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''Bringing Up Father'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 2, 1913, to May 28, 2000. The strip was later titled ''Jiggs and Maggie'' (or ''Maggie and Jiggs''), after its two main characters. According to McManus, he introduced these same characters in other strips as early as November 1911.


Characters and story

The humor centers on an immigrant Irishman named Jiggs, a former hod carrier who came into wealth in the United States by winning a million dollars in a sweepstakes. Now
nouveau-riche ''Nouveau riche'' (; ) is a term used, usually in a derogatory way, to describe those whose wealth has been acquired within their own generation, rather than by familial inheritance. The equivalent English term is the "new rich" or "new money" ( ...
, he still longs to revert to his former
working class The working class (or labouring class) comprises those engaged in manual-labour occupations or industrial work, who are remunerated via waged or salaried contracts. Working-class occupations (see also " Designation of workers by collar colou ...
habits and lifestyle. His constant attempts to sneak out with his old gang of boisterous, rough-edged pals, eat
corned beef and cabbage Bacon and cabbage () is a dish traditionally associated with Ireland. The dish consists of sliced back bacon boiled with cabbage and potatoes. Smoked bacon is sometimes used. The dish is served with the bacon sliced, and with some of the boili ...
(known regionally as " Jiggs dinner"), and hang out at the local tavern were often thwarted by Maggie, his formidable, social-climbing (and rolling-pin wielding) harridan of a wife, their lovely young daughter Nora, and infrequently their lazy son Ethelbert, later known as Sonny. Also a character presented in the strip (portrayed as a miserly borrower) was named, fittingly, Titus Canby. The strip deals with " lace-curtain Irish", with Maggie as the middle-class Irish American desiring assimilation into mainstream society in counterpoint to an older, more raffish " shanty Irish" sensibility represented by Jiggs. Her lofty goal—frustrated in nearly every strip—is to bring Father (the lowbrow Jiggs) "up" to upper class standards, hence the title, ''Bringing Up Father''. The occasional malapropisms and left-footed social blunders of these upward mobiles were gleefully lampooned in vaudeville and popular song, and formed the basis for ''Bringing Up Father''. The strip presented multiple perceptions of Irish Catholic ethnics during the early 20th century. Through the character Jiggs, McManus gave voice to their anxieties and aspirations. Varied interpretations of McManus's work often highlight difficult issues of ethnicity and class, such as the conflicts over assimilation and social mobility that second- and third-generation immigrants confronted. McManus took a middle position, which aided ethnic readers in becoming accepted in American society without losing their identity. A cross-country tour that the characters took in September 1939 into 1940 gave the strip a big promotional boost and raised its profile in the cities they visited. Jiggs and Maggie were generally drawn with circles for eyes, a feature more often associated with the later strip, '' Little Orphan Annie''.


Origin and sources

McManus, who numbered Aubrey Beardsley among his influences, had a bold, clean-cut cartooning line. His strong sense of composition and Art Nouveau and Art Deco design made the strip a stand-out on the comics page. McManus was inspired by ''The Rising Generation'', a musical comedy by William Gill that he had seen as a boy in St. Louis, Missouri's Grand Opera House, where his father was manager. In ''The Rising Generation'', Irish-American bricklayer Martin McShayne (played by the fat Irish comedian Billy Barry in the stage production McManus saw) becomes a wealthy contractor, yet his society-minded wife and daughter were ashamed of him and his lowbrow buddies, prompting McShayne to sneak out to join his pals for poker. McManus knew Barry and used him as the basis for his drawings of Jiggs. McManus' wife, the former Florence Bergere, was the model for daughter Nora. One of McManus' friends, restaurateur James Moore, claimed he was the inspiration for the character Dinty Moore, the owner of Jiggs' favorite tavern. James Moore changed his name to Dinty and founded a real-life restaurant chain. The restaurant owner, however, did not begin the successful line of Dinty Moore canned goods marketed today by Hormel. A surrealistic running gag throughout the strip, always removed from the main action of the story, involved hanging wall paintings that "come to life", with subjects often " breaking the fourth wall", escaping the confines of the picture frames, or changing position from panel to panel within the same strip. None of the nominal stars of the strip ever seemed to notice the animated figures, or anything unusual happening on the walls in the background directly behind them. Comics historian Don Markstein wrote about McManus' characters: :On January 12, 1913 ctually January 2 he debuted ''Bringing Up Father'', about an Irishman named Jiggs, who doesn't understand why his ascension to wealth via the Irish Sweepstakes means he can't hang out with his friends, and his nagging, social-climbing wife, Maggie. The strip was an instant hit, possibly because of its combination of an appealing cast of characters with a unique look of art-nouveau splendor... Before McManus died, in 1954, ''Bringing Up Father'' made him two fortunes (the first was lost in the 1929 stock market crash). By that time, Jiggs's Irishness had faded—the new generation saw him as just a rich guy that liked to hang out with a regular crowd. An uncredited script collaborator on the strip was McManus' brother, Charles W. McManus, who was 61 when he died August 31, 1941. He also had his own comic strips in the 1920s, ''Dorothy Darnit'' and ''Mr. Broad''.


