178 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

"Annie and 'Daddy' were drawn irresistibly to one another. They were both ready to settle disputes with their fists . . . What was Gray's gospel?… The Christ that Gray really wanted was one who didn't peddle cheap grace or allow himself to be taken in by religious con artists. Forgiveness there should be, but only if accepted in penitent humility; restoration and rehabilitation, but only for those open to moral renewal."

Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel
By Kenneth S. Barker

THE hit musical Annie, which has been playing to packed audiences in New York for more than a year, has revived interest in one of the most controversial comic strips of all time, Harold Gray's Little Orphan Annie. Long before Al Capp, Walt Kelly, or Gary Trudeau used the comic page for social and political satire, Gray had combined his simple art with a Dickensesque literary talent to spoof almost every segment of American life, including medicine, law, politics, education, religion, and commerce.¹ But not without repercussion! In the forty-four years he produced Annie-from August 5, 1924 until his death in La Jolla, California on May 9, 1968-he was frequently censored and called, among other things, a Calvinist, a fascist, and a bird-dog capitalist. ²

I

One of the earliest altercations came in the opening years of the Roosevelt administration. In

Kenneth S. Barker is the minister of St. Paul's United Church (Canada), Orillia, Ontario. He is a graduate of the University of British Columbia, Knox College (Toronto), and the University of Toronto Graduate School of Theology. During a pastorate in Montreal, he taught a course on the "Newspaper Comics" in the English Department of John Abbott College, and he has published several sermons in The Expository Times. Mr. Barker's collection of chancel dramas, Dramatic Moments in the Life of Jesus, will be published soon by John Knox Press.

¹ Harold Lincoln Gray, born on January 20, 1894, in Kankakee, Illinois, graduated from Purdue University in 1917. After service with the army during the Great War hejoined the staff of The Chicago Tribune as a reporter and then an assistant draftsman for Sydney Smith's lucrative The Gumps. This led to the creation of Little Orphan Annie.
² The strip began in The New York News on Tuesday, August 5, 1924. The parent Chicago Tribune began to run it on Monday, November 10, 1924. The Sunday began on November 2, 1924, but in the early years featured a week-to-week incident not related to the adventure being carried in the dailies. In all, Gray turned out 2,279 Sunday pages and about 13,750 dailies, a formidable amount of material. By some oddity some of the early dailies were run in The New York News out of proper sequence.

179 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

March 1934, Gray began a sequence in which an innocent "Daddy" Warbucks was indicted for income tax evasion. Facing business collapse, "Daddy" had conscientiously set aside his tax payments in a separate account and instructed his faithful secretary, Zebadiah Z. Hare, to make payment when the company closed.³ Unfortunately for Warbucks, Hare skipped to Mexico with the money. Ward Heely and Bill McBribe, two political hacks, then consorted with Phil 0. Bluster, a district attorney patterned on William Jennings Bryan of Scopes' Trial fame, and Judge Cogg, part of the political machine, to stack a jury and frame "Daddy."⁴ Some Roosevelt sympathizers were annoyed. Richard L. Neuberger, writing in The New Republic under the heading "Hooverism in the Funnies,"⁵ claimed Gray was making a not too subtle defense of the utility company magnates then under investigation by the Roosevelt administration.

The following year, Gray did a story in which penniless "Daddy" teamed up with an eccentric but brilliant inventor Eli Eon to produce Eonite, a miracle substance.⁶ But woe to Warbucks! Whoever controlled Eonite controlled the world and an unscrupulous financier, J. Gordon Slugg, was in hot pursuit of the formula. After several unsuccessful attempts, Slugg turned to a group of pompous demagogues.⁷Claude Claptrap, a rabble-rousing orator, Horatio Hack, a professional reformer and propagandist, Ronald Renegade, a "Park Avenue swell," Phineas Plunder, Lester Lacque, and Byron Bunkum along with several rough-haired labor agitators stirred up popular hate. Eventually a riot led to the destruction of the plant, the death of Eli Eon, and the loss ofjobs for those who wanted to work.⁸

James Clendenin, editor of the Huntington, West Virginia, Herald Dispatch, wrote a front page editorial denouncing Gray's criticism of the New Deal and organized labor. No longer would the comic strip run in his paper. The New Republic in an unsigned editorial entitled "Fascism in the Funnies," praised Clendenin for his censorship.⁹ The Nation lent support.¹⁰ The Chicago Tribune Syndicate reacted by restricting Gray's freedom.

