From the exhibition
Foxy Grandpa
Carl E. Schultze, who used the pen name Bunny and signed his cartoon strips as Bunny. · 1904

Carl E. Schultze's *Foxy Grandpa* strip exemplifies early newspaper comic storytelling. The six-panel sequence follows a familiar vaudeville premise: two boys attempt to trick their clever grandfather with a barrel of oranges, only to be outwitted at each turn. Schultze employs the visual grammar now standard to comics—sequential panels, speech balloons, exaggerated expressions—to build narrative momentum and comedic timing across the page.
Published in Sunday newspapers, *Foxy Grandpa* became one of the era's most popular strips, spawning merchandise and stage adaptations. The caricatured ethnic features of the characters reflect period illustration conventions; Schultze's real innovation lay in using panel structure itself as a tool for humor, influencing how comics would tell jokes for generations to come.
Public domain, restored and presented by comicbooks.com Public domain