On August 5, 1924, the “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip makes its debut in the funny pages of the New York Daily News. The creation of cartoonist Harold Gray quickly becomes one of the most popular strips in syndication.
With her red hair and spunky personality, Annie emerged as a symbol of American individualism and self-reliance. Gray’s comic strip drew inspiration from the 1885 poem, “Little Orphan Annie” by James Whitcomb Riley. Originally intended to be titled Little Orphant Allie, the poem’s name was changed due to a typesetting error—and the mistaken version stuck.
Gray’s choice of a girl as a central character was unusual at the time. The Annie character became a cultural icon in the decades since the comic strip debuted, and the story was turned into a radio drama series, several film adaptions and a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical that opened in 1977. The musical and movies feature the Annie character, her dog Sandy and the wealthy “Daddy Warbucks,” who adopts her from an orphanage.
By the time of his death in 1968, Gray—who had worked at the Chicago Tribune before creating "Little Orphan Annie"—had seen his comic strip syndicated in some 400 newspapers across the United States, Canada and beyond. The popularity of the strip declined in the following decades and was cancelled in 2010.
