li'l abner skunk works

Lena the Hyena makes a brief animated appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). During World War II, the Abner character was drafted into the role as mascot emblem of the Patrol Boat Squadron 29. Fans of the strip ranged from novelist John Steinbeck, who called Capp "very possibly the best writer in the world today" in 1953, and even earnestly recommended him for the Nobel Prize in literature to media critic and theorist Marshall McLuhan, who considered Capp "the only robust satirical force in American life." Ruled by Good King Nogoodnik (sometimes known as King Stubbornovsky the Last), the Slobbovian politicians were even more corrupt than their Dogpatch counterparts. A 1950 cover story in Time even included photos of two of his employees, whose roles in the production were detailed by Capp. For Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, It's All About Getting To The However, Gussman consulted closely with Capp on the storylines. As the development was very secret, the employees were told to be careful even with how they answered phone calls. Three members of the original Broadway cast did not appear in the film version: Charlotte Rae (who was replaced by Billie Hayes early in the stage production), Edie Adams (who was pregnant during the filming) and Tina Louise. We develop laser weapon systems, radio frequency and other directed energy technologies for air, ground and sea platforms to provide an affordable countermeasure alternative. After a series of successful test flights beginning in 1977, the Air force awarded Skunk Works the contract to build the F-117 stealth fighter on November 1, 1978. It first appeared in 1942 and proved so popular that it ran intermittently in Li'l Abner over the next 35 years. One main building still remains at 2777 Ontario Street in Burbank (near San Fernando Road), now used as an office building for digital film post-production and sound mixing. Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared across multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. But in 1947 Capp sued United Feature Syndicate for $14 million, publicly embarrassed UFS in Li'l Abner, and wrested ownership and control of his creation the following year."[51]. Lil Abner (1947) comic books - MyComicShop The next comic frame says: HIDE FRIED, "Neither the strip's shifting political leanings nor the slide of its final few years had any bearing on its status as a classic; and in 1995, it was recognized as such by the, "ABNER" was the name given to the first codebreaking computer used by the, The original Dogpatch is a historical part of San Francisco dating back to the 1860s that escaped the, Li'l Abner, Daisy Mae, Wolf Gal, Earthquake McGoon, Lonesome Polecat, Hairless Joe, Sadie Hawkins, Silent Yokum and Fearless Fosdick all found their way onto the, Al Capp always claimed to have effectively created the, Li'l Abner has one odd design quirk that has puzzled readers for decades: the part in his hair always faces the viewer, no matter which direction Abner is facing. Skonk Works. Whew it's been a while huh? | by Aslan French | Medium Construction Technical Specifications | Schertz, TX [64] The character was voiced by Frank Graham.[65]. The first overflight took place on July 4 1956. Join 110,000 readers each month and get the latest news and entertainment from the world of general aviation direct to your inbox, daily. In 1949, when the all-male club refused membership to Hilda Terry, creator of the comic strip Teena, Capp temporarily resigned in protest. All Rights Reserved. He had an unfortunate predilection for snitching "preserved turnips" and smoking corn silk behind the woodshed much to his chagrin when Mammy caught him. Hours: Monday - Friday: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. It was later reprinted in The World of Li'l Abner (1953). Al Capp ended his comic strip with the final gesture of setting a date for Sadie Hawkins Day. Outside Dogpatch, characters used a variety of stock Vaudevillian dialects. How Skunk Works got its name General Aviation News More recently, Dark Horse Comics reprinted the limited series Al Capp's Li'l Abner: The Frazetta Years, in four full-color volumes covering the Sunday pages from 1954 to 1961. Cute, lovable and intelligent (arguably smarter than Abner, Tiny or Pappy), she was accepted as part of the family ("the youngest", as Mammy invariably introduces her). A much more successful musical comedy adaptation of the strip, also entitled Li'l Abner, opened on Broadway at the St. James Theater on November 15, 1956, and had a long run of 693 performances,[68] followed by a nationwide