Sunday, April 5, 2020

Joe Btfsplk






One of my favorite comic strips when I was growing up was L’il Abner, which ran from August 13, 1934 until November 13, 1977, an astonishing run of 43 years.


The strip ended almost exactly 2 years before the death of its creator, Al Capp, on November 5, 1979. The main characters were L’il Abner Yokum, Daisy Yokum, Mammy Yokum, Pappy Yokum, Honest Abe Yokum, Tiny Yokum, and Salomey. In addition, though, there were numerous supporting characters, one of whom was Joe Btfsplk, who is famous for being the world’s worst jinx.




Joe’s name was pronounced something akin to the Bronx cheer. If you don’t know what that is, here’s a sample:


The Yokums live in the fictional town of Dogpatch, and it was set someplace in one of the southern states of America. Inspired by the comic strip, an area of San Francisco was renamed “Dogpatch” sometime in the late 1940’s and 1950s.   It was initially a working-class neighborhood, but has experienced rapid gentrification since the 1990s. Now it boasts similar demographics to its neighboring Potrero Hill – an upper middle-class working professional neighborhood.

If life ever returns to normal, and it’s safe to once again to travel to other cities in the country, I’d recommend a trip to San Francisco, a town that I used to get to frequently when I worked for Fireman’s Fund. The “city by the bay” has a lot to offer, and it is considered to be a very safe city. However, if you see Joe Btfsplk walking down the street, run the other way as fast as you can.








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