The Lockhorns
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The Lockhorns is one-panel syndicated comic strip about a married couple, Leroy and Loretta Lockhorn, who bitterly hate each other and yet do not divorce (see below). It was first syndicated in 1968 by creator William Carrell. The characters in the strip demonstrate their mutual ire by unwaveringly making fiendishly-witty sarcastic comments on one another's failings as a spouse, including their unattractiveness.
This strip was first entitled The Lockhorns of Levittown, and was the creation of Carrell through 1972. In 1971 Bill Hoest, along with his wife Bunny Hoest started their run on the strip. That same year, the strip's name was shortened to The Lockhorns. Bill Hoest died in 1988, but Bunny continued the strip with the help of her good friend John Reiner.
Bill Hoest received the National Cartoonist Society Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for the strip for 1975 and 1980.
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[edit] Meet the Lockhorns
- Leroy Lockhorn - The man of the house who drinks a lot, plays golf too much, and chases everything good looking in a skirt.
- Loretta Lockhorn - The woman of the house who is a shop-a-holic, who drives terribly, and does most of the handywork around the house because either Leroy is too lazy to do it, or because he feels she should earn all the money she spends.
- Loretta's Mother - Never named and rarely seen (usually only during the Christmas season when she comes to stay), but hated mercilessly by Leroy.
- Marriage Counselor - Whom Leroy and Loretta are routinely seeing to no avail.
[edit] Why no divorce?
Outside of the obvious reason why (because the strip would thus end), the main reason the Lockhorns don't get a divorce is because Leroy figured out it would be cheaper for him to stay married. This has been noted in a few strips over the years:
- Leroy told Loretta in one that they might manage to swing a divorce if they took out a home improvement loan on their house.
- Leroy one noted to a friend that 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and figured the other 50% couldn't afford it.
- In one skit where Loretta buys a fur coat, she tells Leroy that the payments on it are cheaper then alimony.
[edit] Trivia
- "Marital Mirth", part of the "Super-Fun-Pak Comics" in Tom the Dancing Bug, is a parody of the Lockhorns.
- The comic strip The Better Half is seen as a tamer version of The Lockhorns.
[edit] References
- Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.
[edit] External links
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