Little Boy Beard was the infant son of Johnny and Fresh Upp Plenty and a third cousin of B.O. Plenty. An unusual child, he had a beard growing out of his chin while he was still a baby, and was uncommonly strong.
The Abandoned Baby
Little Boy Beard was abandoned in the city park by his mother under duress of Burpie Upp, (his grandmother). Burpie believed that the baby's unusual appearance would bring embarrassment to the family.
The baby was found by Dick Tracy and the police department, who gave the him the nickname Little Boy Beard. The police issued a statement on the news that the mother of the abandoned baby should come forward.
Fresh saw the news report and begged her mother to let her have her baby back. Burpie refused, and Fresh ran away on the rooftops of the city skyscrapers with Burpie chasing after her. Burpie fell to her death from the roof when Fresh kicked her and then said, "My baby has been avenged."
New Beginnings
Fresh faced charges in the death of her mother. Her connection to the Plenty family was discovered, and Little Boy Beard was placed in the temporary care of B.O. Plenty at Sunny Dell Acres, where his strength and rambunctiousness caused some considerable difficulty. Fresh was eventually cleared of the charge against her, and Little Boy Beard was returned to his mother.
Little Boy Beard and Fresh then became the target of a revenge plot by Fresh's Aunt Soso. They survived, and Soso was sent to jail. Fresh began to turn her life around with the aid of former Mayor Voten, who volunteered to look after Little Boy Beard while Fresh worked at a new job.
Unbeknownst to Voten, his kennel was being used as a base of operations by Trusty Hubbub and his gang, who were training dogs to steal. Little Boy Beard was briefly involved in that case. Later, he became trapped with two hungry panthers in one of the open-roofed pens on the kennel property. The panthers became fond of the boy and he was rescued without injury.