Little Orphan Annie: Difference between revisions

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In the strip, plucky redheaded orphan Annie is taken in by self-made millionaire "Daddy" Warbucks, the world's richest bald person. Since there's only so many ways of doing "Thieves try to steal the Warbucks millions" and "Kidnappers try to steal Annie so they can get their hands on the Warbucks millions", Annie would often be separated from her protector for months at a time, living on the streets again and bringing sunshine into the lives of struggling small-businessmen, honest laborers, and little old ladies with evil bank-managers.

A [[Radio Drama|radio show]] titled ''Adventure Time with Little Orphan Annie'' also was spun off from the comic strip. From 1930 to 1943, children were able to join Annie's secret society and [[Product Placement|encouraged to drink their Ovaltine]] ([[A Christmas Story|even in their Secret Society Decoder Pins!]]). Shirley Bell did the voice of the popular orphan for most of the show's run, until Janice Gilbert took over the role in the last year or two of the radio shows run.

 

 

 

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* [[Action Girl]]: Annie can fight as well as any boy. April 7, 1936, she decks the toughest kid in school with one punch.

* [[Amoral Attorney]]: Mr. Busard.

* [[Anti-Villain]]: In late February, 1936, a robber seeing Annie walking along the road makes her get into his car. The reason he gives is that he wants to give her a ride, but it's really in order to use her as protection if the police sees him; they wouldn't shoot at him if there's a risk of killing an innocent girl. He's impressed by the way she won't accept the stolen money he tries to give her, and says that he "could have been that way once, maybe... But it's too late now..." In the end, he tells her to leave him even though he knows that it will vastly increase the risk that the police kills him.

* [[Applied Phlebotinum]]: Eonite.

* [[Art Evolution]]: The reason why Annie no longer sports an afro.

* [[Badass Grandpa]]: {{spoiler|Jack Boot}} might not look like a fighter, but he can take out a hired killer that's armed with a knife. Using his bare hands. When he's attacked from behind.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: "Daddy" Warbucks gets one when he saves Annie from the Ghost Gang.

* [[Conveniently an Orphan]]: Amazingly enough, subverted. She gets adopted fairly quickly. Sure, she might have no idea where her biological parents are, but she's no more an orphan than any other adopted child. And considering that her "Daddy" Warbucks looking for her is a recurring theme, this trope is definitely subverted hard.

* [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]: ''Not'' Warbucks, but many of the villains. Mr. Slugg is a good example.

* [[Deserted Island]]: Annie and Spike Marlin are stuck on one for a number of weeks.

* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: Pretty much every story line ends with a sudden negative twist that prevents Annie from settling down to live happily ever after, and sets up the next arc: an old stand-by is that Annie is reunited with Warbucks after being kidnapped, but Warbucks loses all his money in the process. The next arc would then deal with him getting his fortune back. One of Harold Gray's mandates to his successors was that no storyline should ever end happily.

* [[Downer Ending]]:

** The comic strip ends with Annie, having survived being fed to sharks by drug dealers, being taken in by a war criminal on the run from The Hague. He tells her that her "new life" with him will consist of hiding from the authorities in a South American slum. Her beloved "Daddy" Warbucks meanwhile, has had a [[Heroic BSOD]] upon learning of Annie's apparent demise with it implied that he truly believes that she's dead.

* [[Happily Adopted]]

* [[Heartwarming Orphan]]: Come on. Take a guess at who it is.

* [[Informed Ability]]: Z.Z. Hare's reliability. He betrays people in the strip several times, but never shows any signs of being reliable. And we're told that he's stood by Warbucks in good times and bad, but we've seen Warbucks be in a lot of trouble over the years, and Hare was nowhere to be seen.

* [[Keep Circulating the Tapes]]: The only way you can read most of the Leonard Starr strips. One book of them was published over 20 years ago, but it only contained two arcs (less than a year's worth of strips) from the very beginning.

* [[Kick the Dog]]: {{spoiler|Trixie Tinkle}} does it literally. Poor Sandy.

** Chizzler, who cheats Annie and Dan of their earnings.

* [[The Messiah]]: Anybody who wasn't inspired to be a better person after five minutes with Annie was probably completely irredeemable.

* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]:

** Mr. Trance, who {{spoiler|ruins what would have been Annie's big movie and break-through as an actress}}, is based on David O. Selznick, a director who Gray felt ruined the RKO ''Little Orphan Annie'' movie. And to be fair, it ''was'' Selznick who slashed the movie's budget.

* [[Orphan's Ordeal]]: The aforementioned scenes of Annie separated from "Daddy" Warbucks, living on the streets.

* [[The Pollyanna]]: Averted with Annie, who's generally positive but still fells down when things go badly.

** Warbucks, very frequently. Always brought back.

** When Annie first went to live with "Daddy" Warbucks, he had a wife, but after a while she was in a boat accident with him. Having woken up alone after the accident he went to search for her, leaving Annie behind, and when he returned to the strip he spent all his energy on finding Annie, and his wife was never mentioned again.

** Trixie Tinkle.

* [[Scary Black Man]]: Warbucks' bodyguard, Punjab.

* [[Spin-Off]]: Ma Green got her own comic strip after a while.

* [[Take That]]: Gray was fond of them.

** One particularly interesting one is the several times that people who are cheating "Daddy" Warbucks sing "Happy Days Are Here Again," which was FDR's signature song from the 1932 election. It was a subtle jab at the New Deal, of which Gray was no fan.

* [[Uncle Pennybags]]: Warbucks.

* [[Unexpected Inheritance]]: A welcome economic break for {{spoiler|"Uncle" Dan.}}

* [[Wham! Episode]]: The strip for January 17, 1934.

* [[Wham! Line]]: {{spoiler|"Is it kidnaping for a man and wife to speak to their own ''daughter?''}} from January 17, 1934.

* [[Yellow Peril]]: Averted with Wun Wey, who's a good friend of Warbucks.

* [[You Just Told Me]]: Annie wants to find out if Jack Boot is the one who gave the Jones family the money they needed to keep their farm. This is how she does it:

'''Annie:''' Then you ''did'' do it. I ''knew'' it! I ''knew'' it! }}

* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: The radio show was an [[Older Than They Think|early example]] of the trope, as anyone who's seen the lengthy [[Shout-Out]] / [[Take That]] in ''[[A Christmas Story]]'' should know.

* [[Product Placement]]: Drink your Ovaltine!

 

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[[Category:Little Orphan Annie]]