In the comic, there was a hidden place deep in the woods called the "skonk works" which was where they brewed a strong alcoholic beverage. With John Hodiak in the title role, the Li'l Abner radio serial ran weekdays on NBC from Chicago, from November 20, 1939, to December 6, 1940. We develop laser weapon systems, radio frequency and other directed energy technologies for air, ground and sea platforms to provide an affordable countermeasure alternative. Maverick Mach 10 - As Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell reaches Mach 10 in the Darkstara piloted jet powered by the Lockheed Martin Skunk Workscheck out the Lockheed Martin Skunk logo on the tail of the plane in the movie .. 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". FactSnippet No. Privacy Policy. The F-22 is the worlds preeminent air dominance fighter and a proven strategic deterrent. Without any formal office to spare, the group rented an old circus tent, "and on a handshake the project would begin, no contracts in place, no official submittal process." Some of the Skunk Works' most notable aircraft have received the prestigious trophy, which bears the name of the past publisher and early president of the Aero Club of America, Robert J. Collier. Li'l Abner made its debut on August 13, 1934, in eight North American newspapers, including the New York Mirror. Long before today's widespread use of drones, the Skunk Works built an unmanned aerial vehicle that could hitch a ride aboard an A-12. In many localities, the tradition continues. [6] The range modifications were performed in Lockheed's Building 304, starting with 100 P-38F models on April 15, 1942. [8] Once married, Abner became relatively domesticated. Many times a customer would come to the Skunk Works with a request and on a handshake the project would begin, with no contracts in place, no official submittal process. Aerospace research facility in the United States, "Skunk works" redirects here. "The Comics on the Couch" by Gerald Clarke, "Gallery of vintage ads featuring Li'l Abner as spokesman", Filmmakers host premiere for Dogpatch USA documentary. Hot Dogs! She had married the inconsequential Pappy Yokum in 1902; they produced two strapping sons twice their own size. After 1989, Lockheed reorganized its operations and relocated the Skunk Works to Site 10 at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California, where it remains in operation today. (The relative explained that she would have dropped him off sooner, but waited until she happened to be in the neighborhood.) Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. Both the Trump and Panic parodies were drawn by EC legend, Will Elder. replied the voice at the other end. Li'l Abner featured a whole menagerie of allegorical animals over the years each one was designed to satirically showcase another disturbing aspect of human nature. Others include double whammy, skunk works and Lower Slobbovia. The comprehensive series titled Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, is planned to be a reprinting of the complete 43-year history of Li'l Abner[60] spanning a projected 20 volumes, began on April 7, 2010. [49], Sadie Hawkins Day and Sadie Hawkins dance are two of several terms attributed to Al Capp that have entered the English language. The CIA agreed. 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. In Capp's satirical and often complex plots, Abner was a country bumpkin Candidea paragon of innocence in a sardonically dark and cynical world. Skunk Works was responsible for several innovative aircraft designs, beginning with the P-38 Lightning in 1939, followed by the P-80 Shooting Star in 1943. The name skunkworks originates from a cartoon series called " Li'l Abner " by Al Capp. By the early 1940s the comic strip event had swept the nation's imagination and acquired a life of its own. Almost every line was followed by two exclamation marks for added emphasis. Al Capp's life and career are the subjects of a new life-sized mural commemorating his 100th birthday, displayed in downtown Amesbury, Massachusetts. 