Page 4 Berthoud Weekly Surveyor April 3, 2014
SENIOR WISE
See you in the funny papers: Mutt and Jeff By Rudy Hemmann The Surveyor Harry Conway “Bud” Fisher (1885 – 1954) was an American cartoonist who created a comic strip titled “Mutt and Jeff,” which was destined to become the first successful daily strip in the United States. Fisher began drawing the strip in 1907, and it was published in the San Francisco Chronicle, where he worked as a journalist and sketch artist in the sports department. At first the strip revolved exclusively around the Mutt character and was named appropriately enough “A. Mutt” — with the initial supposedly standing for Augustus. The Mutt character could be seen in some sports cartoons that Fisher had drawn in earlier years, but was not named until the strip began. Mutt’s avocation was betting the horses at the local track. In the early 1900s horseracing was considered more of a sport than it is today. This is why the earliest “A. Mutt” strips appeared on the sports pages. Daily newspapers of the day had no comic strip pages. There is disagreement among comics historians regarding the origin of Mutt’s name. Some say it is short for “muttonhead,” while others contend it signified his place in the household; equal to that of the family dog – A. Mutt. As penance for his “sideline,” Mutt had to answer to his shrewish wife. Fisher’s “A. Mutt” is said to be the first daily comic strip. Not just the first to be in strip form in which the panels ran across the page instead of in a box or vertically down one side of the page, but rather the first to appear daily, six days a week, with the same characters day after day and week after week. However it is not. That honor goes to a strip named “A. Piker Clerk,” by Clare Briggs, which predated Fisher’s work by about four years. But “A. Mutt” was the first
Reel news
remembered By Bob McDonnell The Surveyor Today most of us receive our news instantaneously. Thanks to the Internet, smartphones and social media, seconds after an event happens, the whole world knows about it. This was not the case as I grew up in the 1950s. Things were much slower then. My family did not own a television until the mid1950s. Occasionally, I ventured across the street to an elementary school classmate’s house or to my grandparents to see the marvels of black-and-white television. Our news came via the radio. Visual news required a trip to the local movie theater — not something my family did on a frequent basis.
RECYCLE
strip to be resoundingly successful at all of the above and, consequently, is the strip recognized as being the one that established the trend in that direction. [This last statement is not intended to detract in any way from the accomplishments of such pioneers of comic strips as Richard Outcault (“Hogan’s Alley” and “Buster Brown”), William “Billy” DeBeck (“Barney Google”) or Elzie Seegar (“Popeye,” “Thimble Theatre” and “Sappo”). They all advanced the comic strip genre in their own ways.] Had Fisher remained with that storyline – Mutt getting jammed up for betting on the “ponies” – the strip would more than likely have run its course in a few years and been as forgotten as the Briggs strip is today. But in March of 1908 the tall, gangly Mutt was introduced to the diminutive Jeff, who was a patient in a mental institution. The easygoing dimwittedness of Mutt alongside Jeff, who was “certifiable,” made for great comic effect. The scope of the strip grew immensely with the addition of Jeff. The term “Mutt and Jeff” even became part of the English language as a slang expression for a tall person teamed with a short one. In the fall of 1908 Mutt became the first comic strip character to run for U.S. President. As was the case with other successful comic strip creators, it did not
take William Randolph Hearst long to make a monetary offer that could not b refused, and before long Fisher was doing the “Mutt and Jeff” strip for Hearst’s San Francisco “Examiner.” The owner of the “Chronicle”
For those younger than I, a newsreel compiled world news stories to present before the main attraction at the movie theater. In 10 minutes, six or seven short news stories appeared on the screen. Topics included current events, politics, natural disasters, sports and pop culture of the time.