Topper strips

In 1926, McManus added a Sunday topper strip above ''Bringing Up Father'', beginning with ''No Brains But'' (January 10 to May 9, 1926) and ''Good Morning, Boss!'' (May 16 to June 6, 1926). Starting on June 13, 1926, McManus changed the topper to ''Rosie's Beau'', a revival of his previous Sunday page (which ran from October 29, 1916 to April 7, 1918). ''Rosie's Beau'' continued as the topper until November 12, 1944. On April 17, 1938, an absent-minded character named Sir Von Platter in ''Rosie's Beau'' realized he was in the wrong place and climbed down into the first panel of ''Bringing Up Father'', arriving in the living room of Maggie and Jiggs. Starting November 19, 1944, McManus replaced ''Rosie's Beau'' with ''Snookums'', itself a revival of a 1904–1916 McManus strip, ''The Newlyweds and Their Baby'', now focused on their son, the titular character. ''Snookums'' remained as the topper for ''Bringing Up Father'' until December 31, 1956, at which point it became a standalone Sunday feature distributed until the early 1960s. In the final episode of HBO's '' The Pacific'' (2010), Robert Leckie ( James Badge Dale) is seen reading ''Snookums''. ''The Pacific'' is partially based on Leckie's book, '' Helmet for My Pillow'' (1957), but there is no mention of ''Snookums'' in Leckie's book. Other minor topper panels overlapping with the above were ''Things We Can Do Without'' (July 23, 1933 to April 22, 1934), ''How to Keep From Getting Old'' (April 1, 1934 to May 19, 1935), ''It's the Gypsy in Me'' (May 26, 1935 to April 25, 1937) and ''What'll I Do Now'' (January 5 to March 15, 1936).


Artists

Between 1935 and 1954, McManus' assistant
Zeke Zekley Emil Samuel Zekley (February 11, 1915 – April 28, 2005), better known as Zeke Zekley, was an American cartoonist who worked on several comic strips, notably George McManus's ''Bringing Up Father''. Early years Born in Chicago, Zekley grew ...
made a major contribution to the strip in both writing and art. Other artists, including Bill Kavanagh and Frank Fletcher, also contributed. When McManus died in 1954, King Features replaced Zekley with Vernon Greene. With Greene's death in 1965, Hal Campagna stepped in, and Frank Johnson ('' Boner's Ark'') replaced Campagna in 1980. (Hy Eisman ghosted the strip for a short time after Greene's death. King Features wanted him to take it over, but Eisman was close friends with Greene, and he was unable to agree to take the strip on.) The strip's popularity faded, and ''Bringing Up Father'' limped along until its 87-year run came to a close on May 28, 2000. In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative US postage stamps. ''Bringing Up Father'' went digital in 2007 when King Features made the strip available as one of the selections in its DailyINK email package.


