Broom-Hilda

For the shieldmaiden and valkyrie Brünnhilde, see Brynhildr.

Broom-Hilda
Author(s) Russell Myers
Website http://www.gocomics.com/broomhilda/
Current status / schedule Running
Launch date April 19, 1970
Syndicate(s) Tribune Media Services (formerly Chicago Tribune Syndication)
Genre(s) Humor

Broom-Hilda is an American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russell Myers. Distributed by the Tribune Media Services, it depicts the misadventures of a man-crazy, cigar-smoking, beer-guzzling, 1,500-year-old witch and her motley crew of friends.

The original idea for Broom-Hilda came from Elliott Caplin, brother of Li'l Abner cartoonist Al Capp. He described the main character to Myers, who responded with a sketch of the witch and several samples. Caplin, acting as Myers' business manager, submitted these to the Chicago Tribune Syndicate. Introduced on April 19, 1970, it became an immediate success. Broom-Hilda was reprinted in several collections during the 1970s and 1980s.

Characters and story

Although events mostly take place during the present in an unidentified forest, the setting changes. Locales change drastically from day to day—and background details can change from panel to panel within the same strip, while the characters remain stationary (much like the backgrounds in Krazy Kat ). Broom-Hilda is capable of time travel, reappearing in various centuries throughout history to chat with (burlesque versions of) diverse historical figures.

Animation

Broom-Hilda was adapted twice for animated television series. The first was part of Archie's TV Funnies (1971), an animated series set in a television station run by Archie Andrews and his friends. Broom-Hilda was one of the comic strips featured on their show, along with Dick Tracy, Moon Mullins and Smokey Stover. The series was produced by Filmation Associates. Broom-Hilda's voice was provided by Jane Webb (also the voice of Veronica Lodge).

Broom-Hilda returned in another Filmation series, Fabulous Funnies (1978). Thirteen episodes were produced, and the series ran for one season on NBC. The show featured animated versions of several famous comic strips, including Tumbleweeds, Alley Oop and Nancy. Voices were provided by June Foray (Broom-Hilda), Bob Holt (Gaylord) and Alan Oppenheimer (Irwin/Grelber).

The character also made a brief animated appearance in The Fantastic Funnies (1980), a TV special that aired on CBS showcasing newspaper cartoonists. The animation sequence was produced by Bill Melendez Productions. June Foray was brought back to voice the character.

Other media

In 2004, it was announced that there would be a Broadway musical[1] based on the comic strip characters, written by Martin Charnin (Annie) and Kurt Andersen (Spy magazine). The music was composed by Leroy Anderson. There was discussion of casting with Andersen suggesting Catherine Zeta-Jones[2] for the title role, but the show was not produced.

Grelber also appeared as a computer program on old Unix systems. Typing the command "Grelber" would cause the computer to insult the user.

Awards

Myers won the National Cartoonists Society's Humor Comic Strip Award for 1975 for his work on the strip.

Caplin died in 2000. Myers continues to write and draw the strip, compiling a large backlog of strips in the event poor health were to prevent him from meeting his syndication requirements.[3]

Russell Myers collections

Notes

  1. ↑ Witching hour – Entertainment News, Legit News, Media – Variety
  2. ↑ My Way
  3. ↑ news from me – ARCHIVES Archived November 19, 2006, at the Wayback Machine.
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