tour. Lower Slobbovians spoke with burlesque pidgin-Russian accents; the miserable frozen wasteland of Capp's invention abounded in incongruous Yiddish humor. The idea was reportedly abandoned in the development stage by the producers, however, for reasons of practicality. Mind Works offers you the expertise . Following the 1989 revival of the Pogo comic strip, a revival of Li'l Abner was also planned in 1990. It all turned out to be a collaborative hoax, however cooked up by Capp and his longtime pal Saunders as an elaborate publicity stunt. Fosdick battled a succession of archenemies with absurdly unlikely names like Rattop, Anyface, Bombface, Boldfinger, the Atom Bum, the Chippendale Chair, and Sidney the Crooked Parrot, as well as his own criminal mastermind father, "Fearful" Fosdick (aka "The Original"). The phrase "skunk works" originated from the aeronautics industry, and in that context it had a specific meaning (and still does). skunk works [] Al CappLi'l AbnerKickapoo Joy JuiceSkonk Works After about 40 years, however, Capp's interest in Abner waned, and this showed in the strip itself Li'l Abner lasted until November 13, 1977, when Capp retired with an apology to his fans for the recently declining quality of the strip, which he said had been the best he could manage due to advancing illness. Sign up here. Uncle Sam needed a counterpunch, and Johnson got a call. [9], In 2009, the Skunk Works was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum. I've never heard anyone mention this, but Capp is 100% responsible for inspiring Harvey Kurtzman to create Mad Magazine. Unlike any other strip, and indeed unlike many other pieces of literature, Li'l Abner was more than a satire of the human condition. His appearances on NBC's The Tonight Show spanned three emcees; Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. Since the system entered service with the U.S. Air Force in late 2014, Auto GCAS has been credited with seven saves eight pilots and seven F-16s. The name skunkworks originates from a cartoon series called " Li'l Abner " by Al Capp. During the late 1990s when designing Pixar's building, Edwin Catmull and Steve Jobs visited a Skunkworks Building which influenced Steve's design. Capp was also caricatured as an ill-mannered, boozy cartoonist (Capp was a teetotaler in real life) named "Hal Rapp" in the comic strip Mary Worth by Allen Saunders and Ken Ernst. "Capp was an aggressive and fearless businessman," according to publisher Denis Kitchen. Learn how we are strengthening the economies, industries and communities of our global partner nations. And virtually all cartoonists remain content with their diluted share of any merchandising revenue their syndicates arrange. Capp is one of the great unsung heroes of comics. Unusual looking and aerodynamically challenged, the Nighthawk wasnt pretty, but it did what no aircraft had done before. Zugang! [27] The impervious Fosdick considered the gaping, smoking holes "mere scratches", however, and always reported back in one piece to his corrupt superior "The Chief" for duty the next day. The U-2 ceased overflights when Francis Gary Powers was shot down during a mission on May 1, 1960, while over Russia. Flying Mach 3.2 at 100,000 ft. , the SR-71 operated in hostile airspace with complete impunity. Forget about it slam dunk! Li'l Abner visits the corrupt Squeezeblood comic strip syndicate in a classic Sunday continuity from October 12, 1947. Li'l Abner - Wikipedia Engineers from Skunk Works subsequently developed the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 . Today's column maps the scope of change. Pappy Yokum utters this tagline when, thinking he is dreaming, actually commands a bottle genie to do his bidding. Most Dogpatchers were shiftless and ignorant; the remainder were scoundrels and thieves. Li'l Abner is a satirical American comic strip that appeared across multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. Big Funds Need a 'Skunk Works' to Stir Ideas . [1][2] In 1964, Johnson told Look magazine that the bourbon distillery was the first of five Lockheed skunk works locations. There was, however, one fellow (whose name I forget) who ran the "skunk works" skinning dead skunks (the unpleasant animal). He was a fan of the Lil' Abner comic strip. ", signaled the end of all further discussion. After Capp's death, the Shmoo was used in two Hanna-Barbera produced Saturday morning cartoon series for TV. He left it at Dogpatch USA so there would be no headaches and problems. About Mind Works Counseling | Anxiety Counseling | San Antonio, TX 78230 [3] According to Ben Richs memoir, an engineer jokingly showed up to work one