Up and at 'em Atom Ant!

Posted by ESC July 11, 2001In reply to Up and Atom/Adam posted by James Briggs on July 10, 2001

This phrase appears in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN (which I am directing in a few months) and I was wondering if anyone knew

A) Which is correct - Up and Atom or Adam

and

B ) Where did it come from?

Thank you in advance for any help you can be!
~Barry

Up and at 'em. I.e., Get up and go after them, get going, rise and shine.

Originally the saying was:
"Up Guards and at 'em!" - presumably one of the Guards regiments.
We seem to have lost the first bit in modern day speech.

And them there's UP AND AT 'EM, ATOM ANT!! "Atom Ant is the smallest but mightiest defender of law and order. Headquartered in his secret lab beneath an ant hill, his cry of 'Up and at 'em, Atom Ant' sends evil-doers scrambling for cover! Comedian Howard Morris provided the voice for Atom. The show premiered on NBC's Saturday line-up in the Fall of 1965 in a one-hour block with another Hanna-Barbera series as 'The Atom Ant/ Secret Squirrel Show.' The back-up cartoons during Atom Ant's segment were 'Precious Pupp' and 'The Hillbilly Bears.'"
www.cartoonnetwork.com/ doc/atomant/