1400 Schertz Parkway. The Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 would have a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. Rounding out the cast were soap opera star Laurette Fillbrandt as Daisy Mae, Hazel Dopheide as Mammy Yokum, and Clarence Hartzell (who was also a prominent actor on Vic and Sade) as Pappy. [38] Other promotional tie-ins included the Lena the Hyena Contest (1946), the Name the Shmoo Contest (1949), the Nancy O. Li'l Abner visits the corrupt Squeezeblood comic strip syndicate in a classic Sunday continuity from October 12, 1947. She is 100% "Hammus Alabammus" an adorable species of pig, and the last female known in existence. We offers a wide array of diagnostic, psychotherapy, and consultation services for children, adolescents, adults and families. Exile in Dogpatch: The Curious Neglect of Cartoonist Al Capp, Town to Honor Famous Cartoonist Who Lived, Worked in Amesbury, "Al Capp's biography card from the National Cartoonists Society", The Hooded Utilitarian: Comics contributions to colloquial English, 18 December 2010, "REVIEWS: Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary,", TCJ.com: "Tales of the Founding of the National Cartoonists Society Part III" from, "Pappy's Golden Age Comics Blogzine: 464: "Li'l Melvin", "Presarvin' Freedom: Al Capp, Treasury Man,", "Egyptians draw inspiration from Civil Rights Movement comic book. It has also developed. 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. The first topper was Washable Jones, a weekly continuity about a four-year-old hillbilly boy who goes fishing and accidentally hooks a ghost, which he pulls from the water. The radio show was not written by Al Capp but by Charles Gussman. The next comic frame says: HIDE FRIED, "Neither the strip's shifting political leanings nor the slide of its final few years had any bearing on its status as a classic; and in 1995, it was recognized as such by the, "ABNER" was the name given to the first codebreaking computer used by the, The original Dogpatch is a historical part of San Francisco dating back to the 1860s that escaped the, Li'l Abner, Daisy Mae, Wolf Gal, Earthquake McGoon, Lonesome Polecat, Hairless Joe, Sadie Hawkins, Silent Yokum and Fearless Fosdick all found their way onto the, Al Capp always claimed to have effectively created the, Li'l Abner has one odd design quirk that has puzzled readers for decades: the part in his hair always faces the viewer, no matter which direction Abner is facing. All Rights Reserved. [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. The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner, which was immensely popular in the 1940s and '50s. Dogpatch characters pitched consumer products as varied as Grape-Nuts cereal, Kraft caramels, Ivory soap, Oxydol, Duz and Dreft detergents, Fruit of the Loom, Orange Crush, Nestl's cocoa, Cheney neckties, Pedigree pencils, Strunk chainsaws, U.S. Royal tires, Head & Shoulders shampoo and General Electric light bulbs. 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. Her moniker was a pun on both salami and Salome. Honest Abe Yokum: Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae's little boy was born in 1953 "after a pregnancy that ambled on so long that readers began sending me medical books", wrote Capp. There was an engineer working on the XP-80 team named Irv Culver. Skunk Works engineers subsequently developed the U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor, and F-35 Lightning II, the latter being used in the air forces of several countries. Warren M. Bodie, journalist, historian, and Skunk Works engineer from 1977 to 1984, wrote that engineering independence, elitism and secrecy of the Skunk Works variety were demonstrated earlier when Lockheed was asked by Lieutenant Benjamin S. Kelsey (later air force brigadier general) to build for the United States Army Air Corps a high speed, high altitude fighter to compete with German aircraft. 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). But where did the term come from? was the reply Ralph Kramden told his wife Alice (concerning a comment made by Ralph's mother in-law) in Episode #2, Al Capp designed the 23-foot-high (7.0m) statue of Josiah Flintabattey Flonatin ("Flinty") that graces the city of, "Natcherly", Capp's bastardization of "naturally", turns up occasionally in popular culture even without a specifically rural theme. He also had notoriously bad aim often leaving a trail of collateral damage (in the form of bullet-riddled pedestrians) in his wake. 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. 2023 Lockheed Martin Corporation. His appearances on NBC's The Tonight Show spanned three emcees; Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. The razor-jawed title character (Li'l Abner's "ideel") was perpetually ventilated by flying bullets until he resembled a slice of Swiss cheese. 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]. "It's Jack Jawbreaker!" The resulting sequence, "Jack Jawbreaker Fights Crime!! 