European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 12, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine cartoonist smythe it s my whole  one Man Sandy Capp i did t know there was any social significance in Andy until the eggheads told  by Richard Blyston associated Frew f Wenty years of dogged Gold Brick by ing have made Andy Capp male chauvinism s answer to Blondle. A comic strip i anti hero whose 60-Watt nose Andi Ever present cloth Cap Are known to 250 _ million readers in 43 countries. A and 20 years of hard toil have left regt smythe As obscure As the postal clerk he used to be a modest ban Kerish Man with a North country accent who shuns the big City and still does his own work. Smythe refuses to apologize Cor Andy being less than a Model citizen and confesses chronic aversion to the dishpan himself. A big reason for Andy s Suc Cess. Smythe said in a London interview is. It was the first time there s been a cartoon where the Man was t  Andy s idea of caring for his wife. Flo. Is to keeper in shape waiting on him at the Gallop. To women s lib. Smythe would simply Point out that the Long suffering Flo comes Over As the nicest character in the thing so the artist is obviously pro  with his hat hat and dismal Mill town habitat Andy is us stereotype of the British work ing class Man. At the same time us indolent image is one that Britain floundering la debt and crippled by Low production is desperately trying to shake. That s never bothered  says smythe. I there s a system where you can get As much on the Dole As you can by working you re going to be a bloody fool to go to work Aren t you i Don t go along with All this dignity of work you should get Down in the pits and see the Bloke working there. No dignity there on your Knees "1 Don t make Andy Capp  smythe insists. That s the trouble. 1 Don t there s nothing particularly endearing about the Way that he does things. He s selfish. He has no sense of humor. But people have made things of him that i never intended they be tried to make him broader. I did t know there was any social significance in Andy till the eggheads told  unlike Andy whose eyes and Scalp have never been glimpsed by the most faithful of his readers. Smythe has spectacles Gray  clothes and a seven Day work week in which sometimes i stay up All night just trying to find the right  but both Are left handed. S-foot-6. Childless an pushing 60. Smythe says. And both like tall women and the warm feeling you get in the cheap standing room area at soccer matches. Smythe finds wealth and celebrity  was dismayed when acquaintances quit using swear words in his presence and he still uses the same old straight drawing pen As in 1957 when he dumped the first clumsily drawn Andy on a Londo daily Mirror editor s desk and fled. It s my whole life really. I Don t have any Hob Bies 1 Haven t travelled because it would take me away from the cartoon. Also because it seems to Mea waste of time. Life s so Short. You might As Well stay with the people you know and  thursday May 12, 1977 the stars and stripes Poge