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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Mutt and Jeff </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=330 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=261 WIDTH=320 ALT="Jeff at cannon, Mutt watches. Artist of record: Bud Fisher (but it was probably drawn by Ed Mack)." SRC="muttjeff.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>MUTT AND JEFF</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Original Medium:</B> Newspaper comics <BR><B>Appearing in:</B> The San Francisco Chronicle <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1907 <BR><B>Creator:</B> Bud Fisher<FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> <I>Mutt & Jeff,</I> by <A HREF="fishrbud.htm">Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher,</A> which started in The San Francisco <I>Chronicle</I> on  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> November 15, 1907, is generally believed to be the first daily comic strip — not just the first to appear in "strip" form (with the <A HREF="glossary.htm#panel">panels</A> running across the newspaper page, rather than vertically or in a square box), but the first to appear on a reliable, six-day-a-week schedule, with continuing characters. It is not — that distinction probably belongs to <I><A HREF="piker.htm">A. Piker Clerk,</A></I> by Clare Briggs, which predated it by about four years. But Fisher's strip is the first to make a notable success of it, and therefore the one that established the trend in that direction. (By the way, Fisher is not related to "Ham" Fisher, who created <A HREF="palooka.htm"><I>Joe Palooka.</I>)</A> <P> The strip's original title was <I>A. Mutt</I> (the initial stood for Augustus). The character had previously been spotted in Fisher's sports cartoons, but wasn't named until the strip began. The name may, as some comics historians say, have been chosen to signify his position in the household hierarchy, i.e., analogous to that of the family pooch; or it may, say others, have been short for "muttonhead". Mutt enjoyed gambling at the racetrack (which is why, like Fisher's earlier work, the strip appeared in the sports section, back before daily papers had comics pages), but had to answer to his shrewish wife for this avocation. <P> If the strip had remained tied to that setting, it would probably have run its course in a few years and been as thoroughly forgotten as the Briggs work is today. But in on March 27, 1908, tall, skinny Mutt met the diminutive Jeff, and the series began to transcend its limited venue. Mutt's easygoing dimwittedness contrasted to great comic effect with the fact that Jeff was certifiably insane (they first met in a mental institution). Its scope broadened immensely (in fact, later that year, Mutt became the very first toon candidate for U.S. president), and before long "Mutt & Jeff" actually became a part of the English language, a slang term for a tall person paired with a short one. <P> Fisher hadn't been doing the feature long before William Randolph Hearst hired him away, and he began doing it for Hearst's San Francisco <I>Examiner,</I> instead. The <I>Chronicle</I> tried to continue it with another artist, but Fisher had taken the precaution of copyrighting it in his own name, and The <I>Chronicle</I> was forced to stop. It was soon appearing in Hearst papers nationwide, and was also distributed by <A HREF="king.htm">King Features Syndicate</A> soon as that Hearst subsidiary got off the ground. In 1913, Fisher moved it to The Wheeler Syndicate (later known as Bell Syndicate). King tried to prevent the move, but again, Fisher succeeded in asserting his ownership rights. <P> By this time, Fisher was relying more on his assistants than his own work, and spent most of his time enjoying the huge amounts of money the strip earned for him. In fact, his first shot at an animated version fell through because animator <A HREF="terrytoo.htm">Paul Terry</A> was unable to get him to sit still and work on getting the venture off the ground. Nonetheless, <I>Mutt & Jeff</I> became an early success in animation (the first of hundreds of silent cartoons was released Feb. 10, 1913), which only increased Fisher's wealth, distancing him even further from the strip itself. <P> Of all the "assistants" who wrote and drew <I>Mutt & Jeff,</I> the one who devoted more of his career to it than any other was Al Smith, who took it on in 1932 and stayed until 1980 — only two years before the strip's demise. It was Smith who created the <A HREF="glossary.htm#sunday">Sunday page's</A> <A HREF="glossary.htm#topper">topper,</A> <I>Cicero's Cat,</I> about Mutt's son's pet, which was added in 1933. Smith also toned down the domestic strife, humanizing Mrs. Mutt to broaden the strip's family appeal. Although he was solely responsible for writing and drawing <I>Mutt & Jeff,</I> it was not until 1954, when Fisher died, that Smith started signing his own name to it. <P> <I>Mutt & Jeff</I> also had a lengthy, if low-key, career in comic books. They were prominently featured on the cover of <I><A HREF="famous-f.htm">Famous Funnies</A></I> #1, the first comic book in the modern format; but during the late 1930s they appeared mostly in the back pages of several strip reprint comics. They found a lasting berth in <A HREF="dc.htm">DC's</A> <I>All-American Comics,</I> where, starting in the first issue, they were among several newspaper comics scattered among the non-reprinted features. DC gave them their own comic in 1939 (simultaneous with doing the same for their own <A HREF="superman.htm">Superman</A>). They continued publishing it until 1958, when it was taken over by <A HREF="dell.htm">Dell Comics.</A> Dell published it for only a year before handing it over to <A HREF="harvey.htm">Harvey,</A> which published it until 1965. <P> After the comic book ended, <I>Mutt & Jeff</I> continued as a newspaper feature for another 17 years. But in 1982, after an impressive 75-year run — and having outlasted even the long-enduring tenure of Al Smith — the strip was finally laid to rest. Today, there are no definitive reprint editions, nor is the feature a merchandising bonanza. There aren't even very many devoted fans to lament the passing of what had by then become rather an old-fashioned series. But its place in the history of comics is secure. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! BEGIN ADSENSE BANNER CODE><CENTER> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> </CENTER><! END ADSENSE CODE> <TD WIDTH=10><TD WIDTH=180 VALIGN="TOP"> <! 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