The Little King

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For the French film, see The Little King (film).
The Little King
pantomime comics
Preceded byThe Ambassador

The Little King is an American gag-a-day comic strip created by Otto Soglow, which ran from 1930 to 1975. Its stories are told in a style using images and very few words, as in pantomime.[1]

Publication history

Soglow's character first appeared on June 7, 1930, in

Standard Oil[2]
and Royal Pudding (1955).

It became evident early on that

Sunday strip, on September 9, 1934.[2]

Otto Soglow's The Little King (1939)

The strip continued a successful run with several more animated cartoon appearances and advertising campaigns,[4] and Soglow was awarded the 1966 National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award for the strip.[5] The Little King ran until Soglow's death in 1975. The final strip ran on July 20, 1975.[1]

Format

The strip is notable for having virtually no dialogue; the title character never speaks. The Ambassador was nearly identical in format, and the main characters of the two strips were similar. When The Ambassador gave way for The Little King in 1934, the reader could not be certain if it was the Little King who had arrived into Hearst syndication or the Ambassador who had removed some disguise.[2]

The Little King (mustachioed, bearded, and clad in velvet and ermine) was small of stature, but as wide as he was tall. He was a childlike, cheerful fellow who lived to have fun. The final panel of the comic strip often showed His Majesty pursuing a hobby, playing a children's game, flirting with a pretty woman, or otherwise enjoying himself in an unkingly fashion while neglecting his "official" duties.

Animated theatrical shorts

All cartoon shorts were produced by

Van Beuren Studios except where otherwise noted.[6] All of the theatrical shorts have been released on DVD and Blu Ray by Thunderbean Animation.[7]
As in the comic strips, the Little King never speaks in the 1933 and 1934 shorts except for a brief sequence in "Marching Along" (1933).

1933

  • A.M. to P.M. (part of
    Aesop's Fables
     series)
  • A Dizzy Day (part of
    Aesop's Fables
     series)
  • The Fatal Note
  • Marching Along
  • On the Pan
  • Pals (aka Christmas Night)

1934

  • Jest of Honor
  • Jolly Good Felons
  • Sultan Pepper
  • A Royal Good Time
  • Art for Art's Sake
  • Cactus King

1936

Collections

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780472117567
    .
  2. ^ a b c Gardner, Jared, The Comics Journal (October 29, 2007). "Otto Soglow and The Ambassador (excerpt)".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) from The Comics Journal #286
  3. ^ Time Magazine (September 17, 1934). "Old King, New Kingdom". Archived from the original on October 23, 2007.
  4. ^ Gallery of classic graphic design featuring The Little King as spokesman for Royal Gelatine and Pudding
  5. ^ National Cartoonists Society. "The Reuben".
  6. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7
    . Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  7. ^ Stanchfield, Steve (2023-06-01). ""The Complete Animated Adventures of The Little King" on Blu-ray!". Cartoon Research. Retrieved 2023-07-14.
  8. ^ "GDC entry". Retrieved 25 April 2013.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Little King.
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