II

The controversial nature of Gray's work, however, involved more than political satire. Neuberger wrote, "From 1925 [sic] to 1934 there was no more lovable or more consistently fortunate comic-strip character than 'Daddy' Warbucks... always . . . kindly and

³ April 6, 1934.
⁴ April 29, 1934ff.
⁵ Neuberger, Richard L., "Hooverism in the Funnies," The New Republic, July II, 1934,p.234.
⁶ March 31, 1935ff..
⁷ July 21, 1935.
⁸ August 12, 1935ff.
⁹ 'Fascism in the Funnies," The New Republic, September 18, 1935, p. 147.
¹⁰ "Little Orphan Annie," The Nation, October 23, 1935.

180 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

generous. . . ."¹¹ In point of fact a strident social philosophy was present in Gray's work from the very beginning. On the second day of the strip, as Annie was being interviewed in Miss Asthma's "Home for Orphans" by a rich couple, she was teased by their young son Lester. Her response was to slug the brat in the face.

Annie was eventually taken on trial by a nouveau-riche Mrs. Warbucks, daughter of a plumber's helper, who wanted to impress her socialite friends with some fashionable social concern. For several weeks the conflict built up between the two. Oliver Warbucks didn't appear until September 26th, and his arrival was prefaced by remarks that he had made his wealth during the war as an unscrupulous armament dealer who detested children.

But Annie and "Daddy" were drawn irresistibly to one another. They were both ready to settle disputes with their fists. As Warbucks told Annie, "A straight left turneth away wrath."¹² When the two went to persuade a loan shark named Spyder not to foreclose on kindhearted but impecunious Miss Fair, "Daddy" not only bought the mortgage to make things legal, he smashed Spyder to the floor with a hard left. ¹³

This hard-nosed, no nonsense attitude to bullies, crooks, and hypocrites persisted throughout the years and added much to the popularity of the strip. Gray had the ability to set up his villains so that most people could identify with the victim and rejoice when the wrong-doer received a just reward. And it mattered little to him whether the villain was the hypocritical banker who gave money for a church organ while exploiting the poor,¹⁴ I or the union agitator provoking a needless riot.¹⁵ His heroes were prudent, modest people who were set in contrast to any number of pretentious prigs.

This was the essential tension between Annie and the social climbing Mrs. Warbucks. "Daddy" was on the side of the angels not because he was a rich businessman but because he respected his plebeian past. He was a more outspoken variation of Jiggs. Instead of sneaking out to Dinty Moore's for corned beef and cabbage, he ordered the butler to keep the table stocked with pig's knuckles and sauerkraut.¹⁶ Instead of slinking off for a card game with the boys while Maggie attended the opera, he encouraged Mrs. Warbucks; to attend her "Rooshun Drama" while he and Annie took in a "swell Vaudeville show." ¹⁷ He

¹¹ Neuberger, op. cit.
¹² October 7, 1924.
¹³ October 17, 1924. See, also: April 1, 1930, January 30, 1931, April 7, 1936, et passim.
¹⁴ June 15, 1927. Annie's comment on Mr. Mack is a good example: "If Mack had helped that widow keep her farm it'd have done lots more real good'n giving a pipe-organ to the church, I betcha. But it wouldn't have made half th' splash. Funny how pop'lar he is all of a sudden."
¹⁵ July 31,1935,
¹⁶ September 26, 1924.
¹⁷ October 11, 1924.

