Here is another cartoon from Dan DeCarlo, showing how a spanking was done back in the hill country. The young man leaning against the tree and the girl getting spanked by her Pa are plainly modeled on Li'l Abner Yokum and Daisy Mae Scragg from the very popular (at the time this cartoon was drawn) Li'l Abner newspaper comic strip. This cartoon has been retouched by an unknown artist to bare the girl's bottom - although we could not find a copy of it, we remember seeing the original years ago, and as good as it was, the spanking was not on the bare. This was in keeping with the editorial standards of the day (probably 1950's). As was usual for DeCarlo, the OTK positioning is nicely done.

Interestingly, the humor here derives from the girl's desire to be spanked by a handsome young man in whom she obviously has a romantic interest. This theme is also touched upon in some of the other cartoons on display in the Humor section, notably the "be careful with that ash" and "spanking marriage counselor", both by Kirk Styles.

Originally published in 1944, probably during late summer or early fall. From our personal collection, added 03/22/2008. © Capp Enterprises, Inc.

As we mentioned, the boy and girl in the cartoon above were modeled on characters from Li'l Abner, which in its prime (1940's and 50's, in our opinion) was certainly one of the finest comic strips ever produced. Al Capp, its creator, was not only a good artist but a gifted humorist as well. The strip featured both broad humor and biting satire, and contributed a great deal to the popular culture of the day. Even now, people who are too young to remember the strip itself may have heard references to "the shmoo", "Lower Slobbovia", or "Sadie Hawkins Day" - all of which were dreamed up by Capp for Li'l Abner.

Spankings occurred many times in the strip. Daisy Mae was spanked at least twice by Lil' Abner, and she also wound up over the knee of other characters from time to time. Despite this, we see no internal evidence that Capp was into spanking, nor have we seen any research (or even heard any gossip - and we listen!) that would suggest such tendencies either. Spanking was very common in American society until quite recently, and as we have remarked elsewhere in these pages, works of popular art would naturally be expected to reflect that. Capp was a master at suggestiveness and sexy exaggeration, so had he intended the spankings to be presented in an erotic manner, either for popular consumption or personal satisfaction, he could certainly have depicted them that way.