Hindenburg, or the inauguration of a president fell into this category. The first newsreel appeared in 1911, way before my time. Due to the technology of the time, these films contained no sound. This changed in 1926, when sound became part of the newsreels. Companies such as Fox Movietone, Paramount, Universal, Warner-Pathe and Hearst Metrotone supplied the pictures and sound for the general public. Surprisingly, about 1929 New York saw some all-newsreel theaters spring up. By the mid-1920s, between 85-90 percent of the 18,000 U.S. theaters routinely showed one of the five major newsreels to a weekly audience numbering in excess of 40 million people. Newsreels slowly faded, and by 1967 they disappeared, thanks to television. The timeliness and convenience of seeing the news in your own home won out. For a nine-minute sample of some of the news from newsreels, go to http://tinyurl.com/ lggswbx.
At times an entire newsreel highlighted a single story or event of optimum interest. The attack on Pearl Harbor, the fiery crash of the
attempted continuing the strip with other artists, however, Fisher had copyrighted it in his own name and the “Chronicle” was forced to discontinue the strip. The feature was soon appearing in Hearst newspapers across the country and was being distributed by King Features Syndicate as well.
The added exposure from the Hearst chain of newspapers brought about an explosion of popularity in the strip. In 1913 Fisher transferred to The Wheeler Syndicate – which later became The Bell Syndicate. King Features attempted to block the move, but Fisher again won the day by asserting his sole ownership rights. Fisher began making a huge amount of money from the strip. As a result he was relying heavily on assistants to do the drawings and writing for the strip while he spent most of his time enjoying the money that it brought to him. Short animated “Mutt and Jeff” silent films eventually became very popular with the public. However, as a matter of fact, the first attempt to create an animated short was unsuccessful because the animator, Paul Terry, was not able to get Fisher to sit still and work on the project. Even so, animated “Mutt and Jeff” films became an early success with the first one of literally hundreds of the silent cartoons being released in February 1913. This only served to increase Fisher’s wealth, which distanced him further from the strip and from his assistants. The assistant who devoted more of his career to the drawing and writing of the “Mutt and Jeff” strip was Al Smith, who took on the duties in 1932 and stayed with the project until 1980. (This was only two years before the strip ended.) Smith was the creative impetus behind the addition in 1933 of “Cicero the Cat,” a Sunday page topper for the “Mutt and Jeff” strip. The topper was about a cat that was the pet of Mutt’s son. Smith also toned down the amount of domestic strife between Mutt and
his wife, thereby broadening the strip’s family appeal. Smith eventually became the sole creative force behind the “Mutt and Jeff” strip, taking on all of the drawing and writing duties, while Fisher simply enjoyed life on the sidelines. It was not until Fisher passed away in 1954 that Smith put his own signature on the strip. Of the “Mutt and Jeff” team, Mutt was by far the more dimwitted. He was a fanatic horserace gambler who was motivated by greed. He would use any superstitious trick to attempt to get a leg up on Lady Luck at the track. Mutt had a wife, always referred to as Mrs. Mutt – except by Mutt who always called her M’love – and the son, Cicero. As stated earlier, Mutt met Jeff in an insane asylum in 1908, where Jeff was a patient. Mutt learned that the two of them shared a penchant for betting on horses, and they became fast friends. They appeared in more and more strips together until Fisher abandoned the horse racing theme for the strip and concentrated on Mutt’s other get-rich-quick schemes. As one can imagine, these were, on the whole, outlandish, and most included Jeff as a – sometimes unwilling – coconspirator. Jeff was short, bald and had mutton-chop sideburns. He has no last name, saying he is “just Jeff – first and last and always it’s Jeff.” But at a point late in the life of the strip he is referred to in a telegram address as “Othello Jeff.” Jeff is always attired in a suit with wing collar and top hat. Jeff has a twin brother, Julius, and the two look very much alike. At one point, Jeff, who can’t afford to sit for a portrait, sits in for Julius, who is too busy to pose. The strip added some catchphrases to the language including; “For the love of Mike!” “Nix, Mutt, Nix!” and “Oowah!” I’ll see you in the funny papers.