Beloved Characters
By the dawn of the 20th century, the “hillbilly” had morphed into an iconic figure of American humor, gracing the pages of joke books and the silver screen alike. This caricature flourished in the comic strips of the era, with The Old Home Town, The Mountain Boys, Lil’ Abner, and Snuffy Smith in Barney Google casting the hillbilly in a comedic light.
These depictions mirrored societal apprehensions about economic and social downturns, suggesting that as challenging as city life might be, the rural “hillbilly” existence was deemed even more dire. The 1940s and 1950s saw this archetype brought to life in the ‘Ma and Pa Kettle’ film series, where the Kettles, with their sizable family, navigated the perplexities of modern life in a manner that entertained audiences far and wide.