The Afghan conflict has refocused world attention on Waziristan. Once one of the British Empire s most volatile territories, the remote small province in northwestern Pakistan is now home to Taliban insurgents, al-Qaeda fighters, rogue elements within
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By Bill Knight
Five years ago this week, cartoonist June Brigman took over the iconic newspaper comic strip “Mary Worth,” continuing a popular feature whose roots some say are tied to a Depression-era strip with a lead character of the same name but much different circumstances.
Brigman is a veteran illustrator, working on comic books including “Supergirl” (DC) and “Power Pack” (Marvel), plus “Star Wars” titles and the “Brenda Starr” strip.
“Mary Worth” syndicator King Features disputes a connection to “Apple Mary,” an oft-forgotten strip by Martha Orr about a plucky woman hit hard by economic misfortune, making ends meet by selling apples on the street, and dispensing advice.
(Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse and Hush Puppy. Like Tillstrom, magician’s daughter Shari Lewis was a genius at switching among characters, but as a ventriloquist, she was often a part of the conversation herself, conducted sometimes at breakneck pace. Her technique is astonishing but her writing and characterizations are also first-rate, subtle and unpredictable and full of warmth. (She studied acting with Sanford Meisner.) Lamb Chop is her star creation, quickly changeable, a child and not a child, sweet or saucy, tender or tough as the moment demands; Lewis’ own Bronx roots come through in her. Lewis made her way through local television shows in the 1950s until NBC’s “The Shari Lewis Show” took her national in 1960. In the 1990s, the public television series “Lamb Chop’s Play-Along” proved an Emmy magnet.