181 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

detested his wife's condescending attitude to Annie and loathed her socialite friends who spent their time talking down their neighbors.¹⁸

Much of 1925 was devoted to another assumed difference: the phony sophistication of "Eu Rup" and the native integrity of America. Mrs. Warbucks arrived back from abroad with Selby Adlebert Piffleberry of the Herring Piffleberrys, a thoroughly objectionable young prig who urged Mrs. Warbucks to "ignoah the little blighter" (Annie).¹⁹ But Annie won out. She noted that Selby's initials spelled out his true character: SAP.²⁰ And to cinch the issue she trounced him in a fistfight.²¹

A second European representative then appeared on the scene in the

¹⁸ October 12, 1924. In January 1927, Gray indicated his clear distaste of Private Schools.
¹⁹ August 4, 1925.
²⁰ August 21, 1925.
²¹ August 29, 1925.

182 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

person of Count de Tour, a polished Parisian businessman.²² Selby assured Mrs. Warbucks that within a few years the Count would crush all competition and be the world's financial dictator. He was remorseless in a business war.²³ The Count in turn advised Mrs. Warbucks:

Why, my dear lady, you are wasting the best years of your life in this stagnant pool-this America. Think what a woman of your charm and poise could be in any of the great Capitals [sic] of Europe. Why, madam, you could be a Queen.²⁴

But the slick Count ran into tough competition. When he colddecked the cards, Warbucks outwitted him.²⁵ When he challenged "Daddy" to a duel, hoping to use rapiers to dispose of his unskilled nemesis, Warbucks responded to the slap of the glove in a more direct fashion. He slammed the Count to the floor.²⁶ And Annie completed the job by kicking de Tour in the shins when he bad-mouthed "Daddy."²⁷

In addition to these social tensions, the pristine innocence of the small town was often set in contrast to the corrupt sophistication of the city, though this distinction was somewhat qualified. In the small town of Blunderville, Annie reflected on the behavior of country children:

Gee! Those kids from the country are nice. Not stuck up or nothin'. Just real kids. Not such all-fire smart-alecks. They aren't afraid to ask questions. A kid who wants to learn will get some place some time.²⁸

And yet she immediately recognized the danger of such innocence when another group of country kids went by:

That yokel!!! Tubby Tucker, th' great social leader, th' big shot, th' wise guy. Bah! Where I come from a sap like that would never get past the first alley.²⁹

On the other hand, in the midst of the large city, she could speak of its positive qualities:

Huh. They say folks in th' city are cold an' hard to get 'quainted with. Why, I know ever'body on this street. Just like a little country town. I guess you find plenty of friendly folks 'most any place, if yer friendly yourself.³⁰

But again it was the unpretentious city folk. Gray knew that hypocrisy and hate were not absent from the small town, nor goodness from the city. Some of his most devastating satire was reserved for small town bigots and some of his warmest accolades for the true-hearted city dweller.

²² September 9, 1925.
²³ September 8, 1925.
²⁴ October 7, 1925.
²⁵ September 23, 1925.
²⁶ November 7, 1925.
²⁷ November 9, 1925.
²⁸ September 12, 1929.
²⁹ Ibid.
³⁰ March 26, 1931.

183 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

III

This appeal to popular feeling was to be seen, as well, in Gray's portrayal of how justice could be maintained or restored in situations of judicial and political corruption, when those entrusted with the maintenance of order and justice-policemen, judges, lawyers, and politicians-had been corrupted. Such situations were repeatedly described. An honest, hard working store-keeper, forced to pay protection money to local crooks, would be unable to obtain justice because those in positions of authority were involved in the racket.³¹

The approach of responsible democracy is, of course, to seek redress of grievance through existing judicial or political structures and, if this is impossible, to withdraw support at the next election. But the limitations of any political system, democracy included, make perfect justice impossible and other options often tempting. And Gray offered other options.

