ComicBook Experience

From the exhibition

Bringing Up Father — buf390127

· c. 1930s–1940s (exact date unverified)

Bringing Up Father — buf390127
George McManus's *Bringing Up Father* ran in American newspapers from 1913 until McManus's death in 1954, becoming one of the longest-lived and most widely syndicated strips in the world. This daily strip follows the familiar pattern: nouveau-riche Maggie badgers her husband Jiggs, who would rather eat corned beef and cabbage than keep up social appearances. Here, across four panels, Maggie attempts to telephone the Dinouts about a dinner invitation, derailing herself with chatter about winter sport suits before the conversation ever connects — the punchline landing on an exhausted Jiggs. McManus's draftsmanship is unmistakable: ornate Art Nouveau interiors, characters rendered in bold outlines with expressive silhouettes. Strips like this one, syndicated through Hearst's King Features, fed directly into the first comic-book reprints of the 1930s, making newspaper dailies the true cradle of the American comic book.

Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com public-domain