Thirteen-year-old Sophie Marceau debuted in La Boum (1980), famously coming out of nowhere to become an international movie star. In the film, she wears a comic t-shirt with English text. One boy, wearing glasses, says to another boy (wearing a ballcap), “I imagine I’ll be an intellectual when I grow up.” The other boy responds, “What’s an intellectual?”
Someone sent me this image, thinking it might be a Peanuts comic strip, and asked if I knew the original strip that’s the source of the t-shirt design.
It’s *not* Peanuts, but … what is it?
Luckily, I recognized it. It’s from a now little-known comic strip called Winthrop by Dick Cavalli. That’s the title character wearing the ballcap at right. I don’t remember the name of the boy who is wearing glasses. According to the nice people at Lambiek Comiclopedia, Dick Cavalli’s strip was published in French as well as English, so I assume it had some following in France, which adores comics. The article on Lambiek Comiclopedia also shares this fascinating bit of trivia: before finding success as a cartoonist, Cavalli worked at New York’s Museum of Natural History, producing pen-and-ink drawings of fossil specimens. I wonder how many cartoonists have worked for museums? Probably not a lot.
After a little searching, I found the original Winthrop newspaper comic strip in question. I was surprised to see it was originally published in the U.S. on February 10, 1980. But the movie came out in 1980. How was there a t-shirt already with the first panel of the comic? It turns out the movie did not debut until December, but even considering the time to license the image, shoot and edit a film, and turn around a t-shirt design within a tight window of time is interesting. The t-shirt must have been created very shortly after the strip was first published. This assumes it was a commercially available t-shirt that went through official licensing channels, not just something a screenprinting shop in France bootlegged and sold. Without an actual t-shirt to examine, it’s hard to tell whether it was officially licensed. I like how they colored the panel for the shirt. I thought maybe the source strip would be a Sunday since it was in color, but no. It was a daily, which at the time was published nearly entirely in black and white. Yes, there are a few exceptions, but it’s rare.
![Winthrop by Dick Cavalli, originally published 2/10/1980, as seen in the Henryetta [Oklahoma] Daily Free-Lance.](https://i0.wp.com/benjaminlclark.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/1980.02.19-Henryetta_Daily_Free_Lance_1980_02_19_5.jpg?fit=525%2C198&ssl=1)
It raises new questions: Was Dick Cavalli aware of it? Did Cavalli’s syndicate (NEA), or even the French licensee, arrange a bit of product placement in the film? Was the shirt licensed or more akin to fan art? Who chose the shirt? Was it something the wardrobe department wanted? Was it a specific, deliberate choice by someone else? Was it something that Sophie Marceau already had and just happened to wear?
All that said, Winthrop by Dick Cavalli is an interesting, well-drawn comic strip that has not really been collected into books, which is too bad. There may be fans waiting for such a thing. And, surely, there are people who would like to have that same shirt!
UPDATE:
I happen to know someone who worked for NEA beginning in 1969, and later for United Media when NEA merged with United Feature Syndicate in 1979. He said there was “virtually no licensing” at all for NEA comics in that era, and he’s pretty sure the shirt would have been “a rip-off.” So, was the 1980 Winthrop “Intellectual” t-shirt a precursor to the Bart Simpson bootleg shirts or the “peeing Calvin” shirts and stickers? Maybe not quite, but not far off.
About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.