On occasion he would describe the intervention of fate. The would-be killer would drop a large piece of concrete over the edge of the roof only to catch his foot in the rope and be pulled to his own death.³² Or he could fall into a concealed well while trying to kill his intended victim.³³ Yet Gray was certainly not prepared to resign himself to fate. As Annie remarked:

Fate or luck. I've noticed it helps th' most when yuh give it a little help now and then. Eh, Sandy?³⁴

The same could be said of Providence. Though Gray seldom mentioned God by name, he frequently described people engaged in earnest prayer.³⁵ But an appeal to Providence usually occurred as a last resort.

At other times, Gray suggested redress through the intervention of an elected official, an influential Senator³⁶ or Governor.³⁷ But there could be an ominous note, as in this request made by "Daddy":

We know they're murderers and have proof but we're going to have a hard job to make it stick. That's why I'm calling on you, Senator. We absolutely

³¹ A story from April 8 to 30, 1931, involving a store keeper named "Jake" is a good example.
³² September 17, 1937.
³³ August 6, 1945.
³⁴ May 7, 1933. See, also December 25, 1927.
³⁵ An interesting example is found on January 31, 1929, when "Daddy" had been givenup for dead by the doctors: "I can't pray swell like a high-priced preacher. But I mean this, see? Please, please make Daddy live. Oh, what's th' use? He'd never listen to me. I don't know any swell words. I never even read th' Bible. But Daddy, Oh, if he just knew what a good guy Daddy is." Though "Daddy" recovered, part of the credit went to the country doctor for, as Mrs. Silo remarked, "Country doctors sometimes take their patients a little more seriously than big city doctors" (February 2, 1929). For other examples of prayer, see August 21, 1927, October 3, 1930, December 24, 1936, December 27, 1943, et passim.
³⁶ October 3, 1927.
³⁷ September 15, 1936; July 27, 1945.

184 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

need your help. With you tellin' th'judges how to jump and pulling the right strings we can give those birds the limit.³⁸

Gray's major and most controversial "solution" was the direct seizure of authority by an individual or group of concerned citizens. A story from 1927 illustrates it well. The oppressive villain in this case was Mr. Mack, manager of one of the town's banks but secretly leader of a group of bank robbers. The townspeople had been taken in by Mr. Mack's generous gift of a pipe organ to the local church, but Annie was not so gullible. She knew Mack had foreclosed on old widow Drake's farm and forced her to go to the poor house.³⁹ When Annie began to probe too closely into the affairs of the banker, he sent his young son, Pig-eye, to burn down the residence of Angus and Nellie Flint with whom Annie lived. Fortunately Annie and her faithful dog Sandy caught Pig-eye in the act.⁴⁰

To defend his son, Mack hired Mr. Berg, a big city lawyer reputed to get anybody outa jail an' keep 'ern out, even murderers. "⁴¹ But country justice prevailed. The jury declared Pig-eye guilty and Judge Crider sentenced him to the Reformatory.⁴² The difference between city and country was noted by Annie:

They sure do things quick out here in a small place. Take if in th' city they'd fool around for months, till folks forgot 'bout it, an' then like as not turn th' guy loose. But out here when a bird goes wrong they sock him first an' then forget 'bout him .⁴³

Annie was eventually kidnapped by the robber gang and rescued by "Daddy" in a shoot-out just before she was to be killed.⁴⁴ This led to the second jibe at city lawyers. Fein, "the biggest crook and the sharpest criminal lawyer in the country,"⁴⁵ arrived to defend Mack and his gang. "Daddy" decided there was a strong possibility Fein might succeed, so he called upon his friends:

We've got to see that this gang gets what's coming to 'em. They're using everything to get Mack off. He's a killer but he'll go free if we leave it to the courts. Fight fire with fire. I'll give him justice if I have to be a worse thug than he is to do it. See?⁴⁶

Though Gray at other times would qualify the intensity of such behavior and at all times, I suspect, justify it only when authority failed to ensure justice, his approach was disturbing and certainly open to the

³⁸ October 3, 1927.
³⁹ June 15, 1927.
⁴⁰ July 6, 1927.
⁴¹ July 8,1927,
⁴² July 9,1927.
⁴³ Ibid.
⁴⁴ September 21, 1927.
⁴⁵ September 24, 1927.
⁴⁶ September 30, 1927. "Daddy" lost some of this enthusiasm in the early 1940's and advised Punjab to let the authorities handle it. Yet when Punjab and the Asp did otherwise, he didn't object (April 2, 1941).

