Little Lulu facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Little Lulu
The first Little Lulu cartoon from February 23, 1935 issue of The Saturday Evening Post
Author(s)	Marjorie "Marge" Henderson Buell
Current status/schedule	Ended
Launch date	February 23, 1935
End date	December 30, 1944
Publisher(s)	The Saturday Evening Post
Genre(s)	Comic strip

Little Lulu is a fun comic strip character created in 1935 by an American cartoonist named Marjorie Henderson Buell. Lulu Moppet, the main character, first appeared in The Saturday Evening Post magazine on February 23, 1935. In her very first appearance, she was a flower girl at a wedding and playfully scattered banana peels down the aisle!

Little Lulu became very popular and took the place of another comic strip called Henry. The Little Lulu comic panel was published every week in The Saturday Evening Post until December 30, 1944. Marjorie Buell wanted to create a girl character because she felt a girl could get away with more mischievous and clever stunts than a boy.

About Little Lulu

How Little Lulu Started

Marge's Little Lulu
Publication information
Publisher	Dell/Gold Key(Western)
Schedule	bi-monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Genre	Humor/comedy
Publication date	Jan/Feb 1948 – March 1984
Number of issues	268
Creative team
Writer(s)	John Stanley
Artist(s)	Irving Tripp John Stanley
Collected editions
In the Doghouse	ISBN 1-59307-345-3
Lulu Goes Shopping	ISBN 1-59307-270-8
Lulu Takes a Trip	ISBN 1-59307-317-8
Letters to Santa	ISBN 1-59307-386-0
Lulu's Umbrella Service	ISBN 1-59307-399-2

Marjorie Henderson Buell, who used the pen name "Marge," was born in Pennsylvania in 1904. She had already created two other comic strips in the 1920s. Her first Little Lulu cartoon appeared in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935. This single-panel comic continued until December 30, 1944. After that, it became a regular comic strip.

Marge herself stopped drawing the comic strip in 1947. In 1950, Little Lulu became a daily comic strip that was shared with many newspapers by the Chicago Tribune–New York News Syndicate. This daily strip ran until 1969.

The World of Little Lulu Comics

The comic book stories of Little Lulu were first written by John Stanley. They appeared in ten issues of Dell Comics' Four Color series. Then, in 1948, her own series called Marge's Little Lulu began. John Stanley wrote the stories and drew the layouts, while Irving Tripp and others finished the artwork.

Stanley added many new characters to the stories. He even changed Lulu's friend "Joe" to "Tubby". Tubby became so popular that he got his own comic series, Marge's Tubby, which ran from 1952 to 1961. John Stanley's work on Little Lulu comic books is highly praised. He continued working on the comic until about 1959.

After Stanley, other writers like Arnold Drake created Lulu stories for Gold Key Comics. The comics were translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, and Japanese. When Marge retired in 1972, she sold the rights to Western Publishing. The name "Marge's" was removed from the title. The series continued until 1984 when Western Publishing stopped making comics.

Meet the Characters

Here are some of the main characters you'll meet in the Little Lulu comics:

• Little Lulu – Her full name is Louise Moppet. She is the main character and best friends with Tubby and Annie. Lulu is very smart and determined. She often challenges the boys to show that girls are just as capable. Lulu is also very creative. She tells stories to Alvin to teach him lessons in a fun way. She has long black curly hair and wears a red dress and hat.
• Tubby Tompkins – His full name is Thomas Tompkins. Tubby is Lulu's male best friend and often her rival in their playful arguments. He is the leader of the boys' club, "The Fellers." Tubby sometimes forgets to pay club fees or do his duties, so his friends often remove him from his leadership role. He has red hair and wears a white sailor hat, a black suit jacket, a large blue bowtie, and light brown pants.
• Annie Inch – Annie is Lulu's female best friend. She joins Lulu in most of her adventures. Annie might not be as clever as Lulu, but she is a loyal friend who always helps Lulu with her plans. She is Iggy's sister. Annie has short black straight hair and usually wears a blue dress.
• Iggy Inch – Iggy is Tubby's male best friend and a member of "The Fellers." He is often grumpy and loves to play tricks. Iggy is Annie's brother. He has a shaved head and wears a white collar shirt and orange pants.
• Willie Wilkins – Willie is one of Tubby's friends and the strongest member of "The Fellers." He has short black hair and wears an orange cap, a green suit jacket, and orange knickers.
• Eddie Stimson – Eddie is another one of Tubby's friends and the smartest member of "The Fellers." He often comes up with the boys' plans, especially when they are against the West Side Boys.
• Wilbur Van Snobbe – Wilbur is the richest boy in town. He likes to be admired by the girls but can be arrogant. He is only sweet to Gloria. Wilbur doesn't have many friends, though he sometimes plays with the other kids. He has curly blond hair and wears a purple suit.
• Gloria Goode (Darling) – Gloria is considered the most beautiful girl in town. She is kind and playful with the girls, who sometimes feel a little jealous of her. All the boys fall in love with her. Gloria has a friendly rivalry with Lulu. She is richer than most of her classmates, but not as rich as Wilbur. She has long, wavy blonde hair and wears a ruffled pink dress.
• Alvin Jones – Alvin is Lulu's 6-year-old neighbor. He is mischievous and can be a bit bratty. He only stops his tantrums when Lulu tells him a story. He has red hair with a quiff and wears a white shirt and blue overalls.
• George and Martha Moppet – These are Lulu's parents. Martha is a great cook. George is often the target of Tubby's detective games.
• Jim and Ellie Tompkins – These are Tubby's parents.
• The West Side Boys – This is a group of tougher boys from another part of town. They are the rival club of "The Fellers" and often try to invade their clubhouse. The most common West Side Boys are Butch (their leader), Mickey, and Spike.

