A GIRL THAT HAD A LOTTA CONFIDENCE

A Girl That Had a Lotta Confidence - by Jack Johnson

Charlotte "Lotta" Plump starred in her own self-titled comic book, "Little Lotta", for a long time. From 1955 to 1976 this little blonde girl threw her weight around Harvey Comics as a headliner. Known by her many friends as Little Lotta, she was a very confident girl. The name Little Lotta was a play on words. Little Lotta was a big girl that loved to eat.

Hollywood and all the magazines have always had an obsession with weight. Comic books and the cartoon world have not. Ask Fat Albert, Homer Simpson, Eric Cartman, or Popeye's pal Wimpy. Garfield was a big fat cat. Winnie the Pooh had his share of table muscles. Wilma made sure that Fred Flintstone was full of brontosaurus ribs. However, the majority of the portly tunes are male or anthropomorphic animals. Little Lotta was a grade school girl.

Little Lotta was a big girl with a super power. She had super strength and it was fueled by eating. Little Lotta was proud of her strength. She was not ashamed of her eating habits. "Little Lotta in Foodland" was the second comic book title she starred in that ran from 1963 to 1972. Even though thin was in at the time, Little Lotta was popular at the news stands and on the comic book spinner racks.

The word "obese" is such an ugly word. You know some skinny doctor came up with that name. One of those pencil thin, know it all, doctors that are 30-years younger than you. Little Lotta was just a healthy girl. Body Mass Index (BMI), the ratio of body weight to height, was probably not something Little Lotta discussed with her best friend Dorothy "Dot" Polka a.k.a. Little Dot. BMI was not a thing until 1972 when it was first mentioned in an edition of the "Journal of Chronic Diseases".

Little Lotta's normal, walk around way, every day consisted of her sporting a food item in at least one hand and sometimes both. She ate a lot of cake and ice cream. Sometimes she would have a large piece of cake in one hand and a triple-scoop ice cream cone in the other. A balanced meal for Little Lotta was a pizza in each hand.?

Comic book covers of her day usually had little or nothing to do with the stories inside the books. Most Little Lotta comic books featured food items or gags about her "super fat strength". You could actually judge Little Lotta comic books by the cover. She was eating something on the cover and she would be eating something inside the book.

Despite her size, Little Lotta moved well. In addition to her super strength, she also had super speed. She had a boyfriend named Gerald. They were an odd-looking couple because Gerald was about half the size of Little Lotta. Gerald dressed like and bared some resemblance to Richie Rich. Little Lotta lived in Bonnie Dell, a part of the Richville metropolitan area, and she was a good friend of Richie Rich.?The G-rated Lizzo of her time, Little Lotta always wanted to work for the Bonnie Dell police department.

She still appeared in the comics in the 80s and 90s on a more limited basis. Little Lotta has only made a few appearances, compared to her heydays of the 50s, 60s and 70s, in recent years. Those appearances have downplayed her hearty appetite. In her latest cartoon appearances, she is still a big strong girl but is more into her pet animals than food now.

Netflix ran a cartoon series from 2018 to 2020 titled, "Harvey Street Kids" when it started and later renamed "Harvey Girls Forever" that the new animal friendly Lotta co-starred in with her best friend Dot and their mutual friend Audrey. The word "Little" (with the exception of a few "Little" references here and there) was dropped from Lotta's, Dot's and their friend, Audrey's, former comic book names. It always seemed to me that Harvey Comics had a lack of imagination by naming three different characters that crossed over into each other's stories "Little".

"Little" is a comic character name that, in the past, has moved a lot of comic books and has been used in cartoons. "Little Iodine" was a comic strip that ran for 40-years. "Li'l Abner" had a similar run. "Little Lulu" found fame in comic strips, cartoons and comic books. The first issue of "Little Archie" is very rare. Legendary comedian Bill Cosby is known for his work with Fat Albert but also for the children's cartoon "Little Bill". Both the Fat Albert and Little Bill cartoons included important life lessons and emphasized morals. I wonder if Cosby will ever make a "Big Bill" cartoon??

Sometime during the eras of Fat Jokes, Fat Shaming and Fat Acceptance, Little Lotta's popularity waned. You will remember the Shoney's Big Boy statue if you are from the south. It was the same as the Big Boy statue in the north at the Frisch's Big Boy and the west coast Bob's Big Boy restaurants. Certain versions of the statue were slimmed down years ago and some of them do not even have Big Boy holding a hamburger. I guess the franchise will take the word "Big" away from the statue next and call him, "Responsible Eating Person." All of the sudden, fictional cartoon and comic book characters that ate like a boy dog were not as cool as they used to be.

The Simpsons cartoon has a takeoff on the Big Boy statue named "Lard Lad". The old school, pre-Netflix cartoon, Little Lotta would have loved Shoney's breakfast bar and Lard Lad Donuts. I am sure that version of Little Lotta loved animals back in those days as well. The ones that tasted the best.

I never saw Little Lotta as someone who promoted unhealthy eating habits. I just saw her as a big strong girl that fought criminals and could pick up, move and throw things as heavy as a car. She fought crime, righted wrongs for her smaller friends and made sure no one took advantage or her or her family. She was just a super girl with a positive outlook, great sense of humor and jolly demeanor that ate a lot of food. A true hot fudge cake hero!

Classic Harvey Comics were from a much simpler time. No one chained themselves to the dime store while claiming the publisher was promoting a girl with an eating disorder or if they did, there was no 24/7 news cycle to get everyone upset about it. Hard core horror and crime comics suffered greatly from cancel culture in the late 40s and mid 50s. There were congressional hearings and massive public comic book burnings. The comic book industry survived by incorporating silly storylines and tame super hero characters. Little Lotta's books always had the stamp of approval from the Comics Code Authority on the cover.?

Harvey Comics were drawn and written so pure and simple that they made an entire host of demons from Hell seem kid friendly. "Hot Stuff the Little Devil" came from a demonic family. He had magical and spiritual friends. Hot Stuff ran around with a pitchfork while wearing an asbestos diaper. Casper was a friendly ghost and "Wendy the Good Little Witch" was flying around on a magic broom. With demons, ghosts and witches aimed at the very young, school age public, a comic book girl that could spray a can of Cheez Whiz straight down her pie hole was of little concern by comparison.?

Richie Rich was cool with Little Lotta and had no problem with her size. With an Uncle Scrooge McDuck cash flow level, think of the girls Richie could have hung out with. He did hang with Little Dot, Little Audrey, and his favorite girlfriend Gloria Glad. Mayda Munny had a crush on Richie and she was always trying to break Richie and Gloria up. Looks wise, Mayda was on the Riverdale native Veronica Lodge level. Mayda was a piece of work however and every pannapictagraphist knows that the prettiest comic book characters are the craziest. There is no doubt Richie would rather have a two-hour lunch at Cicis Pizza with Little Lotta than dine at Red Lobster for five-minutes with Mayda.

Hopefully one day, there will be a live action major motion picture starring Little Lotta that chronicles her life. I have no idea who would play her but I do want Joey Chestnut to be her love interest. Red beans and rice didn't miss her. Please bring Little Lotta back!