Bringing Up Father — buf400613

Four panels follow Jiggs — the nouveau-riche Irish-American social climber created by George McManus — through a hotel encounter. A female page carrying water is mistaken for Maggie; Jiggs questions the novel idea of girl pages; a bystander dismisses the practice as a foolish fad; the punchline reveals Jiggs has been ordering water sent to room eight all along. McManus's art is immediately recognizable: lush Art Nouveau ornament, boldly inked figures, cross-hatched backgrounds, and expressive balloon lettering. Launched in 1913, *Bringing Up Father* ran for nearly ninety years and was among the first strips reprinted in collected pamphlet form — the direct commercial ancestor of the comic book itself.