The Home Front's Cartoony Face: World War Two Through Orphan Annie's Eyes

Abstract

September 1945 saw comic-strip star “Orphan Annie” engaged in a debate over popular media with “Professor Pollyanna.” The Professor and his spouse, known to Annie as “Uncle George” and “Aunt Sonja,” were one of many adult couples that took the eleven-year-old orphan into their home throughout the history of the comic strip Little Orphan Annie. Temporary guardians like Uncle George and Aunt Sonja moved in and out of the strip on a regular basis, functioning as a foil for young Annie, the spokeschild of her creator Harold Gray, to express her opinions about the world. In this episode, Annie was puzzled by Uncle George's distaste for the tabloid-style newspaper fare she herself devotedly consumed daily. He “never reads th' funnies — or anything 'bout crime or sin or war horrors!” Annie observes incredulously. Professor Pollyanna, it seemed, only read editorials and, in Annie's mocking terms, “sweetness and light stories.” Annie later mulls over the matter with a sympathetic Aunt Sonja in an attempt to understand his views further. But Aunt Sonja could muster only the lamest of analyses: “Oh, probably George lives in a sort of dream world … but he's happy” (see Figure 1).