Jewish comic strip characters are relatively rare. So when Ann Levy, Levy’s Law‘s lead character, is and in a very funny comic strip at that, it’s a big deal. Sadly, Levy’s Law, which ran in newspapers from 1979 to 1985 is rarely referenced now. This article seeks to remedy that, as well as to briefly discuss a few other Jewish characters on the funnies pages.
If interested in exploring the comic strip for yourself, as well as Schumeister’s humorous sci fi feature The Great Atomic Aftermath & Fresh Fruit Festival, a two-volume complete collection of the strips has become available. Each volume can be ordered individually. The volumes also include Schumeister’s inside baseball look at the ups and downs of comic strip syndication. I have no financial interest in these volumes but do give them my highest recommendation. As you will gather, reading on, I am a fan!
The Origins of Levy’s Law
Levy’s Law is the creation of James Schumeister. This was Schumeister’s second syndicated comic strip, the first being The Great Atomic Aftermath & Fresh Fruit Festival, which ran for a little over six months in 1976.
Schumeister recalls how serving on jury duty gave him the idea for the strip, which received additional inspiration from the fact that a conference for women’s police officers just happened to be occurring in the same building. The following promotional article provided by NEA (Newspaper Enterprise Association, a features syndicate) on Schumeister and the new strip can be found below.
Additional promotional material was provided by the NEA in a folder, including the one of Ann twirling her baton that is the featured image at the top of this article, and the one below. (All Levy’s Law images are copyright of James Schumeister and published here with his permission.)
Subsequently, Levy’s Law enjoyed an October 15th, 1979 launch.
Once Ann’s Jewish identity was established, this reader took the comic strip’s title as a clever play on the ancient Jewish law of the Levites, that provided the basis for the book of Leviticus. But having the opportunity to ask Schumeister himself regarding this, he assured me that this was not the case.
Levy’s Law–the First Installments
The cast of Levy’s Law included her initially wary partner, Ed, and his jealous wife Madge who is convinced that Ann is out to seduce him. Ann’s precinct sergeant is Sarge, a Black man with an Irish brogue. There is also a geriatric police dog named Trooper is nearly always asleep on the job. Ann’s family and friends also appear, including her father, Max, her rabbi brother Rob, her sister, and the unseen but ever interfering Aunt Doris. Ann’s best friend is the entrepreneurial Pookie and her on again, off again romantic interest, attorney Alan Gold. Once again, his Jewishness can be inferred by his last name but is confirmed at their wedding. Finally, injecting an element of fantasy into the strip is Ann’s fairy godmother–who has more than a touch of the Jewish matchmaker in her, charging for her services and subsequently regularly noting financial challenges and problems with her taxes. Ann’s fairy godmother is a clever creation, her regular appearances also allowing for satirical comment on the culturally engrained search for a a Prince Charming.
Ann Levy in Action
What follows is one example of how Ann’s actual police work is portrayed with humor but never at Ann’s expense, who always comes off as a solid and competent officer. Early on, her command voice needs a little work, but as shown here she has mastered it.
Playing with Gender and Ethnic Stereotypes
While Ann can be a little neurotic at times off duty, her competency of a cop is never questioned. But gender stereotypes prove hard for her to escape entirely. A blind date brags that his date can beat up her date. Crooks fall for her. The wife of her partner has a hard time accepting that Ann can be trusted in a way a male partner would have readily been accepted. These themes are always humorously explored but present nonetheless.
Levy’s Law‘s Sunday page provides further opportunities for Schumeister’s taste for satire. His Crimestompers panel is a spoof of Dick Tracy‘s Sunday page feature, Crime Stoppers. Criminals are still motivated by greed, but their foibles turn out to be as fully human as upstanding citizens. Or is it that upstanding citizens prove to have no shortage of foibles of their own?
Schumeister also playfully challenges and plays with ethnic stereotypes. The Black sergeant has Irish heritage and embodies the speech patterns of the latter during the eighties when Black exploitation stereotypes were still common in the media. As a Jewish woman, Ann goes undercover as a nun. And when Ann goes to a Tax Agency run by nuns, she is assured that their services are suitable for their Jewish customers.
