Jiggs in Society (1920) – Film Advertisement

This trade advertisement announces a film adaptation of *Bringing Up Father*, George McManus's wildly popular newspaper comic strip. The strip's working-class Irish immigrant protagonist Jiggs—shown here in characteristic caricature with exaggerated features—had captivated over 400 newspapers by 1920. McManus's comic strip pioneered the sequential panel format and recurring characters that would define the medium. Here, the strip's success drives film production: characters migrate from the daily and Sunday pages into cinema. The advertisement reflects how newspaper comics had become cultural currency, their characters valuable enough to repurpose across media.