to-coast networks so two separate casts performed, one in San Francisco starring Floy Margaret Hughes and the other in Chicago starring Shirley Bell as Annie, Stanley Andrews as "Daddy", and Allan Baruck (and later Mel Tormé) as Joe Corntassel. When coast to coast networking was established in 1933, the Chicago cast became the permanent one. Bo…

Directors & creators

Robert Farrell

Subjects

Little Orphan Annie

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