Finally, Ann’s brother, the rabbi, just happens to be Korean (more on him shortly!).
Ups and Downs in Popularity
As the space in newspapers to devote to comic strips began to shrink in the 1980s, editors began to increasingly rely on reader survey’s to guide them. For example, the El Paso Herald-Post in 1980 ran of week of Levy’s Law strips and asked readers if they wanted the new feature to replace any existing comic strips. Readers opted to have Levy’s Law replace Star Wars!
The ups and downs of a comic strip’s fortunes could make one’s head spin, as the small town newspaper of Columbus, Indiana demonstrates. In 1980, Levy’s Law was dropped from its comics page, then returned in the Spring of 1981. But interest in a new Muppets comic strip led to Levy’s Law being dropped again.
But after a new reader survey, in December, the editors of Indiana paper declared that “loudest of all was the vote to return policewoman Ann Levy … Return of Levy’s Law topped the list of cartoons to be added by the 438 readers who completed this years ballot. Editor Stu Hoffman announced Levy’s Law will be returned immediately, replacing Shoe.” The editor added that that he wanted to give The Muppets strip more chance to build a following. (The Republic, 12-4-1981, p. 1)
Clearly, editorial discretion could be used. Doonesbury which was rated lower of any of the others was also kept due to “intensity of interest.” Yet despite the fact that Levy’s Law demonstrated a devoted following in the small town, it was once again dropped the following year. And this time it didn’t come back.
So called dramatic story strips were rapidly losing popularity among newspaper readers who by in large could not be counted on to commit to follow such features from day-to-day. Even humor strips that had an element of continuity, like Bloom County, Tank McNamara, Cathy and, yes, Levy’s Law were losing popularity. This summary of a 1983 reader survey in the Springfield (Missouri) Leader and Press shows just that.
It is also must be said that humor strips that were more cerebral and nuanced in their approach seemed to suffer in these surveys.
Fortunes regarding a possible television adaptation were equally erratic. In September 1983, a press release declared that Levy’s Law was optioned for a possible television series. The vice president and executive producer of United Media Productions, which owned NEA, declared that “the antics of policewoman Ann Levy and live action television are a perfect match.” But nothing came of it. Another group optioned the strip, but incredibly the pilot scripts that followed didn’t use any of the character names or even the title of the comic strip they’d optioned! The pilots were never produced. It all made Schumeister’s ballsy satire of NBC, which was experiencing financial struggles at the time, seem prescient.
While NEA distributed their package of features to more than 700 newspapers across the country, many had smaller circulations and they all picked and chose which of the comic strips they’d run. The only time NEA shared specifics with Schumeister, they told him Levy’s Law was running in 200 or so newpapers.
In the meantime Schumeister and Levy’s Law soldiered on.
Ann’s Brother, the Korean Rabbi
The 1984 introduction of Rob Levy, Ann’s adoptive brother, exemplifies the ways that Schumeister plays with ethnic stereotypes at the same time as diversifying his cast.
By now, Ann’s Jewishness is explicit, but never underscored. It simply is.
The dilemma of Rob considering giving up being a rabbi has Ann echoing some of her inner Aunt Doris. It is an aspect of Ann that hasn’t been seen by readers before–a pride in her brother’s achievement that has cultural resonance. Ann’s boyfriend, Alan, remains relatively oblivious at first.
Ann’s Wedding
When Schumeister was informed by NEA that Levy’s Law was going to be dropped, they gave him enough advance notice to craft a satisfying wrap-up.
Ann and her longtime beau decide to get married after Alan had a harrowing, if comic, kidnapping while on vacation in a banana republic named San Infesto. The couple naturally approach a rabbi to perform the ceremony. Once again, Schumeister doesn’t hammer home the Jewishness of the moment, but neither does he obscure it. The yamakas and wedding canopy or chuppah are clearly evident.
Having Ann and Alan get married to bring the strip to its close gave readers a sense of closure absent in the ending of most comic strips.