185 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

charge of fascism. One must only question whether in this regard there is much difference between the radical left and the radical right, for both seem inchned to let the end at times justify any means.

IV

It is against this background that we can examine Gray's attitude to business and religion. "Daddy" Warbucks has been described as the epitome of the crusading Bird-Dog or old style capitalist,⁴⁷ and there is little doubt he was used by Gray to defend the enterprising businessman over against the regimentation of big government. It is misleading, however, to suggest that Gray defended capitalism simpliciter. From the outset, the business ethic of "Daddy" was held up to close scrutiny. As the family maid put it before he arrived on the scene, "While Mr. Warbucks was soaking Uncle Sam six prices for guns, Col. Fair was in France trying to make them shoot."⁴⁸ The kindly Miss Fair was less judgmental but not altogether uncritical:

Under a rough exterior I think he is a real gentleman. I never liked his making his money out of the war but it's not up to us to judge him.⁴⁹

Even "Daddy" wasn't without his misgivings:

Ever since I can remember, Annie, I've been alone same as you. Nobody ever helped me. I had to help myself. See? The wife and I had pretty rough going. I had a little machine shop. Then the war came along. I was too old to fight but I wanted to do my bit so I made munitions. Well, I made a fortune too and everybody hates me for it. Maybe I did wrong, Annie, but I did the best I knew.⁵⁰

This ambiguity would reappear from time to time. "Daddy" could question an excessive preoccupation with business⁵¹ and clearly reject socially harmful business practices, such as voluntary bankruptcy.⁵² At other times he could defend the most brutal competition:

The more one has the harder one has to fight to keep it. In big business it's dog eat dog. No business can stand still. It has to grow or be swallowed up and it's better to swallow the other fellow first.⁵³

Aside from tension within "Daddy," there was frequent criticism of businessmen who used unscrupulous methods to exploit the poor.⁵⁴ One may accuse Gray of social naiveté indeed a Jeffersonian

⁴⁷ Mattingly, Ignatius G., Harper's, December, 1955:
⁴⁸ A 1924 strip I have been unable to date with precision.
⁴⁹ September 24, 1924.
⁵⁰ October 3, 1924.
⁵¹ January 7, 1929. "Business. Business. And all my life I've dreamed of the time when I'd have enough to retire. But now I can't retire. My friends depend on me. It wouldn't be fair for me to leave the ship just now. And do I want to quit? I'm not old. And I like it all-the contest of wits-outguessing the other chap. It's the game. But it has drawbacks. Take my home here-a castle in the midst of a city. Humph! It's more like a jail."
⁵² March 30, 1934.
⁵³ January 4, 1929.
⁵⁴ June 15, 1927, April 7, 1928, September 30, 1932, et passim.

186 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

romanticism,⁵⁵ but one cannot fairly accuse him of trying to whitewash the world of business. It received a fair share of his satirical bite.

As mentioned earlier, his attitude to labor unions also drew strong criticism. On the limited reading undertaken by the aforementioned critics, ⁵⁶ one might assume that Gray was consistently anti-labor. In fact, he could defend strikes, even strike violence! In 1928, Annie found herself in Mayfair working as a waitress at Pete's Restaurant. After a grueling week's work she was infuriated to find Pete had no intention of paying her. In fact, when she asked for her money she was fired.⁵⁷ Her response was to strike and to display her picket in front of the Restaurant: "ON STRIKE for more money and better working conditions."⁵⁸ When Pete tried to get the local police chief to remove her, she came back waving a brick:

Yeah? Wanta get rough, eh? I've been quiet. See? No busted windows. No cracked heads. Just a nice, peaceful strike. But if yuh wanta start somethin' . . :⁵⁹

This support of the mistreated worker was not inconsistent with Gray's general attitude. The hard-nosed Annie was challenging yet another manifestation of abused authority. Gray's later criticism of unions stemmed more from his aversion to corrupted power, and what he considered unnecessary regulations, than an anti-worker bias.