day wearing a Civil Defense gas mask. Capp is also the subject of an upcoming PBS American Masters documentary produced by his granddaughter, independent filmmaker Caitlin Manning. On paper, the specifications read like works of pure fantasy: a spy plane capable of taking crystal-clear photographs from 70,000 feet. [61] The following titles are all single-issue, educational comic books and pamphlets produced for various public services: In addition, Dogpatch characters were used in national campaigns for the U.S. Treasury, the Cancer Foundation, the March of Dimes, the National Heart Fund, the Sister Kenny Foundation, the Boy Scouts of America, Community Chest, the National Reading Council, Minnesota Tuberculosis and Health Association, Christmas Seals, the National Amputation Foundation and Disabled American Veterans,[63] among others. Kurtzman carried that forward and passed it down to a whole new crop of cartoonists, myself included. [14], During the development of the P-80 Shooting Star, Johnson's engineering team was located adjacent to a malodorous plastics factory. (Although it is also the approximate Northern European pronunciation of the name "Joachim".) Sensitive to his own experience working on Joe Palooka, Capp frequently drew attention to his assistants in interviews and publicity pieces. What the Hell is a Skunk Work? The Register Lower Slobbovia and Dogpatch are both comic examples of modern dystopian satire. Skunk Works is an official pseudonym for Lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Programs, formerly called Lockheed Advanced Development Projects. One day, when the Department of the Navy was trying to reach the Lockheed management for the P-80 project, the call was accidentally transferred to Culvers desk. And then they would deliver. In the comic strip Li'l Abner, the "Skonk Works" makes oil from the ground up dead skunks for some unknown . The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Li'l Abner, which was immensely popular in the 1940s and '50s. Salomey: The Yokums' beloved pet pig. Tiny was unknown to the strip until September 1954, when a relative who had been raising him reminded Mammy that she'd given birth to a second "chile" while visiting her 15 years earlier. In Capp's satirical and often complex plots, Abner was a country bumpkin Candidea paragon of innocence in a sardonically dark and cynical world. Mammy solved the problem with a tooth extraction and ended the episode with her most famous dictum. [49], Sadie Hawkins Day and Sadie Hawkins dance are two of several terms attributed to Al Capp that have entered the English language. But where did the term come from? Among the original TV characters were "Mr. Ditto", "Harris Tweed" (a disembodied suit of clothes), "Swenn Golly" (a Svengali-like mesmerist), counterfeiters "Max Millions" and "Minton Mooney", "Frank N. Stein", "Batula", "Match Head" (a pyromaniac), "Sen-Sen O'Toole", "Shmoozer" and "Herman the Ape Man". [10], Next generation optionally-manned U-2 aircraft. [5] Secretly, a number of advanced features were being incorporated into the new fighter including a significant structural revolution in which the aluminum skin of the aircraft was joggled, fitted and flush-riveted, a design innovation not called for in the army's specification but one that would yield less aerodynamic drag and give greater strength with lower mass. This was followed by a heated conversation among the adults who advised her that Flower was too bashful to go into space, and it couldnt be Pepe Le Pew, another famous cartoon skunk, because he wasnt serious enough to be in the space program. Several years later, the U.S. Air Force became interested in the design, and it ordered the SR-71 Blackbird, a two-seater version of the A-12. Al Capp also wrote two other daily comic strips:[4]. Kitchen is currently[when?] This project marked the birth of what would become the Skunk Works, with founder Kelly Johnson at its helm. as asides, to bolster the effect of the printed speech balloons. He was succeeded by Ben Rich. I wonder what the derivation is? The ambitious puppet show was created and directed by puppeteer Mary Chase, written by Everett Crosby and voiced by John Griggs, Gilbert Mack and Jean Carson. Goldstein, Kalman, "Al Capp and Walt Kelly: Pioneers of Political and Social Satire in the Comics" from, Inge, M. Thomas, "Li'l Abner, Snuffy and Friends" from, This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 05:42. The name was taken from the moonshine factory in the satirical American comic strip, Li'l Abner. Capp suggests November 26, and Daisy rewarded him with a kiss. "It's Jack Jawbreaker!" Like Mammy Yokum