Little Lulu is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marjorie Henderson Buell.

[1] The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and mischievously strewing the aisle with banana peels.

Little Lulu replaced Carl Anderson's Henry, which had been picked up for distribution by King Features Syndicate.

Schlesinger Library curator Kathryn Allamong Jacob wrote: Marjorie Henderson Buell (1904–1993), whose work appeared under the pen name "Marge", had created two comic strips in the 1920s: The Boy Friend and Dashing Dot, both with female leads.

[4] Comic-book stories of the character scripted by John Stanley appeared in ten issues of Dell's Four Color before a Marge's Little Lulu series appeared in 1948 with scripts and layouts by Stanley and finished art by Irving Tripp and others.

After Stanley, other writers produced the Lulu stories for Gold Key Comics, including Arnold Drake.

Artist Hy Eisman retained stories intended for #269–270 (scripted by Paul Kuhn) because the artwork was returned to him after the comic was cancelled.

[15] Little Lulu was featured on numerous licensed products, and she was the centerpiece of an extensive advertising campaign for Kleenex tissues during the 1940s–50s, [16] being the first mascot for Kleenex tissues;[3] from 1952 to 1965 the character appeared in an elaborate animated billboard in Times Square in New York City.

[21] Paramount went on to create a similar character, Little Audrey, after failing to renew the Lulu license (and therefore avoiding the payment of royalty fees).

[24] The theme song for the shorts was written and composed by Buddy Kaye, Fred Wise, and Sidney Lippman, and performed by the singing group Helen Carroll and the Satisfiers.

Cecil Roy reprised her role as Lulu, but Arnold Stang did not return as Tubby, as by that time, he already left Famous Studios to work at Hanna-Barbera Productions where he would perform the voices for Top Cat.

The cast included: Little Lulu was adapted for the Japanese TV series Ritoru Ruru to Chitchai Nakama (Little Lulu and Her Little Friends), was directed by Seitaro Kodama, produced by the Japanese studio Nippon Animation and written by Niisan Takahashi.

Lulu was interpreted by Eiko Masuyama in the first 3 episodes and Minori Matsushima for the remainder, Keiko Yamamoto interpreted to Tubby Tompkins, Alvin was performed by Sachiko Chichimatsu and Annie and Iggy Inch were performed by Junko Hori and Yoneko Matsukane respectively.

An English-dubbed version of the anime was made for the American market by ZIV International in 1978, this same company distributed globally the TV series, the show lasted from 1976 to 1977 with 26 episodes in total.

[29] Luluzinha Teen e sua Turma became very popular in its introduction, being one of the best-selling comics in Brazil for a while, second only to its "rival".

[citation needed] Nevertheless, unlike Monica Adventures (which is still being published), Little Lulu's teen spin-off was canceled in 2015, after 65 issues.

Dark Horse later began issuing Giant Size volumes; each collects three of their reprint books.

In May 2018, Drawn & Quarterly announced that they will be reprinting John Stanley's Little Lulu comics in a multi-volume best-of series, beginning in spring 2019.

[32] Drawn & Quarterly reprinted a selection of John Stanley's stories for Free Comic Book Day 2019.

As a cameo appearance, Little Lulu was planned for the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but rights to the character could not be obtained in time.

[8] She makes a cameo appearing on a comic cover in The Simpsons episode "Husbands and Knives" (2007), being read by Alan Moore.