# What's going on in "Little Orphan Annie" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 7, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013 "2004-07-07T21:33:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/1 "2004-07-07T21:33:38Z")
See [here](http://www.comicspage.com/annie/annie.html). Did they get a new artist or something? Like, in the middle of this _week?_ Suddenly, Amelia Santiago has PUPILS in her eyes. Will Annie have pupils when she comes back into the storyline? Annie hasn’t had pupils since 1924. I consider this, in many ways, a big aesthetic improvement…the old artist was getting worse by the day. Santiago was beginning to look like a linebacker, even in the demure little skirted suit and pearls she’s been wearing since she got to Washington to testify against Benton. The writing still sucks, unfortunately…I’ve always liked Jay Maeder’s essays and articles, but the strain of creating a continuing strip seems to be beyond his powers. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/2 "2004-07-07T21:40:58Z")
I think I’ll speak for a lot of people when I say: “Mooore braiiins!” In other words, is the strip still alive? I know they kicked Peanuts into rerun mode after Charles died, but I don’t imagine they’d be running any strip on an 80-year loop. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/3 "2004-07-07T21:48:04Z")
And it looks like the strip is just ‘Annie’, sans ‘Little Orphan’. Did her parents spring back to life or something? (Yes, “Mooore braiiins!” again, I guess) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/4 "2004-07-07T21:56:25Z")
I think she be drawn with eyes like those [Margaret Keane](http://www.park2.com/keane/) paintings. Man, those things always creeped me out as a kid and they STILL creep me out. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/5 "2004-07-07T21:57:56Z")
:smack: “should be drawn” damned creepy eye kids! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/6 "2004-07-07T22:10:19Z")
Little Orphan Annie should be drawn Anime (peonounced “annie-may”) style. 😃 [Kinda like THIS!](http://www.animeraiders.com/creed/Akothumb/kjs7je4/ze.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/7 "2004-07-07T22:16:33Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > is the strip still alive? I know they kicked Peanuts into rerun mode after Charles died, but I don’t imagine they’d be running any strip on an 80-year loop. Oh, Harold Gray’s been dead for a million years. I think the strip was defunct for a while, too, but the 1977 Broadway musical whomped up enough interest that someone (Leonard Starr, I think) decided to re-vamp it and drop the “Lil Orphan” part. About three years ago, Maeder…a NY DAILY NEWS pop culture feature writer and author of a really wonderful “biography” of Dick Tracy…took over as the writer, and the NEWS started carrying it. This was the first time I ever read the thing. Jay put Annie in blue jeans and hoodies instead of that yucky red dress, and provided her with a grownup hot babe sidekick, Amelia Santiago the Girl Pilot. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2004, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/8 "2004-07-07T22:51:47Z")
_Glorioski!_ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/9 "2004-07-08T00:18:33Z")
The real question is, what the hell is [Bill Clinton](http://www.comicspage.com/comicspage/main.jsp?catid=1145&custid=69&file=20040705csann-a-p.jpg&code=csann&dir=/annie) doing in that comic? ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/10 "2004-07-08T00:55:03Z")
That Santiago lady character looks appealingly like Maggie Gyllenhaal, particularly in the center panel of [this strip](http://www.comicspage.com/comicspage/main.jsp?catid=1145&custid=69&file=20040707csann-a-p.jpg&code=csann&dir=/annie). Aside from that, I have no comment, since I believe this is the first time I’ve ever read _Little Orphan Annie_. I did see the movie with Albert Finney and that insanely annoying song, though. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/11 "2004-07-08T01:55:10Z")
Oh my gosh, she’s wearing pants now! I’m so glad my paper doesn’t carry this! If you’re going to change a classic that much, just start a new character and a new strip…leave Annie alone! You don’t see Charlie Brown changing his shirt (and yes, I know they are re-runs.) ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/12 "2004-07-08T02:08:34Z")
Didja ever notice that the pattern of maria on the Moon kinda resembles Little Orphan Annie’s hair, framing her face? ---
**Author:** ![Thunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@Thunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thunder)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/13 "2004-07-08T03:41:47Z")
I always heard that Little Orphan Annie had put her contact lenses in sideways… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/14 "2004-07-08T14:58:31Z")
Before I opened the OP’s link, I hadn’t read that strip in about 10 or so years. It certainly changed a lot in the interval. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2004, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-going-on-in-little-orphan-annie/254013/15 "2004-07-08T15:12:22Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > See [here](http://www.comicspage.com/annie/annie.html). > > Did they get a new artist or something? Like, in the middle of this _week?_ > > Suddenly, Amelia Santiago has PUPILS in her eyes. Looks like this started on [25 June](http://www.comicspage.com/comicspage/main.jsp?catid=1145&custid=69&file=20040625csann-a-p.jpg&code=csann&dir=/annie) when somebody gave Bronko irises.