and the other "wimmenfolk" in Dogpatch, Daisy Mae did all the work, domestic and otherwise while the menfolk generally did nothing whatsoever. The respondent company argued that Lockheed "used its size, resources and financial position to employ 'bullyboy' tactics against a very small company. They also released an archive hardcover reprint of the complete Shmoo Comics in 2009, followed by a second Shmoo volume of complete newspaper strips in 2011. John Updike, calling Li'l Abner a "hillbilly Candide", added that the strip's "richness of social and philosophical commentary approached the Voltairean. Known locations include United States Air Force Plant 42 and United States Air Force Plant 4. The F-117 Nighthawk was developed in response to theurgent national needfor a jet fighter that could operate completely undetected by the enemy. In point of fact, Capp maintained creative control over every stage of production for virtually the entire run of the strip. The F-22 is the worlds preeminent air dominance fighter and a proven strategic deterrent. No one was to discuss the project outside the small organization, and team members were warned to be careful of how they answered the phones. Conceptually based on Siberia, or perhaps specifically on Birobidzhan, Capp's icy hellhole made its first appearance in Li'l Abner in April 1946. Engineers from Skunk Works subsequently developed the U-2, the SR-71 Blackbird, the F-117 . The demise of KSP in 1999 stopped the reprint series at Volume 27 (1961). He was also a periodic panelist on ABC and NBC's Who Said That? In the comic, there was a running joke about a mysterious and malodorous place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works," where a strong beverage was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients. Slipping past Iraqi radar on the morning of January 17, 1991, Lockheeds Nighthawk bombed thirty-seven critical targets across Baghdad, a surgical strike that led, in just forty-three days, to the successful conclusion of Operation Desert Storm. We have invested in developing and demonstrating hypersonic technology for over 30 years. According to the strip, scores of locals were done in yearly by the toxic fumes of the . [38] Other promotional tie-ins included the Lena the Hyena Contest (1946), the Name the Shmoo Contest (1949), the Nancy O. Terrifically long hours. During the development of the P-80, work was carried out in a circus tent, with harsh chemicals from the nearby manufacturing plant filling it with a strong odor. Tiny Yokum: "Tiny" was a misnomer; Li'l Abner's kid brother remained perpetually innocent and 1512 "y'ars" old despite the fact that he was an imposing, 7-foot (2.1m) tall behemoth. A lifelong chain-smoker, he happily plugged Chesterfield cigarettes; he appeared in Schaeffer fountain pen ads with his friends Milton Caniff and Walt Kelly; pitched the Famous Artists School (in which he had a financial interest) along with Caniff, Rube Goldberg, Virgil Partch, Willard Mullin and Whitney Darrow, Jr; and, though a professed teetotaler, he personally endorsed Rheingold Beer, among other products. [46][47] According to the Boston Globe (as reported on May 18, 2010), the town has renamed its amphitheater in the artist's honor, and is looking to develop an Al Capp Museum. Skunk Works engineers subsequently developed the U-2, SR-71 Blackbird, F-117 Nighthawk, F-22 Raptor, and F-35 Lightning II, the latter being used in the air forces of several countries. Our Multi-Domain Operations/Joint All-Domain Operations solutions provide a complete picture of the battlespace and empowers warfighters to quickly make decisions that drive action. An American folk event, Sadie Hawkins Day is a pseudo-holiday entirely created within the strip. Li'l Abner: A Study in American Satire by Arthur Asa Berger (Twayne, 1969) contained serious analyses of Capp's narrative technique, his use of dialogue, self-caricature and grotesquerie, the strip's overall place in American satire, and the significance of social criticism and the graphic image. A total of six Collier trophies, the most prestigious award in the aeronautics industry, have been collected by the Skunk Works division since 1943, but its quite possible the divisions most impressive legacy has yet to be written. Taking action to help you protect what matters most. Comic dialects were also devised for offbeat British characters like H'Inspector Blugstone of Scotland Yard (who had a Cockney accent) and Sir Cecil Cesspool (whose speech was a clipped, uppercrust King's English). It can be found in, Brodbeck, Arthur J, et al. Her authority was unquestioned, and her characteristic phrase, "Ah