Mutt & Jeff

Referring to two people as "Mutt and Jeff" comes directly from the comic strip of the same name. Mutt is a tall, skinny, lanky dude and his counterpart, Jeff is... not so much. While the saying has persisted to this day (and includes numerous variations), few of us recall its source, as the Mutt and Jeff comic strip ended in 1982. I do not believe my local newspaper ever carried it and I only became aware of it once I got into sequential art as an artist.

But as Mutt and Jeff is widely thought to have been the first comic strip (it wasn't, though it was the first successful one), and first appeared on November 15^th, I figured a little Rundown was in order:

The comic strip originally appeared in the Sports section of the San Francisco Chronicle in 1907. Created by Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher, Mutt and Jeff was originally just about Mutt (and entitled A. Mutt - the "A." is for "Augustus"), a gambler who liked the ponies. But a few months later, he met Jeff - a fellow gambler who was also an inmate at an asylum - and the strip was renamed. In time, the horse racing theme was dropped and Fisher focused on get-rich-quick schemes of all stripe. Bud Fisher eventually took the strip into syndication in 1918 and Mutt and Jeff became a Sunday staple. It continued well after Fisher's death with Al Smith taking over duties for nearly 50 years.

Much like South Park today, Mutt and Jeff was created very close to deadline - reportedly the night before - and was extremely topical. Its subject matter often contained references to horse races running the same day, and in one sequence, it caricatured many local political figures who were being prosecuted for corruption. Fisher was also a pioneer in another regard, as he bothered to copyright his creation. This allowed him to move it from the Chronicle, while disallowing them the option of continuing the popular strip without him. While his rights were later challenged, Fisher prevailed.

Through their careers, Mutt and Jeff ventured into several mediums, including comic books and movies. They even hold the title for second-longest running theatrical animated series, just behind Krazy Kat, with 300 shorts to their collective name. Andrews McMeel Universal still syndicates Mutt and Jeff as Classic Mutt and Jeff.

© C Harris Lynn, 2008