But Schumeister is careful not to have Ann’s marriage mark the end of her career. To the contrary, the final two strips note her advancement in the field, while still careful to provide a touch of humor.
Rich Larson, whose signature is just below Schumeister’s was Jim’s assistant and a successful artist in his own right, perhaps best known for his stint drawing the female ninja Whisper and artistic partnership with Steve Fastner.. Full disclosure, both men are long time friends. That said, I’ve striven to provide an objective summation of a strip I genuinely enjoyed.
With the end of Levy’s Law, Schumeister negotiated with NEA to obtain ownership of the strip.
There is, it must be said, one final ironic note. Having devoted a large portion of Levy’s Law making fun of lawyers, after the comic strip ended Schumeister entered law school and became an attorney.
Other Jewish Comic Strip Characters
Ann Levy was the rare Jewish character to star in her own nationally syndicated comic strip. The only other notable example was decades earlier, Abie the Agent, which ran from 1914 to 1940, and which cast a humorous eye on the strivings of ethnic minorities to achieve financial success and mainstream acceptance and status. As early as 1916, creator Harry Herschfeld described Abe Kabibble as “a clean-cut, well dressed specimen of Jewish humor.” Herschfeld’s stated intent was to provide a humanizing portrayal of a Jewish man to counter some of the virulent anti-Semitism raging at the time.
Introduced in a different era, Ann Levy, as portrayed, just happened to be Jewish. The strip’s humor was intended by universal. Though her Jewish identity was never the focus of Levy’s Law, it also was never avoided.
Even featuring Jewish people as supporting characters in a comic strip was (and still is) quite uncommon. One notable example was Little Orphan Annie‘s Jake, a Jewish shopkeeper. He was the first of Harold Gray’s intentional efforts in 1931 to lift up cultural “outsiders” in his comic strip. Jake becomes a successful businessman and Daddy Warbucks and he are become partners, Jake soon running a prominent department store. Along with Flop-House Bill who is physically disabled and Wun Wey, a wealthy Chinese, Jake is one of Warbucks’ best friends from 1931-1934. An article on this website, “Daddy Warbucks’ Ethnic Allies”, explores this aspect of Little Orphan Annie further.
Increased sensitivity to ethnic stereotypes leads most comic strip creators to avoid portraying Jewish characters at all during the forties, fifties and sixties. One exception is Sam Catchum, Dick Tracy’s loyal right hand man introduced in 1948. While never explicitly identified as Jewish in the comic strip, Tracy’s creator Chester Gould described him as a “Jewish fella” when asked. In his very first appearance, Gould provided him with several what could be considered Jewish “markers”: a history of running a deli, a preference for Rye bread, and unfortunately a stereotypical nose.
That said, Sam is an engaging and energetic character who otherwise eludes easy stereotypes. Sam is not shown explicitly honoring his Jewishness, however, until the 2000s when he is shown meeting with an old rabbi friend and celebrating Channukah on more than one occasion.
It is not until the 1970 debut of Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury that a comic strip makes an explicit effort to represent the ethnic and religious diversity of the country, usually o illustrate some ftaught political or cultural question of issue of the day. Black and Jewish characters in particular abound. Jewish characters in Doonesbury include radical Mark Slackmeyer and his conservative businessman father, Michael Doonesbury’s man-crazy secretary Marcia Feinbloom, and Sid Kibbitz, larger than life Hollywood agent. Then there is Michael’s second wife Kim, who was raised by Jewish parents, J. D.’s wife Boopsie whose last name of Boopstein is at least suggestive, and super-scientist and millionaire Bernie, who is never explicitly described as Jewish but whose outsider credentials could be read as such.
