Little Audrey
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Little Audrey is a fictional character, appearing in Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1959. She is considered a variation of the better-known Little Lulu, devised after Paramount failed to renew the licence on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic strip character. Despite some superficial similarities between the two characters, the Famous animators were at pains to design Audrey in contrast to Lulu, adopting an entirely different color scheme and employing the stylistic conventions common to Famous Studios' later '40s repertoire, as opposed to Buell's individualistic rendering of Little Lulu.
According to most sources, Audrey first appeared in Famous Studios' "Santa's Surprise" (1947), where she was the most prominent member of a multicultural 'child cast', followed by a supporting role in the Popeye cartoon, "Olive Oyl For President" (early 1948). Her first starring vehicle was the cartoon "Butterscotch and Soda", released June 1948. In common with many animated shorts of the period, child-like fantasy played an important role in Audrey's early cartoons, which often used dream sequences as the basis of the storylines. In this way, Audrey could ride the clouds with Mother Goose ("Goofy Goofy Gander"), attend a wedding in Cakeland ("Tarts and Flowers"), or face an underwater tribunal of outraged catfish ("The Seapreme Court"). Slapstick humor crept into the series with the release of Surf Bored, which pitted the precocious little girl against a hulking but ultimately brainless life guard. A total of sixteen animated shorts were produced for theatrical release, several of which were re-packaged for television in the early sixties.
The early Little Audrey cartoons were sold to television distributor U.M.&M. T.V. Corp. in 1956. Only two Little Audrey cartoons were syndicated with U.M.&M. titles. Tarts and Flowers appeared with the usual refilmed U.M.&M. titles (red title cards with yellow lettering). The Lost Dream appeared with a different U.M.&M. shield in place of the Paramount spinning star opening. The original credits stayed intact, with a custom made title card in place of the original Paramount title card. National Telefilm Associates completed the refilming of the titles to the other Little Audrey cartoons that were sold to U.M.&M. Most public domain prints contain either U.M.&M. or NTA titles. Some prints of Little Audrey cartoons survive with their Paramount "spinning star" openings intact.
Little Audrey was never as successful as Famous' best known creation, Casper the Friendly Ghost, but the character is known to have had considerable success in printed form. Audrey was first published in comic book form by St. John Publications from 1948 to 1951. Visually speaking, the St. John version was the most faithful adaptation of the screen character, incorporating both the basic design and anatomical proportions of the original, although variations to the color work were evident (such as the altering of the dress from blue to yellow or green). Content wise, storylines depended more on situation comedy than on fantasy, emphasizing sight gags, blackout jokes and improbable scenarios appropriate to the age level of the audience. The series met with moderate success on the newstand, running for approximately twenty-four issues until the title was licenced by Harvey Comics in 1952.
Initially, Harvey's comic-strip version closely followed its animated template, but the character was redesigned during the mid-fifties to conform more closely to the company's in-house style. The general storyline was simultaneous overhauled to provide Audrey with supporting characters such as Melvin (her ugly, prank-playing archrival) and Timmy (one of the first racially integrated characters to appear in children's comics). Domestic comedy gradually took over the script as Audrey was shown in conflict with parents, teachers and numerous other authority caricatures that drifted in and out of the strip. Harvey acquired property rights for Audrey (and several other Famous characters) in 1958, giving the company full control over the character's appearance and editorial policies. It was during this time that the 'definitive' Audrey came into being, taking on the signature 'red dress' appearance most often associated with the character. By 1960, Little Audrey was the best known of Harvey's female characters due to her multi-media presence (comic books, television/theatrical animation and - briefly - newspaper strips), although her popularity was later eclipsed by the company's other pinch-hitters, Little Dot, Wendy the Good Little Witch and Little Lotta.
During her most successful period, Audrey starred in at least four of her own titles and was a back-up feature in Richie Rich, Casper, and Dot. The character lasted until 1976, when an industry-wide distribution slump brought an end to most of Harvey's line (and caused the mass-extinction of children's comics in general). Since that time, the character has undergone several revivals and made scattered television and video appearances, most notably in The Richie Rich Show (1996) and Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure (1998).
Little Audrey jokes were in circulation in the 1930s, according to B.A. Botkin in his book A Treasury of American Folktales (1944): "Little Audrey is a folk-lore character about whom thousands of non-sensical short tales during the past five or six years — have been told. Sometimes Little Audrey parades as Little Emma or Little Gertrude, but she usually is recognizable by a catch phrase 'she just laughed and laughed'. The amusing incident is typically a catastrophe. Little Audrey sees the humor in any situation".
