# Minor Al Capp character.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 10, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468 "2001-03-10T19:42:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468/1 "2001-03-10T19:42:25Z")

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In Lil Abner, Al Capp very occasionally had a character who was another rich guy besides General Bullmoose. He was drawn as a charicature of Capp himself. Who was it? He may have actually NAMED him “Capp” but I’m not sure.

He doesn’t appear in the character lists I’ve found like this one:

[http://www.lil-abner.com/other.html](http://www.lil-abner.com/other.html)

The plot line I remember him from:

Bullmoose and this other character realize that they each have 49.5% of the world’s wealth, and decide that it’s un-American that one of them doesn’t have it all, so they enter into a bet that this other rich guy can’t come up with something that Bullmoose can’t sell. He turns up with a “shtoonk”, sort of an anti-“schmoo”, a nasty little animal that’s good for absolutely nothing, drawn as a hyperactive little furball with teeth. Bullmoose sells them all as “status symbols”, convincing everybody that they absolutely have to have one, and bankrupts the Capp character. Then, he walks into a fancy resturaunt, where they won’t let him in because he doesn’t have a shtoonk - he sold them all. He winds up having to give half his fortune back to the Capp character to buy his last remaining shtoonk, and they both are even again.

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**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2001, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468/2 "2001-03-10T22:15:56Z")

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The character was “Bet-a-Million Bashby.” He was featured, along with most of the other Li’l Abner characters, in an article in _Life_ Magazine, circa 1960. Bashby’s credo was “always bet on a sure thing and always bet with a fool.” He decides to make Abner himself his patsy.  
According to the article, “Bashby bet a man could safely cross an empty street. Abner bet that he couldn’t. A manhole exploded as a sewer opened. Abner won.”  
Obviously, Abner had the same credo as Bashby. 😃

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**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\
**Post date:** [March 10, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468/3 "2001-03-10T23:29:24Z")

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I liked the Shmoos

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468/4 "2001-03-11T02:43:58Z")

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Thanks. I figured somebody’d know it.

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**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\
**Post date:** [March 11, 2001, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/minor-al-capp-character/57468/5 "2001-03-11T07:48:05Z")

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Hey, we’re talking Li’l Abner here!

That should have been, “Ah figered somebody knowed it.”