Leapin' Lizards!

[Garson O'Toole]

Thanks to Sam Clements for finding some early examples of "leapin lizards".

Wikipedia claims that the Little Orphan Annie daily American comic
strip first appeared on August 5, 1924. An example of the strip is
presented in Wikipedia with this caption: First Little Orphan Annie
Sunday page (November 2, 1924). The example contains a speech balloon
with "LEAPIN' LIZARDS! IT'S MISS ASTHMA -" If this information is
correct then these dates provide good upper and lower bounds.

As a benchmark I can directly verify an instance of the catch phrase
used by Annie in the strip in the Chicago Daily Tribune on November
19, 1924. (The November 2 date in Wikipedia is better if it can be
verified.)

Cite: 1924 November 19, Chicago Daily Tribune, "Little Orphan Annie:
No Show", Page 10, Chicago, Illinois. (ProQuest Historical Newspapers)

Annie says "GREAT LEAPIN' LIZARDS!! SHE'S PICKED OUT VIOLET -"

The example strip in Wikipedia is taken from a blog about comic strips
called "Stripper's Guide".

Here is an excerpt from a blog article about the Little Orphan Annie
strip dated January 13, 2006: "Unfortunately much of it was apparently
printed only in the New York Daily News, and the microfilm for that
paper is in terrible shape, not nearly good enough to reproduce from.
Does anyone out there have a clipped run of the strip from the
beginning?"
http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-annie-sunday-page.html

Looking at microfilm of the New York Daily News from the starting date
of the strip is one approach if someone has the access and the time.

Garson


On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 11:51 PM, Sam Clements <SClements at neo.rr.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Sam Clements <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Leapin' Lizards!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> And, a little more.  The question might become "what is the earliest
> appearance of "Leapin' Lizards" in connection with Little Orphan Annie,
> rather than the earliest appearance in the strip.
>
> 19 August 1926, _Chicago Tribune_
>
> Story about an outing in in Lincoln Park, "the 22nd annual frolic of the
> Orphans Automobile Outing association."
>
> In the article, it says "It only remained for The Tribune cartoonist, Harold
> Gray, to tack up his make shift easel and to smear vivid crayons onto the
> big sheet with flying fingers until there materialized before their
> delighted eye their own pal and playmate, Little Orphan Annie, to fill the
> cup of joy to overflowing.  "Leapin' lizards!" commented Annie as she was
> carried from one side of the platform to the other and got a good look out
> over the crowd."
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sam Clements" <SClements at NEO.RR.COM>
> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 22:28
> Subject: Re: Leapin' Lizards!
>
>
>>A quick find--
>>
>> Newspaperarchive
>>
>> 28 October 1926.  _Salt Lake Tribune_ (Utah)
>>
>> In the header of the strip.
>>
>> "Aw, Leapin' Lizards."
>>
>> Sam Clements
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 21:55
>> Subject: Leapin' Lizards!
>>
>>
>>> Thanks to Garson O'Toole, John Baker, Bill Mullins, and others for their
>>> excellent responses to my queries about Margaret Thatcher quotations.
>>> Here's another challenge:  Can anyone find any information as to what was
>>> the exact date of the first appearance of the exclamation "Leapin'
>>> Lizards!" in the Little Orphan Annie comic strip?
>>>
>>> Fred Shapiro
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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