V

Turning to Gray's portrayal of religion, we find the same pattern. Hypocrisy and injustice were set up for ridicule. Strangely, however, Gray was far more critical, in a direct way at least, of lay folk than clergy. One of his favorite targets was the dedicated "do-gooder" or "uplifter ."⁶⁰

An early incident occurred in 1926 during Annie's stay with a circus. When she took Pee Wee, the elephant, to give a benefit show for the kids in the tenement neighborhood, they were interrupted by a tall, thin man in a black suit who complained:

Horrors! Such a disgraceful uproar. This is no way to play. The authorities should stop this bedlam at once. Children should learn to be seen and not heard.⁶¹

Pee Wee's response was to eject a trunk of water upon the sour killjoy.

⁵⁵ Gray believed the less government the better. He would subscribe to Thomas Jefferson's view, "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned-this is the sum of good government" (Writings, vol. iii, p. 320).
⁵⁶ See note 9 above.
⁵⁷ April 7,1928.
⁵⁸ April 11, 1928.
⁵⁹ April 12, 1928.
⁶⁰ February 18, 1945. "Never get in the way of a 'do-gooder, on an uplift bent." It can be fatal. See, also May 14, 1936, January 10, 1937, January 29, 1940, et. passim.
⁶¹ July 4, 1928.

187 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

In 1927 came the incident, already referred to, of Annie criticizing the townsfolk of Blue Bell for gullibly accepting Mr. Mack's gift of an organ to the church and overlooking his business behavior.⁶²

But one of the most vicious portrayals came in the horrendous Mrs. J. Bleating-Hart, head of the "Child Uplift Group," who took Annie as a foster child and turned her into an indentured slave. This was at a time, late 1943 to 1945, when Gray was smarting from criticism which had forced him to interrupt a story in mid-action, though not without first getting a few biting digs at President F. D. Roosevelt's try for a fourth term in office.⁶³ Although the central theme of the Bleating Hart story was not church involvement, regular church attendance reinforced the note of hypocrisy.⁶⁴

Against this background and in view of Gray's willingness to take on all possessors of power or influence, one would expect his satire to reach its climax in the portrayal of the hypocritical clergy. Strange as it may initially seem, this was not the case. Gray's approach was remarkably positive.

His first major clerical figure, "the Padre," was introduced on January 27, 1942, after the strip had brooded for several months on the possibility of war. The Padre played a role in a series of stories involving Dr. Al Zee, recently returned from medical service in the Spanish Civil War (on which side was never revealed), Katie Knob, a mentally disturbed young woman, and Dr. Eldeen (needle in reverse), the operator of a nefarious private "hospital." The Padre had sensitivity to need, selfless dedication to service, maturity of understanding, and breadth of compassion, yet was one who could feel an "unholy rage" at inhumane treatment.⁶⁵ Fading from the scene after the Eldeen story, he was brought back on June 20th to answer an important question from a group of women: "Padre! How can you, a man of peace, justify war?" Though the Padre had earlier sought to do his work "without violence," he rejected pacifism with a curious paraphrase of Scripture:

"Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong." How, rather, can one justify surrender to bestial barbarism?

