![]() ![]() Mutt & Jeff also had a lengthy, if low-key, career in comic books. Although he was solely responsible for writing and drawing Mutt & Jeff, it was not until 1954, when Fisher died, that Smith started signing his own name to it. Mutt to broaden the strip's family appeal. Smith also toned down the domestic strife, humanizing Mrs. It was Smith who created the Sunday page's topper, Cicero's Cat, about Mutt's son's pet, which was added in 1933. Of all the "assistants" who wrote and drew Mutt & Jeff, the one who devoted more of his career to it than any other was Al Smith, who took it on in 1932 and stayed until 1980 - only two years before the strip's demise. 10, 1913), which only increased Fisher's wealth, distancing him even further from the strip itself. Nonetheless, Mutt & Jeff became an early success in animation (the first of hundreds of silent cartoons was released Feb. ![]() In fact, his first shot at an animated version fell through because animator Paul Terry was unable to get him to sit still and work on getting the venture off the ground. King tried to prevent the move, but again, Fisher succeeded in asserting his ownership rights.īy this time, Fisher was relying more on his assistants than his own work, and spent most of his time enjoying the huge amounts of money the strip earned for him. In 1913, Fisher moved it to The Wheeler Syndicate (later known as Bell Syndicate). It was soon appearing in Hearst papers nationwide, and was also distributed by King Features Syndicate soon as that Hearst subsidiary got off the ground. The Chronicle tried to continue it with another artist, but Fisher had taken the precaution of copyrighting it in his own name, and The Chronicle was forced to stop. president), and before long "Mutt & Jeff" actually became a part of the English language, a slang term for a tall person paired with a short one.įisher hadn't been doing the feature long before William Randolph Hearst hired him away, and he began doing it for Hearst's San Francisco Examiner, instead. ![]() Its scope broadened immensely (in fact, later that year, Mutt became the very first toon candidate for U.S. ![]() Mutt's easygoing dimwittedness contrasted to great comic effect with the fact that Jeff was certifiably insane (they first met in a mental institution). #Mutt and jeff series#But in on March 27, 1908, tall, skinny Mutt met the diminutive Jeff, and the series began to transcend its limited venue. If the strip had remained tied to that setting, it would probably have run its course in a few years and been as thoroughly forgotten as the Briggs work is today. Mutt enjoyed gambling at the racetrack (which is why, like Fisher's earlier work, the strip appeared in the sports section, back before daily papers had comics pages), but had to answer to his shrewish wife for this avocation. The name may, as some comics historians say, have been chosen to signify his position in the household hierarchy, i.e., analogous to that of the family pooch or it may, say others, have been short for "muttonhead". The character had previously been spotted in Fisher's sports cartoons, but wasn't named until the strip began. (By the way, Fisher is not related to "Ham" Fisher, who created Joe Palooka.) But Fisher's strip is the first to make a notable success of it, and therefore the one that established the trend in that direction. Piker Clerk, by Clare Briggs, which predated it by about four years. It is not - that distinction probably belongs to A. November 15, 1907, is generally believed to be the first daily comic strip - not just the first to appear in "strip" form (with the panels running across the newspaper page, rather than vertically or in a square box), but the first to appear on a reliable, six-day-a-week schedule, with continuing characters. Mutt & Jeff, by Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher, which started in The San Francisco Chronicle on Please contribute to its necessary financial support. If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, MUTT AND JEFF Original Medium: Newspaper comicsĪppearing in: The San Francisco Chronicle ![]()
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