Al Smith (March 21, 1902 – November 24, 1986) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

whose work included a long run on the comic strip ''

Mutt and Jeff ''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newsp ...

''. Comics historian

R. C. Harvey Robert C. Harvey (May 31, 1937 – July 7, 2022) was an American author, critic and cartoonist. He wrote a number of books on the history and theory of cartooning, with special focus on the comic strip. He also worked as a freelance cartoonist. ...

postulates that Smith's nearly 50-year run on the strip was, at the time of Smith's retirement, a world record for longevity. Smith (and later his family members) also ran a comic strip syndication service — mainly serving weekly newspapers — from the 1950s until the late 1990s.

Biography

Born Albert SchmidtHarvey, R. C
"Hare Tonic: Unsung Al Smith, Record-Holding Unknown Cartoonist,"
''The Comics Journal'' (OCT 14, 2016). in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Smith was the art editor for the syndication department of the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

'' from 1920 to 1930. From 1920 to 1933, Smith wrote and drew the syndicated cartoon ''From Nine to Five'' for the ''World'''s syndicate service (it moved to the

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

and ended in 1933).Smith entry
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''. Accessed Nov. 16, 2018.

Bud Fisher Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher (April 3, 1885 – September 7, 1954) was an American cartoonist who created ''Mutt and Jeff'', the first successful daily comic strip in the United States. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a merchant, ...

appeared to lose all interest in his ''Mutt and Jeff'' strip during the 1930s, and after Fisher's assistant Ed Mack died in 1932, the job of creating the strip fell to Al Smith. The strip retained Fisher's signature until his death, however, and not until December 7, 1954, was the strip signed by Smith. In the introduction to ''Forever Nuts: The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff'', comic strip historian

Allan Holtz Allan Holtz () is a comic strip historian who researches and writes about newspaper comics for his Stripper's Guide blog, launched in 2005. His research encompasses some 7,000 American comic strips and newspaper panels. In addition to his contribu ...

gave the following reason for the strip's longevity and demise: Smith continued to draw the strip until 1980, when George Breisacher took over for its final two years. Smith also drew the strips ''Rural Delivery'' and '' Cicero's Cat'', the topper strip accompanying ''Mutt and Jeff''. Beginning in 1951, Smith ran his own

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...

, the Al Smith Feature Service, which distributed his own strips — ''Rural Delivery'', ''Remember When'', and ''The Bumbles'' — as well as those of other cartoonists. Smith served as president of the

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

in 1967–1969. In 1980, Smith retired to

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont * Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The t ...

.AP
"Al Smith, Cartoonist, Dead; Drew 'Mutt and Jeff' Comics,"
''The New York Times'' (November 26, 1986). He died November 24, 1986."Today’s Comics Guide: November 24, 2011: Today’s Flashbacks"
. CBGXtra. November 24, 2011

Awards

Al Smith received the

's Humor Comic Strip Award in 1968 for his work on ''Mutt and Jeff''.

Al Smith Feature Service

Smith ran his syndication service — mainly serving

weekly newspaper A weekly newspaper is a general-news or Current affairs (news format), current affairs publication that is issued once or twice a week in a wide variety broadsheet, magazine, and electronic publishing, digital formats. Similarly, a biweekly new ...

s — from 1951 until his 1986 death, at which point it was supplying 25 features. (Early on, the syndicate partnered with the

Chicago Tribune Syndicate Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...

.) With his death, management of the service was taken over by two of his daughters, with it lasting until c. 1999. The most successful (or at least longest-running) strips syndicated by the Al Smith Feature Service were ''Church Chuckles'', ''Deems'', ''Grubby'', ''Pops'', ''Those Were the Days'', and Smith's own ''Rural Delivery''.

Al Smith Service strips and panels

* ''Buffo'' by Howard Rands (1989-1991) * ''The Bumbles'' by Al Smith (1982–1983) * ''Captain Flame'' by

Pat Boyette Aaron P. "Pat" Boyette (July 27, 1923 – January 14, 2000) was an American broadcasting personality and news producer, and later a comic book artist best known for two decades of work for Charlton Comics, where he co-created the character the Pe ...

, Bruce Darrow, and Don Sherwood (1954-1958) * ''Church Chuckles'' by Charles Cartwright (1959-1997) * ''Citizen George'' by George Wolfe (1970–1973) * ''Deems'' by Tom Oka (Tom Okamoto) (1951–1980) * ''George'' by George Wolfe (1969) * ''Ginger Blue'' by Al Carreno (1954) * ''Grubby'' by

Warren Sattler Warren Sattler (born September 7, 1934) is an American artist and cartoonist, who contributed work to many popular publications from the early 1960s through the 1990s. Biography A lifelong Connecticut resident, Warren Sattler started cartooning a ...

(1964–1997) * ''Going West'' by Frank Thomas (1951-1954) * ''Hossface Hank'' by Frank Thomas (1955–1964) * ''Inky'' by Hal Borden (1961-1965) * ''It Just So Happened'' by Kern Pederson (1978) * ''Jason'' by Foster Moore (1993-1999) * ''Jest For Laughs'' by Paul Fung Jr. (1978-1983) * ''Just So Happened'' by Kern Pederson (1980) * ''Li'l Peanut'' by Lou Paige (1951) * ''Looking Around'' by Sid Hathaway (1970) * ''Off Main Street'' by Joe Dennett (1951-1961) * ''Phrog'' by George Albitz (1985-1986) * ''Pixel'' by Frank Hill and Ted Mancuso (1985) * ''Pops'' by George Wolfe (1962-1978) * ''Remember When'' by Al Smith (1955) * ''Rural Delivery'' by Al Smith (1951-1997) — titled "''Jackie''" in 1951–1952 *''Sonny South'' by Courtney Alderson 1951-1972 * ''Those Were the Days'' Art Beeman (1951–1983)

References

External links