"Collar John" who arrived on May 1, 1956, to start a Mission in the

⁶² See note 39 above.
⁶³ October 3, 1943. This is one of the few pages printed during World War II which is in any way critical of the war effort. Gray attacked the wasteful expenditure of tax money and, in the absence of Warbucks (away at war), ran Sophocles Spangle against a pompous Mayor George Gull and his pushy wife, Gnomy (August 23), who advocated walking for those without cars instead of gas rationing for those, like herself, with cars (August 28). It was all too evident that Gull was Roosevelt in disguise: "My dear friends and neighbors of Gooncyville. Yesterday, I spoke of the past twelve trying years, through which I have given my all in your service. Today, I wish to speak briefly, as befits his record, of this Sophocles Spangle, this pipsqueak storekeeper who has the audacity to aspire to an office of sacred trust! He sobs of taxes, of what he calls my extravagance. Would be, would YOU, rather have the JAPS'?
⁶⁴ October 29, 1944.
⁶⁵ April 8, 1942.

188 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

rough part of town was Gray's second major clergyman. He had served in the military not as a chaplain but as a Colonel with the commandoes. He had "trained with the top Mohammedan assassins, the jungle bands of Borneo" and had "wiped out a whole enemy platoon one night alone!"⁶⁶ Despite this build-up, Collar John, apart from thrashing two young mugers in an alley attack, limited his activities to befriending the derelicts of skid row and helping young folk find active recreation. Like the Padre before him, Collar John avoided the hard sell approach. His faith or sect seemed secondary.⁶⁷ He was more a doer than a talker.⁶⁸ And as one client remarked, "He ain't even give us no tracts to read .⁶⁹

Not all readers were impressed. Stephan P. Ryan, in America, complained about Collar John's "muscular Christianity"⁷⁰

How is this miracle [winning converts] brought about? Not, you may be sure, by any display of Christian love, not by the gentle kindliness of the Beatitudes. No, indeed! Our man of the cloth wins his converts by his ability to knock the stuffing out of local thugs.⁷¹

Ryan went on to criticize the preacher's religious toleration:

Collar John is real up-to-date, too; he assures all and sundry that there is none of this denominational nonsense about his mission. Everybody is welcome because, after all, one religion is as good as another.⁷²

A few readers took exception to Ryan's article. One humorously pointed out that Ryan had called Annie's dog "most unintelligent" since it was "limited to a one word vocabulary, 'arf."' Chided the correspondent, "I find this true of most dogs."⁷³

In dealing with the clergy, Gray had avoided his frontal attack. Instead, he had presented his ideal clergyman with the subtle implication that those who didn't possess such earthy realism were less than fully genuine. But contrary to Ryan's complaint, he used restraint. He might admire clergy who had served as commandoes and been tempted to "unholy rage," but be realized he could go only so far in associating them with personal violence.

VI

This all leads to the much wider issue. What was Gray's gospel? How did he conceive the realization of justice with mercy, righteousness with compassion? To what extent was his message compatible with classic Christianity?

Clearly Gray picked up certain aspects of the biblical message. His forty-four year long comic strip contained much of the prudent folk

⁶⁶ May 16,1956.
⁶⁷ May 1, 1956.
⁶⁸ May 2,1956.
⁶⁹ May 5, 1956.
⁷⁰ Ryan, Stephan P., "Orphan Annie Must Go!" America, December 8,1956, p. 294.
⁷¹ Op. cit.
⁷² Op. cit.
⁷³ Dilworth, David A., S.J., "Correspondence," America, January 19, 1957.

189 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

knowledge found in the wisdom literature of any society, including the Hebraic book of Proverbs. One can find admonitions to hard work, loyalty, honesty, caution, and humility. Gray had an innate distrust of vaunted authority and pompous hypocrisy, and his satire could be as biting as Christ's denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees. He would have rejoiced in Jesus' advice to "be as wise as serpents"⁷⁴ for he believed no solution would be found to human ill by immature messiahs or naive idealists blind to the brute realities of life.

Yet his folk knowledge had the same inconsistency to be found in most wisdom literature. What might be prudent or relevant in one situation is not so in another. "There was a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace."⁷⁵

The controversial use of violence by individuals or groups dedicated to the destruction of evil, was also reflected in the biblical tradition. Gray clearly promoted a version of the "holy war," though I take exception to Stephen Becker's attempt to identify it directly or exclusively with Calvinism.⁷⁶ Becker illustrates a typical North American myopic view that no distortion is chronologically or geographically removed from American Protestantism. Gray dealt with feelings all too clearly present in general human nature. Under extenuating circumstances violence is still very much a live option in liberation theologies of various persuasion.

