Line #10 Theatre/LilAbner


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_abner_playbill.png]]
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3	''Li'l Abner'' is a 1956 Broadway musical featuring characters from Al Capp's [[ComicStrip/LilAbner comic strip of the same name]], with a book by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank and songs by Johnny Mercer and Gene de Paul.
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5	The Dogpatchers are enjoying their SmallTownBoredom when Senator Jack S. Phogbound comes bearing a message from Washington: Dogpatch, having been determined to be the most unnecessary town in the country, has been selected to become the next atomic test site. Dogpatch's annual Sadie Hawkins Day chase is in jeopardy until the town can prove it has a reason for existing. Mammy Yokum suggests the yokumberry tree, which only grows in Dogpatch and whose berries are the source of her son Abner's strength, and Li'l Abner demonstrates this to government approval. This attracts the attention of CorruptCorporateExecutive General Bullmoose, who sends his floozy Appassionata Von Climax to contend with Daisy Mae in capturing Li'l Abner on Sadie Hawkins Day.
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7	Panama and Frank produced and directed a film version released in 1959 by Creator/ParamountPictures. The film featured many actors from the original production, including Peter Palmer as Abner, Stubby Kaye as Marryin' Sam, Howard St. John as General Bullmoose, and Creator/JulieNewmar as Stupefyin' Jones.
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10	!!The musical includes the following tropes:
11	* AlliterativeName: Daniel D. Dawgmeat
12	* BaitAndSwitchComment: It looks like Abner is making a DoubleEntendre, but it turns out to be an InnocentInnuendo.
13	-->'''Abner:''' ''[looking at Appassionata's [[PrettyInMink fur-coat clad]] chest]''
14	--> [[InnocentInnuendo Mighty purty fur, ma'am.]]
15	--> ({{beat}})
16	--> Did you shoot it?
17	* BigBad: [[CorruptCorporateExecutive General Bullmoose]]
18	* TheCameo: In the movie version, Stupefyin' Jones test-subject Itchy [=McScratchy=] is played by Creator/JerryLewis.
19	* TheDragon: [[TheVamp Apassionata von Climax]] to [[BigBad General]] [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Bullmoose]]
20	* CharacterTitle
21	* ChekhovsGun: When Abner comes home from meeting the government people he tells the Dogpatchers "You can't deface a national shrine!" Later on when the town of Dogpatch is about to be bombed it turns out their statue of [[GeneralFailure Jubilation T. Cornpone]] has been declared a national shrine and "You can't deface a national shrine!" so the town is not bombed.
22	* CommitmentIssues: [[ChasteHero Li'l Abner.]]
23	-->'''Li'l Abner:''' The day you kiss your bride hello, you kiss your druthers goodbye.
24	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: General Bullmoose
25	* CrowdSong: Jubilation T. Cornpone, Rag Off'n the Bush, Unnecessary Town, and The Matrimonial Stomp
26	* FinalLoveDuet: Namely You (Reprise)
27	* GeneralFailure: Jubilation T. Cornpone. There is even a song about his [[EpicFail epic fail-ness.]]
28	-->'''Marryin' Sam''': With our ammunition gone and faced with utter defeat, who was it that burned the crops and left us nothing to eat? Why it was Jubilation T. Cornpone!
29	* DesignerBabies: Discussed by the scientists in "Oh, Happy Day."
30	* HeadTurningBeauty: Stupefyin' Jones, whose sex appeal is so devastating that she's classified as munitions.
31	* OpeningChorus: The opening number, "It's A Typical Day," introduces the various denizens of Dogpatch.
32	* OurFounder: Jubilation T. Cornpone, whose statue really saves the day.
33	* TheParalyzer: Stupefyin' Jones literally stuns people with her beauty—any man who looks at her can't move.
34	* ThePigPen: Moonbeam [=McSwine=]. [[note]]Sleeping out with pigs is her line.[[/note]]
35	* PlaceboEffect: The potion supplied to Abner and the men is ordinary creek water, but they're told it will only work if they believe it does.
36	* PrettyInMink: Appassionata
37	* SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion:
38	-->I turns on my smolder
39	-->In hopes that [[ChasteHero he'll]] get bolder
40	-->But I keep getting older instead
41	-->If I had my druthers
42	-->To choose from all the others
43	-->I'd druther that he drop ''Daisy exits''
44	%%NO COMMENTO
45	* TechnoBabble: {{Lampshaded}}.
46	-->'''Dr. Krogmeyer''': Oh, Dr. Finsdale, I don’t want to seem stupid, sir, but just precisely what is a mass spectrographic isotopic double diathermal diaphonoscope?
47	* TheVamp: [[TheDragon Appassionata von Climax]]
48	* VillainSong: Progress is the Root of All Evil, sung by [[CorruptCorporateExecutive General Bullmoose]]

Context Theatre / LilAbner