It is from this seventies cultural zeitgeist that Schumeister’s The Great Atomic Aftermath & Fresh Fruit Festival emerged in 1976. While this initial creative effort envisions a comical post-atomic disaster world, Schumeister grounded it with implicit commentary that often addressed contemporary issues. As such it isn’t surprising that one of the “robos” that contains a human consciousness is that of Annie Goldstein, a Jewish woman. Levy’s Law traverses some of the same broad satirical territory as Doonesbury, with its similarly diverse cast of white, Jewish, Black, Catholic, Korean and Hispanic characters. But unlike Doonesbury, Levy’s Law takes aim at somewhat different targets, more often zeroing in on current cultural phenomena rather than political issues per se.
Long after the last installment of Levy’s Law, Darrin Bell’s Candorville debuted in 2003. Bell, who is both Black and Jewish, occasionally engages with Jewish realities in his narratives, though that is not a central focus of the clever strip.
Jewish characters in comic books are much more common, as the self-selected readership of any single comic book is not as broad-based as the general readership of most newspapers. As such, comic books can more readily offer up characters who represent minority communities. Jewish comic book characters include Ragman, Kitty Pryde, Moon Knight, Magneto, the Thing, Batwoman, and Harley Quinn.
Levy’s Law’s Timeline
1979 Rookie policewoman Ann Levy joins the force and partners with Ed.
1980 Alan Gold flirts with Ann on the stand. Ann meets her fairy godmother.
1981 Pookie and Ben are married. Intro Trooper, a geriatric police dog.
1982 Renaldo arrives, a foreign exchange police officer from San Infesto.
1983 Obnoxious neighbor Harv Ditko moves in. Alan loses job at his family firm.
1984 Pookie gives birth to Jennifer. Ann’s adopted brother Rob is a Korean rabbi.
1985 Alan is kidnapped in San Infesto. Ann and Alan are married.
Levi’s Law Characters and Appearances
Ann Levy. Single Jewish policewoman and the star of the comic strip. 10/15/79-7/27/85.
Sean “Sarge” O’Brien. The Irish Black precinct sergeant, consistently supportive of Ann. 10/15/79-7/26/85.
Ed Summers. Ann’s partner who initially has a hard time dealing with having a female partner but who fairly quickly comes around. His wife is not so accepting, however. Ed sustains a serious injury at one point which allows comic commentary on the television programs he watches while recovering. 10/19/79-7/25/85.
Madge Summers. Ed’s wife, who is jealous and suspicious of Ann for some time. She gradually fades from the strip but is present at Ann’s wedding to Alan Gold. First appears 10/24/79.
Pookie Johnson. Given name, Hortense Rose. Pookie is Ann’s best friend and an aspiring writer. Pookie is a bit eccentric and flighty in contrast to Ann’s generally calm and more grounded demeanor. In 1981, Pookie ends up marrying Ben Bates, who is Alan’s law colleague at the time. She becomes a step-mother to Ben’s daughter, Beth, and Pookie gives birth on 8/24/84 to their first child, Jennifer. 12/27/79-7/27/85.
Max Levy. Ann’s father. A widower, he is infatuated with a woman he sees at the market, but to whom he’s never spoken. 2/1/80-7/26/85.
Alan Gold. Initially an attorney at his family firm, Gold, Gold & Associates, Alan first meets Ann when he is cross-examining her on the witness stand and ends up flirting with her. Alan is let go from the family firm in 1983 in a cost-saving measure. Alan and Ann have an on again, off again romance. But when Alan is kidnapped in San Infesto, they fully recognize their love for each other and Ann accepts Alan’s proposal. Their wedding marks the ending of the comic strip. 4/1/80-7/27/85.
Ben Bates. Alan’s colleague at Gold, Gold, & Associates, Ben is kept on when Alan is let go. Ann and Alan set up a blind date between Ben and Pookie and the two fall in live and are married in 1981. Ben has a precocious daughter named Beth from a previous marriage and ultimately a child with Pookie. 5/15/80-7/26/85.
Mr. and Mrs. Zotz. An elderly couple from the old country, short in stature, who have an apartment in Ann’s building. 6/30/80-7/26/85.
Dr. Rex Oedipus. Psychiatrist employed by the precinct. Has written a book tentatively entitled, I’m O.K., You’re Doing Two to Five. 10/22/80, 12/11/80, 5/5/82-4/7/82, 10/23/82, 11/14/84, 4/25/85, and perhaps others.