International syndication

In Mexico, the strip was titled ''Educando a Papá'', with Jiggs and Maggie being renamed as "Pancho" and "Ramona" respectively. In Chile, Jiggs was known as "Don Fausto". In Argentina, it was known as ''Trifón y Sisebuta.'' In Yugoslavia and Serbia it has been published as ''Porodica Tarana'' since 1935. In Turkey, the strip was published daily by ''
Hürriyet ''Hürriyet'' (, ''Liberty'') is one of the major Turkish newspapers, founded in 1948. , it had the highest circulation of any newspaper in Turkey at around 319,000. ''Hürriyet'' has a mainstream, liberal and conservative outlook. ''Hürriyet ...
'' until the late 1990s under the name ''Güngörmüşler'' (The Worldly-wiseds) with Jiggs renamed to
Şaban Şaban, the Turkish is a popular cinema character, portrayed by Turkish actor Kemal Sunal. Both figures rose to fame hand in hand, as the commoner clean-hearted looks of Şaban on the screen became very popular among Turkish citizens, and the tw ...
and Maggie renamed to Tonton (darling). In
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, Jiggs and Maggie became ''Arcibaldo e Petronilla'' and the strip, published by the children magazine '' Corriere dei Piccoli'' since 1921, was very popular. ''Bringing Up Father'' still enjoys popularity in
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
. Known as ''Fiinbeck og Fia'', the strip was published weekly in the family journal ''Hjemmet'' from 1921 until the early 2000s; and a Christmas book with the strip has been published every year since 1930, in the last few decades mostly reprints of material produced by McManus in the 1940s and 1950s. A similar publication was also an annual event (from 1931 to 1977) in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...
, where the strip is known as ''Gyllenbom''. In
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the series went under the name ''Gyldenspjæt''. In
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
, the strip was called ''Vihtori ja Klaara'' and appeared in the major daily ''Uusi Suomi'' from 1929 until the paper folded in 1991. In the Finnish version, Jiggs' favorite dish of corned beef and cabbage became (literally "mutton cabbage"), which under the name '' fårikål'' is actually a Norwegian national dish.


Maggie and Jiggs in other media


Stage

Gus Hill's production of ''Bringing Up Father'' opened on Broadway in 1914, with music composed by Frank H. Grey, lyrics by Elven E. Hedges, libretto by John P. Mulgrew and Thomas Swift, choreography by Edward Hutchinson, and directed by Frank Tannehill, Jr. Hill produced many more theatrical versions of the strip that toured the country, including ''Bringing Up Father in Florida'', ''Bringing Up Father on Broadway'', ''Bringing Up Father in Ireland'', ''Bringing Up Father Abroad'', and ''Bringing Up Father in Wall Street''. ''Bringing Up Father at the Seashore'' opened on Broadway at the Manhattan Opera House in 1921, but closed after 18 performances; a revised version reopened in 1928. Another of Hill's productions of ''Father'' opened at the Lyric Theatre in 1925. "Reportedly, this version had Maggie following a fleeing Jiggs from Ireland to a yacht headed for Spain, but the story was halted frequently for various vaudeville acts. The show closed after 24 performances," according to The Holloway Pages' history of the strip.


Sheet music

*"By the Susquehanna Shore" (from ''Bringing Up Father'', 1914) *''Bringing Up Father on Broadway'' (1919) Songs include: "The Lotus Club Rag"; "Dry Those Tears"; ""The Fair Irene; "All for a Girl" *"I'm Longing for a Pair of Irish Eyes" (from ''Bringing Up Father in Florida'', 1920) •''Bringing Up Father'' (1920 green cover, same design as earlier red cover) Songs include: "The Rose You gave me", "Why Don't They Let the Girlies go to Sea ?", "Let's Get the Irish over Here". PLUS: advice, jokes and magic tricks. *''Bringing Up Father in Wall Street'' (1921) Songs include: "Rose of My Heart"; "Somebody's Darling Boy"; "When That Mobile Boy Sings the Memphis Blues"; "The Wonderful Way You Love"; "I'm Free, Single, Disengaged"; "Looking for Someone to Love"; "There's No Fool Like an Old Fool"; "My Dixie Rose"; "Million Dollar Smile"; Just One Little Smile" *''Bringing Up Father Song Book'' (1922) Songs include: "Sweet Southern Lullaby"; "Dear Old-Fashioned Mother"; "China Doll" *"They'll Never Bring Up Father 'Till They Tear Down Dinty Moore's" (1923)


Radio

' Sponsored by
Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and successfully promoted a new soap-making p ...
, the '' Bringing Up Father'' radio series aired on the Blue Network from July 1 to September 30, 1941, starring Mark Smith (1887–1944) as Jiggs and Agnes Moorehead as Maggie. Neil O'Malley also portrayed Jiggs. Their daughter Nora was played by Helen Shields and
Joan Banks Joan Banks (October 30, 1918 – January 18, 1998) was an American film, television, stage, and radio actress (described as "a soapbox queen"), who often appeared in dramas with her husband, Frank Lovejoy. Early life Banks attended a school of ...
. Craig McDonnell (1907–1956) was heard in the role of Dinty Moore. The 30-minute program aired Tuesdays at 9pm.