The crucial question is whether Gray offered anything beyond violence. Did he encourage reconciliation as well as confrontation, forgiveness as well as moral condemnation, compassion as well as righteous indignation? Was he prepared to accept the second half of Christ's admonition, to "be as innocent as doves"⁷⁷

Such an approach was not beyond Gray's awareness. One may find instances of compassion, forgiveness,⁷⁸ rehabilitation,⁷⁹ and humility even in the persons of Annie and "Daddy." Beyond this, one can find at least one "Christ figure" presented with sympathy if not unconditional approval. This was Sam the tailor, who appeared on the scene in 1940.⁸⁰ The analogies are intriguing even if not fully intended. Sam was a bachelor who refused to reveal his last name (the Messianic secret?),⁸¹ took a slap on the cheek,⁸² played the role of the Good Samaritan by finding a young woman lying near death on the street," ⁸³ carrying her home, engaging a doctor to care for her at his own

⁷⁴ Matthew 10:16.
⁷⁵ Ecclesiastes 3:3,7,8
⁷⁶ Becker, Stephen, Comic Art in America, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1959, p.66.
⁷⁷ Matthew 10:16.
⁷⁸ November 14, 1937.
⁷⁹ August 1938, April 26, 1941.
⁸⁰ July 21, 1940.
⁸¹ August 13, 1940.
⁸² November 24,1940.
⁸³ September 7, 1940.

190 - Annie, Warbucks, and Harold Gray's Gospel

expense,⁸⁴ and even giving his rare blood for an emergency transfusion.⁸⁵ Finally on March 15, 1941, after reading a letter from releatives "over there" he decided to make his pilgrimage at the risk of death.

In an extended conversation with Annie, Sam insisted that neither of them should judge a wealthy but odious Peter La Plata who had abandoned his young child and left his parents to live in poverty. The dialogue between the two is important because it illustrates in the person of Annie the difficulty Gray had (and we, too, if we're honest) accepting the Christ.

Sam: Remember Annie, "Judge not that ye be not judged.".

Annie: I spose you're right! I'm too young to know ever'thing. But I'm not too young to have my own 'pinions.

Sam: But remember, "Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.⁸⁶

Annie: Isn't that [what La Plata had done] bad?

Sam: Well, it's not GOOD, Annie. But it is not our business.⁸⁷ We should not set ourselves to judge over such cruet souls as Peter La Plata. A HIGHER court shall judge his kind, Annie.

Annie: Hm..m.. You're right, o'course. Doggone it, Sam, you're ALWAYS right.⁸⁸

But there remained a touch of uncertainty.

The Christ that Gray really wanted was one who didn't peddle cheap grace or allow himself to be taken in by religious con artists. Forgiveness there should be, but only if accepted in penitent humility; restoration and rehabilitation, but only for those open to moral renewal; material and financial assistance, but not to the destruction of individual initiative and dignity; sacrificial service, but not an unending and demeaning capitulation to insensitive and ungrateful thugs.

And if we complain that Gray ignored the call of Christ to turn the other cheek, to become the servant of all, or to extend forgiveness without limit, we might ask whether we are prepared in the name of Christ to tolerate a meek acceptance of racial discrimination, an unending forgiveness of commercial exploitation, or a simplistic release of all dangerous criminals.

Whether one agrees altogether and at all times with Harold Gray or not, and I suspect many of us wouldn't, he did raise in a provocative, popular, and parabolic form many of the difficult theological issues that must be considered in a mature proclamation of the Christian gospel.

⁸⁴ September 9, 1940.
⁸⁵ September 12, 1940.
⁸⁶ August 18, 1940.
⁸⁷ August 19, 1940.
⁸⁸ September 1, 1940.