Little Orphan Annie is an American comic series that displays a string of episodic and unrelated expeditions in the life of an eleven-year-old orphan girl Annie.
It focuses on the on-going adventures of Annie, her adopted family, and their bodyguards Punjab and Asp.
The cartoon series made its debut on August 5, 1924, in the New York Daily News.
After an 86-year successful run in print media, the series was eventually discontinued on 13 June 2010.
Source: Supplied
The connection between Annie and Punjab
The comic series revolves around an orphan girl Annie who is presented as a plucky, compassionate and optimistic character, who has a strong and intuitive sense of right and wrong.
Punjab is a secondary character who is shown as a brave eight-foot-tall man who supposedly has a north-Indian origin. He is Annie’s helper, a bodyguard and a right-hand man of “Daddy” Warbucks.
In one of the more famous Little Orphan Annie stories, Punjab has been referred to as ‘mysterious’ and ‘Punjab the Wizard’.
It is reported that Punjab’s first look appeared in this series on February 3, 1935, Sunday.
According to Bruce Canwell, a freelance writer and editor, it was a spotlight moment after Punjab stepped onto the stage and into Annie’s life.
“As he performs feats of prestidigitation and serves up inscrutable visions of the future, Punjab takes Little Orphan Annie - always the most hard-headed and pragmatic of series – into the misty realms of mysticism.”
“It is Punjab who shows America’s spunkiest kid there are unseen forces at work in the world, that there is knowledge and then there is Knowledge.”
Punjab was played by Geoffrey Holder in the 1982 film "Annie". Source: Supplied
What we know about Punjab’s character in the Annie movie series
Punjab is a supporting character in the 1982 film "Annie" and its 1995 sequel Annie: A Royal Adventure.
Although he is supposed to be of north-Indian origin, he speaks in a stereotypical southern Indian accent in the movies.
Punjab is played by Geoffrey Holder in the 1982 film and Antony Zaki in its sequel.
He wears a white costume with a red and orange chest-layers and a white turban on his head.
The social media post explaining 'Punjab' goes viral
The character of Punjab has been around since 1935 through its presence in the comic series Little Orphan Annie.
But it recently came to spotlight on social media after a post explaining its involvement was repeatedly shared across Facebook and WhatsApp. Here’s why.
In the post, a turban-wearing Sikh shares his experience of a short interaction with a USA-based elderly man.
He explains that he had some ‘warm’ compliments after he helped a Texas man in strapping his truck-load.
“You look like Punjab. He used to help little Annie the way you helped me today,” the elderly person said. “Punjab used to protect this adventurous little girl. People loved him very much.”
The Texas man was quoting the comic series Little Orphan Annie that he used to read when he was a child. To know more, have a listen to the above-mentioned audio report.
