The Life and Times of the Shmoo

1948 [Caplin, Alfred Gerald] (1909-79]. The Life and Times of the Shmoo. By Al Capp [pseud.]. New York: Simon and Schuster. U.K. ed. London: Convoy Publications, 1949. Rpt. as “The Shmoo: 1948.” In his The Short Life and Happy Times of the Shmoo (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2002), 1-93. All the strips rpt. in Al Capp’s Shmoo: The Complete Newspaper Strips. Milwaukie, OR: Dark Horse Books, 2011. See also Al Capp’s Shmoo Comics, no. 1 - 5 (July 1949 - April 1950). 5 vols. New York: Toby Press, 1949 - 50 [held by Michigan State University]. Some rpt. in Washable Jones and the Shmoos, no. 1 (June 1953) [all published. Held by Michigan State University]. Rpt. in Shmoo. The Complete Comic Books. Milwaukee, WI: Dark Horse Books, 2008. The comic books were overseen by Capp but were drawn by others and had very different content from the strips. Caplin legally changed his name to Al Capp in 1949. L, PSt

Comic strip. The Shmoo is a creature who provides all the food anyone wants, thus producing a classic Cockaigne. The strips recount the eutopia produced, the troubles this gives rise to, and the attempts of government and business to destroy the Shmoo. Other Shmoo material includes Gerald Marks and Al Capp, Shmoo Songs. New York: Bristol Music Corp., 1949 [held by the Los Angeles Public Library]; and a series of Hanna-Barbera films in 1979 (Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo) and 1987-88 (sixteen films). See also Al Capp, The Return of the Shmoo. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1959. Rpt. as “The Shmoo: 1959.” In his The Short Life and Happy Times of the Shmoo (Woodstock, NY: Overlook Press, 2002), 93-143; rpt. in Shmoo. The Complete Comic Books. Milwaukee, WI: Dark Horse Books, 2008.