Little Orphan Annie bows out of print

WASHINGTON, June 13 (UPI) -- Almost 86 years after Little Orphan Annie was presented to American newspaper readers, the comic strip has ended -- with a classic cliffhanger, observers said.

With Annie missing in Guatemala, and Daddy Warbucks "resigning himself to Miss Annie's being lost forever," the comic ended Sunday with the teasing line, "And this is where we leave our Annie. For now --," The Washington Post reported.

Fewer than 20 newspapers carry the strip, created by Harold Gray and currently written and drawn by others, and its low earnings meant the end, the newspaper said.

But Annie is not likely to disappear. Tribune Media Services owns the lucrative licensing and production rights to all Annie characters, trademarks and copyrights.

"Annie, unlike many strips, has such wide, almost iconic presence in our culture," Steve Tippie, Tribune Media Service's vice president of licensing, said, "that it would serve the character and our business best if we focused on other channels more appropriate to the 'kids' nature of the property."

And of course there's "Annie" the Broadway musical, which brings generates income for Tribune Media.

"What we do not own, but participate financially in as a licensor, is the Annie musical and its songs," Tippie said. "But the musical creators license the property from us."