Animation

The following are silent animated cartoons based on ''Bringing Up Father'', all produced by International Film Service and released through Pathé Exchange: *''Father Gets into the Movies'' (1916) *''Just Like a Woman'' (1916) *''A Hot Time in the Gym'' (1917) *''The Great Hansom Cab Mystery'' (1917) *''Music Hath Charms'' (1917) *''He Tries His Hand at Hypnotism'' (1917) *''The Stimulating Mrs. Barton'' (1918) *''Father's Close Shave'' (1918) *''Jiggs and the Social Lion'' (1918) In 1924, a Chilean studio created a feature-length film entitled ''Vida y Milagros de Don Fausto'' ("Life and Miracles of Jiggs"), which used the strip's characters (likely without authorization). This is the second oldest-known animated film made in the country.


Live-action Two-reel shorts

A series of live-action silent comedies featured comedian Johnny Ray as Jiggs, Margaret Cullington as Maggie and Laura La Plante as daughter Nora. Directed by Reggie Morris, these were produced by International Film Service and released through Pathé Exchange. Confusingly enough, a couple of the titles were duplicated from the earlier cartoons. This series included: *''Jiggs in Society'' (1920) *''Jiggs and the Social Lion'' (1920) *''Jiggs' Close Shave'' ka ''Father's Close Shave''(1920)


Live-action feature films

The following feature-length movies were based on the strip: *'' Bringing Up Father'' (1928)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
; Silent comedy directed by Jack Conway, written by Frances Marion with titles by Ralph Spence, starring
J. Farrell MacDonald John Farrell MacDonald (June 6, 1875 – August 2, 1952) was an American character actor and director. He played supporting roles and occasional leads. He appeared in over 325 films over a four-decade career from 1911 to 1951, and directed fort ...
as Jiggs, Polly Moran as Maggie, Gertrude Omstead as their daughter (renamed "Ellen"), and Jules Cowles and Marie Dressler as Mr. and Mrs. Dinty Moore. *''Vihtori ja Klaara'' (
Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...
, 1939) The first sound comedy based on the strip, although the characters are speaking Finnish; directed by filmmaker Teuvo Tulio. The Jiggs and Maggie (film series), all released by Monogram Pictures: *'' Bringing Up Father'' (1946) directed by Edward F. Cline and written by Cline, Barney Gerard and Jerry Warner, starring Joe Yule as Jiggs, Renie Riano as Maggie, George McManus (as himself), Tim Ryan as the stingy and belligerent Dinty Moore, and Pat Goldin as the ever-silent Dugan. *'' Jiggs and Maggie in Society'' (1948) *''
Jiggs and Maggie in Court ''Jiggs and Maggie in Court'' is a 1948 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Joe Yule, Renie Riano and George McManus.Marshall, Wendy L. ''William Beaudine: From Silents to Television''. Scarecrow Press, 2005. p. 336. . ...
'' (1948) *''
Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters ''Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters'' is a 1949 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Joe Yule, Renie Riano and George McManus. It was the third of four films in the '' Jiggs and Maggie'' film series, spun off from ''Br ...
'' (1949) *''
Jiggs and Maggie Out West ''Jiggs and Maggie Out West'' is a 1950 American comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Joe Yule, Renie Riano and George McManus. It was the final film in the '' Jiggs and Maggie'' film series, featuring the adventures of a bickeri ...
'' (1950) The series was discontinued due to the death of Joe Yule in March 1950. (Yule is the father of Mickey Rooney, who expressed interest in reviving Jiggs onstage in the late 1980s. Both Martha Raye and Cloris Leachman were considered for the part of Maggie, but the project was never produced.)


Comic books

*''Bringing Up Father'' was a feature of David McKay's ''King Comics'' title from No. 60 to No. 135 (1941–1947) *''Jiggs and Maggie'' Standard Comics (11 issues, 1949–1953) *''Jiggs and Maggie''
Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by A ...
(6 issues, 1953–1954).


