14 October 2008

Shmoo!


The Short Life and Happy Times of the Shmoo by Al Capp. Adult nonfiction. DONE.
This book examines the life of the Shmoo as reported in Li'l Abner in 1948 and 1959.

I had no idea about the Shmoo of the 1940's and 1950's. My acquaintance with the Shmoo was watching Hanna Barbera cartoons from the late 1970's and early 1980's that had guest appearances of the Shmoo. Maybe it was on Scooby Doo or another show like the Laff-Olympics.
The old Shmoo was lovable and generous, but also hated by others because of his kind nature. What an awful political and cultural observation by Capp that if someone so good-hearted and giving comes along, there are those who want to spoil everything and hate it.