Little Lulu on Screen

Animated Shorts

Screenshot from the 1947 short "A Bout with a Trout"

Between 1943 and 1948, Lulu starred in 26 animated short films. These were made by Famous Studios for Paramount Pictures. They took the place of the Superman shorts. After these films, Paramount created a similar character called Little Audrey because they couldn't renew the license for Lulu.

Lulu's voice was done by Cecil Roy. Tubby's voice was done by Arnold Stang. The theme song for the shorts was created by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise, and Sidney Lippman.

In the 1960s, Paramount and Famous Studios made two more Little Lulu cartoons. These were "Alvin's Solo Flight" and "Frog's Legs." Both were based on stories from John Stanley's comics. Cecil Roy returned to voice Lulu.

Live-Action Specials

ABC aired two half-hour live-action TV specials based on the comic. These were part of the ABC Weekend Special on Saturday mornings. Little Lulu aired on November 4, 1978, and The Big Hex of Little Lulu aired on September 15, 1979.

The cast for these specials included:

• Lauri Hendler as Lulu
• Kevin King Cooper as Tubby
• Lulu Baxter as Annie
• Robbie Rist as Iggy
• Annrae Walterhouse as Gloria
• Billy 'Pop' Atmore as Willie
• Nicky Manfredi as Eddie
• Billy Jayne as Alvin
• Nita DiGiampaolo as Margie
• Shari Belafonte as Janie

TV Shows

Little Lulu was also made into a Japanese anime TV series called Ritoru Ruru to Chitchai Nakama. This series was directed by Seitaro Kodama and produced by Nippon Animation. It aired in Japan from 1976 to 1977 and had 26 episodes. An English version was made for the American market in 1978.

The characters in Little Lulu 1995 series. First row: Wilbur, Annie, Gloria, Alvin, Tubby, Little Lulu, Jeannie and Joannie and Margie; second row: Eddie, Iggy, Willie, Mr. George and Mrs. Martha Moppet.

In 1995, Little Lulu became an HBO animated TV series called The Little Lulu Show. Tracey Ullman (in season 1) and Jane Woods (in seasons 2–3) voiced Lulu Moppet. This series was produced by a Canadian company called CINAR (now WildBrain). The show finished in 1999 but continued to air on other channels in Canada.

There was also a Brazilian comic book series launched in 2009 called Luluzinha Teen e sua Turma (which means Teen Little Lulu and her Gang). This series showed Lulu and her friends as teenagers. It was created in a manga style and became very popular in Brazil for a while. However, this teen-focused series was canceled in 2015 after 65 issues.

Lulu's Popularity and Reprints

Advertising Fun

Little Lulu was a very popular character and appeared on many products. She was the main character in a big advertising campaign for Kleenex tissues during the 1940s and 1950s. She was the first mascot for Kleenex! From 1952 to 1965, Lulu was even featured on a large animated billboard in Times Square in New York City. She also appeared in Pepsi-Cola magazine ads. Marge, the creator, was very involved in how Little Lulu was used for advertising. Today, the rights to Little Lulu are owned by NBCUniversal.

Collecting Lulu Comics

Little Lulu panel from March 20, 1943 issue of The Saturday Evening Post.

Many fans enjoy collecting Little Lulu comics. Between 1985 and 1992, Another Rainbow Publishing released an 18-volume set called the Little Lulu Library. These hardbound books collected many of the early stories.

Later, in 2004, Dark Horse Comics started reprinting Little Lulu comics. They published many black and white volumes, and then later, full-color versions. These reprints helped new generations discover Lulu's adventures.

In 2010, Dark Horse also reprinted the companion series about Tubby, called Little Lulu's Pal Tubby. More recently, in 2018, Drawn & Quarterly announced they would also be reprinting John Stanley's Little Lulu comics, starting in 2019.

See also

In Spanish: La pequeña Lulú para niños

• Little Lulu and Her Little Friends
• The Little Lulu Show
• Friends of Lulu, a U.S. organization promoting participation of women in the comic-book industry