The Violence and Villains of Little Orphan Annie
Welcome
Annie is taken in by the Futiles, "The poorest folks in town," but with
hearts of gold. It so happens that Mr. Pinchpenny holds the mortgage to the
Futile's poor dwelling, which allows Gray to further push the villainous
quality of Pinchpenny. Yes, he is the widow-evicting type. Upon hearing that
the Futiles have taken Annie and Sandy in, he demands that the constable
remove her to the county home. If Annie hadn't saved the constable's crippled
son's life, that's where she'd be. Faced with the news, Pinchpenny demands
that the full mortgage, which he has so graciously postponed collecting
beforehand, be paid in full immediately. On the day that the Futiles are to be
evicted, Annie saves the day with a "roll" she had received from Warbucks
previously. Though these actions might be considered small potatoes after
other villains Annie has faced, Gray is simply setting the groundwork. With
a story that's close to a year in length, Gray has the luxury of exploring
the characters more fully. The true villainy is soon to come.
Setting the Groundwork
The new year (1933) introduces a new character, Elmer Pinchpenny, who is
simply a shorter version of his father. Once again, evil begets evil. Elmer
is a spoiled brat with not one scruple, as we find out when he purposely
runs over Sandy in an attempt to kill him. As Sandy recovers from his
near-fatal injuries, Annie plays detective and slowly plots her revenge.
She plans, with Tom Take, to have a steel dog, which coincidentally looks
a great deal like Sandy, left on the side of a road which the younger
Pinchpenny uses on a particular night of the week. The revenge is as follows:
