Bringing Up Father — 1925-09-10

George McManus's *Bringing Up Father* ran from 1913 to 2000, making it one of the longest-lived strips in newspaper history. In this four-panel daily, the eternal social climber Jiggs addresses the reader directly in panel one — breaking the fourth wall with casual confidence — before launching into a speech that is interrupted when his imperious wife Maggie materializes behind him, silencing him with a single question mark. He pivots immediately to apology. McManus's draftsmanship is unmistakable: brick crosshatching, bold outlines, figures built from crisp curves. The strip exemplifies how daily newspaper comics established the visual grammar — recurring characters, sequential panels, speech balloons — that made the comic book possible. Syndicating to hundreds of papers worldwide, *Bringing Up Father* was among the first strips adapted into film, stage, and merchandise.