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. The concept came in the wake of the Gary Powers incident. This dunks Upper Slobbovia into Lower Slobbovia, and raises the latter into the formera classic example of a literal revolution. (also, "Wal, cuss mah bones!") Like Mammy Yokum and the other "wimmenfolk" in Dogpatch, Daisy Mae did all the work, domestic and otherwise while the menfolk generally did nothing whatsoever. Most Dogpatchers were shiftless and ignorant; the remainder were scoundrels and thieves. This project marked the birth of what would become the Skunk Works, with founder Kelly Johnson at its helm. Fosdick also achieved considerable exposure as the long-running advertising spokesman for Wildroot Cream-Oil, a popular men's hair product of the postwar period. Our Services. It didnt really matter, since he was firing me about twice a day anyways. Building on obscure research that showed radar beams could be diverted by angled triangular panels, the Skunk Works team designed the F-117 Nighthawk. Skunk Works name was taken from the "Skonk Oil" factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner. Skunk Works was responsible for several innovative aircraft designs, beginning with the P-38 Lightning in 1939, followed by the P-80 Shooting Star in 1943. Li'l Abner Gets a Job Part 2, script and art by Al Capp; Abner takes a job at the skunk works. Named for a run-down factory in the Li'l Abner comics, Skunk Works has been the home of some of the most advanced plane research in history, including the U-2, F-22 Raptor and SR-71 Blackbird . Customer Care. The essential spirit of the division was captured perfectly on July 15, 1955, in an entry from Kelly Johnsons logbook, after a frantic race to ready the U-2 for its inaugural test flight: Airplane essentially completed. The NCS had originally disallowed female members into its ranks. 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. The Skunk Worksis the proud home of eight Collier Trophies. He hosted at least five television programs between 1952 and 1972 three different talk shows called The Al Capp Show (twice), Al Capp, Al Capp's America (a live "chalk talk", with Capp providing a barbed commentary while sketching cartoons), and a game show called Anyone Can Win. The meaning of the phrase has evolved, and today it means something broader outside of aeronautics; that causes confusion, which further fosters poor managerial decisions. "When Fosdick is after a lawbreaker, there is no escape for the miscreant", Capp wrote in 1956. We have invested in developing and demonstrating hypersonic technology for over 30 years. In 1952, Fearless Fosdick proved popular enough to be incorporated into a short-lived TV series. To comment on the smell and the secrecy the project entailed, another engineer, Irv Culver, referred to the facility as "Skonk Works". Harvey. Mind Works integrates the most recent advances in psychology with time-tested treatment approaches. Supposedly done in retaliation for Capp's "Mary Worm" parody in Li'l Abner (1956), a media-fed "feud" commenced briefly between the rival strips. one-page Sally and the Gang story. 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!! [53] According to Tom Roberts, author of Alex Raymond: His Life and Art (2007), Capp authored a stirring monologue that was instrumental in changing the restrictive rules the following year. ", signaled the end of all further discussion. [30] The favorite dish of the starving natives was raw polar bear (and vice versa). The local geography was fluid and vividly complex; Capp continually changed it to suit either his whims or the current storyline. Li'l Abner never sold as a TV series despite several attempts (including an unsold pilot that aired once on NBC on September 5, 1967),[71] but Al Capp was a familiar face on television for twenty years. I have seen this epithet before, usually in the phrase skunk works, meaning a semi-official project team that is tacitly licensed to bend the rules and think outside the box. Slipping past Iraqi radar on the morning of January 17, 1991, Lockheeds Nighthawk bombed thirty-seven critical targets across Baghdad, a surgical strike that led, in just forty-three days, to the successful conclusion of Operation Desert Storm. [3] According to Ben Richs memoir, an engineer jokingly showed up to work one day wearing a Civil Defense gas mask. By 1952, the event was reportedly celebrated at 40,000 known venues. German jets had appeared over Europe. Mind Works is dedicated to excellence in psychology and counseling. As with virtually all Skunk Works projects that followed, the mission was secretive and the deadline was remarkably tight. The manned A-12 and the drone were designated as M-21 and D-21 or "Mother" and "Daughter." Origin of the name "Skunk Works" The name originated from cartoonist Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip, which featured an outdoor still called the "Skonk Works" in which "Kickapoo Joy Juice" was manufactured from old shoes and dead skunks. 