Fairy Godmother. Ann Levy’s assigned Fairy Godmother who has other clients as well. It is the Fairy Godmother’s job to find Ann an acceptable romantic partner, which proves to be challenging given limited resources and other challenges. It gradually evolves that the Fairy Godmother has various financial obligations and challenges, receives a commission for each successful match, will bill clients upon that success, has to file expense reports, can run into trouble with the IRS, and occasionally needs to supplement her income with side jobs. 12/1/80-12/6/80, 6/29/81-7/4/81, 11/30/81-12/5/81, 1/4/82-1/8/82, 3/8/82-3/13/82, 7/12/82-7/17/82, 10/18/2-10/22/82, 1/3/83-1/6/83, 4/19/83-4/22/83, 10/17/83-10/22/83, 3/2/84, 3/18/84s, 9/17/84-9/22/84, 4/8/85-4/13/85, 6/10/85-6/14/85, 7/25/85, 7/27/85.
Rodney Weber. New rookie officer with grand aspirations that are soon dashed by his assignment to the police dog unit comprised of only one elderly canine named Trooper. Ann welcomes Rodney, happy to no longer be the most recent rookie at the precinct. Rodney is rather vain and briefly lands a advertising gig as a police officer representing Macho Male cologne. 2/2/81-2/11/81, 4/6/81-4/11/81, 7/6/81, 8/30/82, 1/3/85, others.
Trooper. Elderly police dog who always seems to be sleeping. Rodney Weber heads the police dog unit and asks Ann to take care of him while he is on vacation. She discovers he needs to sleep with a night lite. On another occasion, one of his teachers at the police academy reveals he took three years to graduate. A lovable pooch for all of that. 2/4/81-2/11/81, 4/9/81, 8/30/82-9/4/82, 3/7/83, 8/1/84, 1/3/85, 6/15/85, 7/27/85, others.
Sgt. Herb Larson. A member of the precinct’s undercover decoy squad, Larson’s specialty is dressing as a woman to catch muggers and the like. To put it mildly, Larson is not a pretty woman. 3/1/81, 3/31/81, 9/9/81, 3/1/83, 2/5/85, others.
Officer Renaldo. A foreign exchange police officer from the Latin American country of San Infesto. He frequently comments on the differences of policing, the legal system, and political affairs of his home country, which is clearly a stereotypical “banana republic.” 4/19/82-5/7/82, 2/28/83, 3/15/83-3/16/83, 9/3/84-9/8/84, others. Renaldo is not part of Alan Gold’s vacation and ultimate kidnapping in San Infesto that takes place from 5/7/85-5/31/85.
Harv Ditko. Ann’s obnoxious new neighbor, the recently divorced Ditko is extremely chauvinistic and (inaccurately) considers himself a ladies man. He soon attempts to break up Ann and Alan by telling Alan that Ann has left for Fargo, ND to meet another man when actually she is transporting a prisoner. In a later, extended sequence in 1985, Ditko serves on a jury. 8/8/83-8/19/83, 11/23/83-11/24/83, 2/7/85-3/28/85, 4/26/85, others.
Rob Levy. Ann’s adoptive brother, of Korean ancestry, is a rabbi. But Rob is considering leaving his role as a rabbi to become a mutual fund broker, much to Ann’s dismay. And Rob inadvertantly causes Ann trouble by revealing to Alan Ann’s lifelong disdain for attorneys, calling them a pimple on the face of humanity. Happily, Rob later attends Ann and Alan’s wedding. A running gag involves his wife’s chocolate chip cookies, which Rob pretends to enjoy but which actually are so hard they set off the metal detector at the airport. 11/23/84-12/22/84 , 7/8/85-7/25/85.
Judy Levy. Ann’s heretofore unseen sister who arrives from Paris, where she has been attending medical school, to attend Ann’s wedding. She fears that as the youngest daughter she will now have the unwelcome matchmaking attention of their Aunt Doris. 7/9/85-7/26/85.
