'Bringing Up Father'.
George McManus was born of Irish parents in Saint Louis, Missouri in 1884. He dropped out of school at age fifteen and started working at the Saint Louis Republic. This newspaper published his first comic, 'Alma and Oliver'. McManus was strongly influenced by Winsor McCay and Richard F. Outcault. In 1904, after winning some money, he moved to New York and was employed by Joseph Pulitzer's New York World. For this journal, he worked on several running stories, such as 'Snoozer', 'The Merry Marcelene', 'Panhandle Pete', 'Ready Money Ladies', 'Let George Do It', 'Cheerful Charlie' and 'Nibsby the Newsboy in Funny Fairyland' (which shows some similarities to 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' by Winsor McCay).
'Bringing Up Father'.
In 1904, McManus created 'The Newlyweds', about an elegant young couple and their baby, Snookums. This series, the first family strip in an American newspaper, became quite popular and caused rival newspaper The New York American to invite McManus to work for them, which he did from 1912 on.
'Snookums', 1948.
McManus continued 'The Newlyweds', now renamed 'Their Only Child', and started up several other daily comics, like 'Rosie's Beau', 'Love Affairs of a Mutton Head', 'Spareribs and Gravy' and the famous 'Bringing Up Father'. This comic about an Irish immigrant worker, Jiggs, and his wife Maggie, was syndicated by King Features Syndicate from 1913. The strip inspired several movies. Some sources claim that Larry Semon directed a 1915 slapstick short based on 'Bringing Up Father', but there's no evidence that this movie was ever made around that time, let alone by him. In 1913, Émile Cohl adapted McManus' 'The Newlyweds' (1912) into an animated series, which marked the first time a comic strip was adapted into animation. 'Bringing Up Father' also enjoyed foreign success. In the Flemish magazine Kinderwereld, it ran as 'Baron Zeep', while other Flemish papers printed it as 'De Familie Klepkes'. In French, it was known as 'La Famille Illico' and in Norwegian as 'Fiinbeck og Fia'.
In 1935, McManus took an assistant: Zeke Zekley. When McManus died in 1954, 'Bringing Up Father' was continued by Frank Fletcher and Vernon Greene. Greene retired in 1965, passing the pencil to Fletcher. Between 1981 and 2000, 'Bringing Up Father' was continued by Frank B. Johnson. During his period, Mort Walker occassionally wrote gags for the series. In 2000, the final episode of 'Bringing Up Father' appeared in print, having entertaining readers for more than eight decades.
'Bringing Up Father'.
George McManus has influenced a great number of artists. In the United States, he was an inspiration to Carl Barks, Al Capp, Gene Carr (whose 'Little Darling' was similar to 'The Newlyweds'), Jack Cole, Walt Disney, Gill Fox, Gus Mager (whose newspaper comic 'The Trewtulyfe Family' was basically a rip-off of 'Bringing Up Father'), Don Martin, Harry O'Neill, E.C. Segar, Otto Soglow and Edward Sorel. Veteran cartoonist Richard F. Outcault (of 'The Yellow Kid' and 'Buster Brown' fame) once said: "A man who would not laugh at 'Bringing Up Father' can have no humor in his soul."
In Europe, McManus also found admirers. In Belgium, Hergé was strongly influenced by the round eyes and dotted eyes used in 'Bringing Up Father', particularly notable in his own characters Captain Haddock in 'Tintin' and Flupke from 'Quick and Flupke'. But Hergé also copied McManus elegant linework and the crisp colors of his Sunday comics. Other Belgian artists inspired by McManus were André Franquin and Jean Roba. In Roba's signature comic 'Boule et Bill', the characters in the portraits on the wall can also be seen moving in between panels. In France, McManus counts Gervy, Greg (his character Achille Talon was partially inspired by Jiggs) and Wolinski among his disciples and in Italy, Federico Fellini. In The Netherlands, he inspired Dick Briel, Joost Swarte and Marten Toonder, in Spain, Manuel Vázquez and in the United Kingdom Ernest Shaw.
McManus also found admirers and imitators in Argentina (Arturo Lanteri, A. Messa) and particularly in South East Asia, where in the 1920s 'Bringing Up Father' was one of the earliest US newspaper comics to appear in translation. McManus therefore also inspired cartoonists in China (Ye Qianyu), Indonesia (Kho Wang Gie) and Japan (Yutaka Aso, Yoshida Kanzaburo, Osamu Tezuka). Yutaka Aso's 'Nonki na Tosan' ('Daddy Easygoing') was even a direct imitation of 'Bringing Up Father'. Comic historian Eike Exner has argued that the popularity of 'Bringing Up Father' in Japan led to more import of other popular US newspaper comics and local artists imitating the graphic style, effectively laying the foundations of modern-day manga.
With his subtle but relentless humor, McManus described American society, ridiculing its insatiable desire for luxury and its egotism.
George McManus was also directly responsible for inspiring Winsor McCay to go into animation. He'd made a bet with McCay, wagering he couldn't produce enough line drawings to sustain a four or five minute theatrical short. McCay won the bet and changed animation history forever.
'Bringing Up Father'.
George McManus.
