Lena the Hyena: (Anti-) Beauty Contest Winner

Most fans of comics, or Mad magazine, or pop culture in general know about Basil Wolverton and his famous creation, Lena the Hyena. (I put one of Wolverton's great recent books in the sidebar a little while ago.)

But did you know that Lena was the result of a contest sponsored by Al Capp for his Li'l Abner newspaper strip? She took the prize from several other contenders for ugliness.

See who she beat out here.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Mon Mar 18, 2013
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues | Contests, Races and Other Competitions | Comics | 1940s

Comments

I remember Lil' Abner but was smhoo young to fully understand it. Pogo fits on that list too.

Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 03/18/13 at 10:07 AM

It's just interesting going through the ads of that... beer, whiskey ties, maytag, cigarettes...

I also like how in the Ukraine article they say that in Texas it's impolite to ask where someone is from, if they are from Texas they'll tell you and if they aren't it sucks to be them.

Posted by Fluffy Bunny Slippers on 03/18/13 at 12:13 PM

I remember trading cards with "portraits" vaguely like the one here. Sort of your "Nightmare Date" series. I didn't see the attraction (get it?) of collecting such things since I found them a bit disturbing.

Posted by KDP on 03/18/13 at 12:55 PM

I see why this picture won, it is definitely more horrible than the other contenders.

Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 03/18/13 at 11:05 PM

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