has spoken! ", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Skunk_Works&oldid=1140117891, Lockheed Martin-associated military facilities, Research organizations in the United States, Research and development in the United States, Buildings and structures in Burbank, California, Buildings and structures in Palmdale, California, Science and technology in Greater Los Angeles, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 18 February 2023, at 14:51. Rounding out the cast were soap opera star Laurette Fillbrandt as Daisy Mae, Hazel Dopheide as Mammy Yokum, and Clarence Hartzell (who was also a prominent actor on Vic and Sade) as Pappy. In 1947, Will Eisner's The Spirit satirized the comic strip business in general, as a denizen of Central City tries to murder cartoonist "Al Slapp", creator of "Li'l Adam". Publicity campaigns were devised to boost circulation and increase public visibility of Li'l Abner, often coordinating with national magazines, radio and television. They included Andy Amato, Harvey Curtis, Walter Johnson and, notably, a young Frank Frazetta, who penciled the Sunday continuity from studio roughs from 1954 to the end of 1961 before his fame as a fantasy artist. Just four years later, amidst growing fears over a potential Soviet missile attack on the United States, Skunk Works engineerswho often worked ten hours a day, six days a weekcreated the U-2, the worlds first dedicated spy plane. 2023 Lockheed Martin Corporation. Al Capp's life and career are the subjects of a new life-sized mural commemorating his 100th birthday, displayed in downtown Amesbury, Massachusetts. Privacy Terms of Use EU and UK Data Protection Notice Cookies, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/us/aeronautics/skunkworks/CollierTrophies.html. Her moniker was a pun on both salami and Salome. What sets the Skunk Works apart is its unique approach created by founder Kelly Johnson. Capp had a platoon of assistants in later years, who worked under his direct supervision. He never married his own long-suffering fiance Prudence Pimpleton (despite an engagement of 17 years), but Fosdick was directly responsible for the unwitting marriage of his biggest fan, Li'l Abner, to Daisy Mae in 1952. [69][70] Starring Peter Palmer, Leslie Parrish, Julie Newmar, Stella Stevens, Stubby Kaye, Billie Hayes, Howard St. John, Joe E. Marks, Carmen Alvarez, William Lanteau and Bern Hoffman, with cameos by Jerry Lewis, Robert Strauss, Ted Thurston, Alan Carney, Valerie Harper and Donna Douglas. Lockheed Martin claimed the company registered the domain in order to disrupt its business and that consumer confusion might result. Slobbovia is an iceberg, which (as real icebergs do) continually capsizes as its lower portions melt. At one extreme, he displayed consistently devastating humor, while at the other, his mean-spiritedness came to the fore but which was which seems to depend on the commentator's own point of view. Li'l Abner - Cast of Characters - Supporting Characters and Villains Pappy was so lazy and ineffectual, he didn't even bathe himself. Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays - Wikipedia Consequently, Johnson's organization operated out of a rented circus tent, and the adjacent manufacturing plant produced a strong odor that permeated throughout the tent. He hosted at least five television programs between 1952 and 1972 three different talk shows called The Al Capp Show (twice), Al Capp, Al Capp's America (a live "chalk talk", with Capp providing a barbed commentary while sketching cartoons), and a game show called Anyone Can Win. Our Services. Comic strips typically dealt with northern urban experiences before Capp introduced Li'l Abner, the first strip based in the South. Li'l Abner: Al Capp, Skunk Works, Dogpatch USA, Shmoo, The menfolk were too lazy to work, yet Dogpatch gals were desperate enough to chase them (see Sadie Hawkins Day). Capp also excelled at product endorsement, and Li'l Abner characters were often featured in mid-century American advertising campaigns. The manned A-12 and the drone were designated as M-21 and D-21 or "Mother" and "Daughter." From beginning to end, Capp was acid-tongued toward the targets of his wit, intolerant of hypocrisy, and always wickedly funny. [54] Li'l Abner was also parodied in 1954 (as "Li'l Melvin" by "Ol' Hatt") in the pages of EC Comics' humor comic, Panic, edited by Al Feldstein. A team engineer named Irv Culver was a fan of Al Capp's comic strip, "Li'l Abner," in which there was a running joke about a mysterious place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works." There, a strong beverage