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. In his November 5, 1977 strip, Li'l Abner and Daisy Mae make a final visit to Capp, and Daisy insisted the Capp settle on a date. Pappy Yokum utters this tagline when, thinking he is dreaming, actually commands a bottle genie to do his bidding. In late 1959, Skunk Works received a contract to build five A-12 aircraft at a cost of $96 million. By 1973, Pentagon officials were calling for the creation of an attack aircraft that could fly undetected past enemy radar. A lifelong chain-smoker, he happily plugged Chesterfield cigarettes; he appeared in Schaeffer fountain pen ads with his friends Milton Caniff and Walt Kelly; pitched the Famous Artists School (in which he had a financial interest) along with Caniff, Rube Goldberg, Virgil Partch, Willard Mullin and Whitney Darrow, Jr; and, though a professed teetotaler, he personally endorsed Rheingold Beer, among other products. By 1960, Soviet radar and surface-to-air missile technology had caught up with the U-2. Culver answered the phone in his trademark fashion of the time, by picking up the phone and stating "Skonk Works, inside man Culver". As a result, the XP-38 was the first 400mph fighter in the world. Kitchen is currently[when?] Conceived in 1943, the Skunk Works divisiona name inspired by a mysterious locale from the comic strip LiL Abnerwas formed by Johnson to build Americas first jet fighter. [13] The first YP-38 was built there before the team moved back to Lockheed's main factory a year later. Fans of the strip ranged from novelist John Steinbeck, who called Capp "very possibly the best writer in the world today" in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp "the only robust satirical force in American life." Abner and Daisy Mae's nuptials were a major source of media attention, landing them on the aforementioned cover of Life magazine's March 31, 1952, issue. Al Capp also wrote two other daily comic strips:[4]. Kelly Johnson set them apart from the rest of the factory in a walled-off section of one building, off limits to all but those involved directly. After about 40 years, however, Capp's interest in Abner waned, and this showed in the strip itself Li'l Abner lasted until November 13, 1977, when Capp retired with an apology to his fans for the recently declining quality of the strip, which he said had been the best he could manage due to advancing illness. "Skonk Works", Culver repeated. Li'l Abner provided a whole new template for contemporary satire and personal expression in comics, paving the way for Pogo, Feiffer, Doonesbury and MAD. Fearless Fosdick premiered on Sunday afternoons on NBC; 13 episodes featuring the Mary Chase marionettes were produced. 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.. The name "Skunk Works" and the skunk design are now registered trademarks of the Lockheed Martin Corporation. [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. [57] "When he retired Li'l Abner, newspapers ran expansive articles and television commentators talked about the passing of an era. [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. Comic strips typically dealt with northern urban experiences before Capp introduced Li'l Abner, the first strip based in the South. This vital reconnaissance, unobtainable by other means, averted a war in Europe and a nuclear crisis in Cuba. Like the Coconino County depicted in George Herriman's Krazy Kat and the Okefenokee Swamp of Walt Kelly's Pogo, and, most recently and famously, The Simpsons' "Springfield", Dogpatch's distinctive cartoon landscape became as identified with the strip as any of its characters. In July 1938, while the rest of Lockheed was busy tooling up to build Hudson reconnaissance bombers to fill a British contract, a small group of engineers was assigned to fabricate the first prototype of what would become the P-38 Lightning. 1 (19341936). Although it lacks the political satire and Broadway polish of the 1959 version, this film gives a fairly accurate portrayal of the various Dogpatch characters up until that time. Outside the comic strip, the practical basis of a Sadie Hawkins dance is simply one of gender role-reversal. Kelly Johnson's elite engineering group was originally housed in a rented circus tent adjacent to a smelly plastics factory. (Titanium supply was largely dominated by the Soviet Union, so the CIA set up a dummy corporation to acquire source material.) Taking action to help you protect what matters most. (Response: ", "What's good for General Bullmoose is good for, "Th' ideel o' ev'ry one hunnerd percent, red-blooded American boy! As utterly wretched as existence was in Dogpatch, there was one place even worse. Li'l Abner's mom is the only character in the Dogpatch universe capable of defeating him in hand-to-hand combat. The comic strip had 60 million readers in over 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers in 28 countries. He was a fan of the Lil' Abner comic strip. