Leapin' Lizards!

[Garson O'Toole]

I apologize for the multiple messages.

Here is a possible strategy: In 2008 a collection was released called
Complete Little Orphan Annie Volume 1; published by  Idea & Design
Works Llc. Volume 1 contains "first strip in August 1924 through
October 1927". So looking through it would yield the first strip with
"leapin lizards" (November 2 or earlier). Amazon look inside shows at
least one page that is dated. If all the strips are dated then you
have your answer. If strips are undated then you can still generate an
excellent estimate and then maybe verify at Boston Univ or with
microfilm of the New York Daily News.

On Mon, Jun 14, 2010 at 3:23 AM, Garson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Garson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Leapin' Lizards!
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The term "Leapin' Lizards" does appear in the Sunday strip of Little
> Orphan Annie dated 1924 November 2 in the Chicago Tribune. It is on
> page 133 of 134 of the issue according to the numbering in ProQuest
> Historical Newspapers. I  looked through some earlier issues of the
> Chicago Tribune and could not find Little Orphan Annie. It is possible
> that the Chicago Tribune did not print the strip in its earliest days.
>
> Wikipedia says the Special Collections Dept. at the Boston University
> Library contains Gray’s original pen and ink drawings for Little
> Orphan Annie daily strips dating from 1924 to 1968. I do not know if
> these drawings include the lettering. But maybe someone associated
> with Boston University can access the collection and look at the early
> strips.
>
> On Sun, Jun 13, 2010 at 9:55 PM, Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       "Shapiro, Fred" <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> 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
>>
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