was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients. Kelly Johnson and his team designed and built the XP-80 in only 143 days, seven less than was required. Learn how we are strengthening the economies, industries and communities of our global partner nations. Its name was taken from the moonshine factory in the comic strip Li'l Abner . [66] The storylines and villains were mostly separate from the comic strip and unique to the show. The story is explained as well in the Wikipedia: " [] The "Skonk Works" was a dilapidated factory located on the remote outskirts of Dogpatch, in the backwoods of Kentucky. Implementation of Auto GCAS on the F-35 is anticipated five years earlier than originally planned. The designation "skunk works" or "skunkworks" is widely used in business, engineering, and technical fields to describe a group within an organization given a high degree of autonomy and unhampered by bureaucracy, with the task of working on advanced or secret projects. Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}343653N 1180707W / 34.614734N 118.118676W / 34.614734; -118.118676. ", was a devastating satire of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's notorious exploitation by DC Comics over Superman (see above excerpt). Some of the Skunk Works' most notable aircraft have received the prestigious trophy, which bears the name of the past publisher and early president of the Aero Club of America, Robert J. Collier. A rapidly growing German jet threat gave Lockheed an opportunity to develop an airframe around the most powerful jet engine that the allied forces had access to, the British Goblin. Brown, Rodger, "Dogpatch USA: The Road to Hokum" article, Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 05:42, explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective, Learn how and when to remove this template message, Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies & Color Sundays, Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story, 418 Search and Rescue Operational Training Squadron, "This Day in Jewish History / Al Capp, Choleric Creator of Li'l Abner, Dies an Embittered Man", Li'l Abner "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Daisy Mae "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Mammy Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Pappy Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Honest Abe "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Tiny Yokum "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Marryin' Sam "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Kickapoo Joy Juice page at deniskitchen.com, Joe Btfsplk "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Al Capp: A Life to the Contrary Michael Schumacher, Denis Kitchen Google Books, General Bullmoose "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Earthquake McGoon "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Evil-Eye Fleegle "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Sadie Hawkins "biography" at deniskitchen.com, Fearless Fosdick "biography" at deniskitchen.com, The Shmoo "biography" at deniskitchen.com. Charlie Chaplin, William F. Buckley, Al Hirschfeld, Harpo Marx, Russ Meyer, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ralph Bakshi, Shel Silverstein, Hugh Downs, Gene Shalit, Frank Cho, Daniel Clowes[45] and (reportedly) even Queen Elizabeth have confessed to being fans of Li'l Abner. The meaning of the phrase has evolved, and today it means something broader outside of aeronautics; that causes confusion, which further fosters poor managerial decisions. It has also developed. Other fictional locales included Skonk Hollow, El Passionato, Kigmyland, the Republic of Crumbumbo, Lo Kunning, Faminostan, Planets Pincus Number 2 and 7, Pineapple Junction and, most notably, the Valley of the Shmoon. The formal contract for the XP-80 didnt arrive at Lockheed until Oct. 16, 1943, four months after work had already begun. No other cartoonist to date has come close to Capp's televised exposure. By 1952, the event was reportedly celebrated at 40,000 known venues. Mammy was regularly seen scrubbing Pappy in an outdoor oak tub ("Once a month, rain or shine"). Humorously enough, many states tried to claim ownership to the little town (Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, etc. The Skunk Works had predicted that the U-2 would have a limited operational life over the Soviet Union. The term "Skunk Works" came from Al Capp's satirical, hillbilly comic strip Lil Abner, which was immensely popular from 1935 through the 1950s. [55] Kurtzman eventually did spoof Li'l Abner (as "Li'l Ab'r") in 1957, in his short-lived humor magazine, Trump.