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. During September 2015 the proposed aircraft was deemed to have developed into more of a tactical reconnaissance aircraft, instead of strategic reconnaissance.[11]. Email the City of Schertz. Four operational missions were conducted over China, but the camera packages were never successfully recovered. He lived in a ramshackle log cabin with his pint-sized parents. It all turned out to be a collaborative hoax, however cooked up by Capp and his longtime pal Saunders as an elaborate publicity stunt. Li'l Abner was a comic strip with fire in its belly and a brain in its head. The idea was reportedly abandoned in the development stage by the producers, however, for reasons of practicality. "Capp had always advocated a more activist agenda for the Society, and he had begun in December 1949 to make his case in the Newsletter as well as at the meetings," wrote comics historian R. C. Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven fewer than was required.[4]. This was followed by a heated conversation among the adults who advised her that Flower was too bashful to go into space, and it couldnt be Pepe Le Pew, another famous cartoon skunk, because he wasnt serious enough to be in the space program. Lockheed Martin was awarded this prestigious medal in 2007 for an exceptional record of developing cutting-edge aircraft, technologies, and systems solutions for the U.S. Government. "[43] Capp has been compared, at various times, to Fyodor Dostoevsky, Jonathan Swift, Lawrence Sterne, and Rabelais. Capp also excelled at product endorsement, and Li'l Abner characters were often featured in mid-century American advertising campaigns. 2023 Flyer Media, Inc. All rights reserved. As a Skunk Works program manager aptly stated, The problem with Skunk Works programs is that they typically get credit for changing history long after they actually change history., 2023 Lockheed Martin Corporation. An attack aircraft that rendered itself invisible to enemy radar. A rich guy falls in love with Daisy Mae. In one storyline, he lives up to his nickname when during a nationwide search for a pair of socks sewn by Betsy Ross; after finding that his father was the current owner and preparing to trade them for the reward (a handshake from the President of the United States), he confesses at the last second that they were not his to give. In one storyline Dogpatch's "Cannonball Express" train, after 1,563 tries, finally delivers its "cargo" to Dogpatch citizens on October 12, 1946, Receiving a 13-year stack of newspapers, Li'l Abner's family realizes that the Great Depression is on and that banks should close; they race to take their money out of the bank before realizing they have no money to begin with. For other uses, see, United States Patent and Trademark Office, "Cherokee rocket scientist leaves heavenly gift", "Lockheed Skunk Works' next-generation U-2 morphs into 'TR-X', "Aircraft Company Remodels Old Distillery", "Nominet UK Dispute Resolution Service DRS 04100 Lockheed Martin Corporation vs. UK Skunkworks Ltd Decision of Appeal Panel", "Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works Celebrates Diamond Anniversary", "75 Years of Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works", "75 years on, Lockheed's Skunk Works is still innovating", "Opinion: Johnson's Skunk Works legacy is in safe hands", "Analysis: Does Skunk Works hiring binge indicate secret new programme? No other cartoonist to date has come close to Capp's televised exposure. Building a Mach 3.0+ aircraft out of titanium posed enormous difficulties, and the first flight did not occur until 1962. [4] It was originally distributed by United Feature Syndicate and, later by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Shortly after, the go-ahead was given for Lockheed to start developing the United States' first jet fighter. More recently, Dark Horse Comics reprinted the limited series Al Capp's Li'l Abner: The Frazetta Years, in four full-color volumes covering the Sunday pages from 1954 to 1961. Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs, formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. Beginning in 1944, Li'l Abner was adapted into a series of color theatrical cartoons by Screen Gems for Columbia Pictures, directed by Sid Marcus, Bob Wickersham and Howard Swift. This would prove to be a common practice within the Skunk Works. The story is explained as well in the Wikipedia: " [] The "Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch, in the backwoods of Kentucky. He challenged the bureaucratic system that stifled innovation and hindered progress. In his seminal book Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan considered Li'l Abner's Dogpatch "a paradigm of the human situation".