Bringing Up Father — buf391028

Four panels show Jiggs on a transatlantic telephone call, unable to tell his London friend 'Algy' where he is — he must ask a bystander, learns he's in Gallup, New Mexico, then relays that fact long-distance at ruinous cost. The gag turns on Jiggs's geographical obliviousness and the absurd expense of 1930s overseas telephony. George McManus drew *Bringing Up Father* for King Features Syndicate from 1913 until his death in 1954, his art distinguished by Art Nouveau–inflected linework, elegantly furnished interiors, and expressive figure comedy. The strip belongs to the first generation of syndicated dailies whose panel-by-panel sequencing, speech balloons, and recurring cast directly seeded the comic-book format that emerged commercially in the mid-1930s.