Collections and reprints

*(1919–1934) Cupples & Leon produced 26 semi-annual daily strip reprints in softcover books measuring 10" x 10". *(1926) They also published two larger, hardcover editions; ''Bringing Up Father: The BIG Book'', and *(1929) ''Bringing Up Father: BIG Book No. 2'' *(1936) Whitman Publishing released ''Bringing Up Father:'' A
Big Little Book The Big Little Books, first published during 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text. Other publishers, notably Saalfield, adopted t ...
*(1973) Charles Scribner's Sons published a hardcover anthology, ''Bringing Up Father: Starring Maggie and Jiggs''. *(1977) Hyperion Press released the reprint volume ''Bringing Up Father: A Complete Compilation, 1913-1914'' in their "Hyperion Library of Classic American Comic Strips" series, available in both hardcover and paperback editions. *(1986) The Celtic Book Company released ''Jiggs Is Back'', a full-color, 64-page oversized trade paperback of Sunday strip reprints. *(July 2009) NBM reprinted the first two years of the daily strip as part of their "Forever Nuts" series: ''Forever Nuts Presents: Bringing Up Father''. *(November 2009) IDW Publishing's The Library of American Comics
imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...
reprinted the cross-country tour storyline that ran from January 1939 to July 1940 as ''Bringing Up Father: From Sea to Shining Sea'', the first of several "best of" reprint collections. *(April 2013) ''Bringing Up Father: Of Cabbages and Kings'', IDW Publishing's The Library of American Comics second volume, collecting strips from 1937 and 1938.


Parodies and guest appearances

*In issue 17 of '' Mad'', Harvey Kurtzman's story "Bringing Back Father", illustrated by
Will Elder William Elder (born Wolf William Eisenberg; September 22, 1921 – May 15, 2008) was an American illustrator and comic book artist who worked in numerous areas of commercial art but is best known for a frantically funny cartoon style that helped ...
and
Bernard Krigstein Bernard Krigstein (; March 22, 1919 – January 8, 1990), was an American illustrator and gallery artist who received acclaim for his innovative and influential approach to comic book art, notably in EC Comics. His artwork usually displayed the s ...
, depicted Jiggs as the victim of
domestic abuse Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for '' intimate partne ...
, bruised and bleeding after physical assaults by the domineering Maggie, who has struck Jiggs with thrown kitchen utensils and crockery. When Kurtzman died in 1993, slides from this parody were shown by
Art Spiegelman Art Spiegelman (; born Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman on February 15, 1948) is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel '' Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazines ''Arcade'' and '' Ra ...
at Kurtzman's memorial service in the Time-Warner building. *In his book '' In the Shadow of No Towers'', Spiegelman drew himself as Jiggs and his wife as Maggie. He also included a reprint of a ''Bringing Up Father'' Sunday strip. *In the comic strip '' Arlo and Janis'' (March 17, 2006), Jiggs is invited to the home of Arlo and Janis for
corned beef and cabbage Bacon and cabbage () is a dish traditionally associated with Ireland. The dish consists of sliced back bacon boiled with cabbage and potatoes. Smoked bacon is sometimes used. The dish is served with the bacon sliced, and with some of the boili ...
in honor of the day. He enjoys himself immensely, and entertains his hosts with his stories, jokes and witticisms. Everyone has a happy St. Patrick's Day. *In
Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...
' '' Power Pack'', Jiggs is the King of Elsewhere and receives a visit from
Katie Power Kate Margaret Power (also known as Energizer) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in '' Power Pack'' #1 and was created by Louise Simonson and June Brigman. Publication histor ...
. Maggie is the Queen, wiser and more powerful than the King.Marvel, ''Power Pack'', Volume 1, number 47, July 1989. Script by
Jon Bogdanove Jon Bogdanove is an American comics artist and writer. He is best known for his work on ''Power Pack'' and '' Superman: The Man of Steel'', as well as for creating the character Steel with writer Louise Simonson in 1993. Career Comics After att ...
.
*Jiggs and Maggie renew their friendship with Walt Wallet in ''
Gasoline Alley ''Gasoline Alley'' is a comic strip created by Frank King and distributed by Tribune Content Agency. It centers on the lives of patriarch Walt Wallet, his family, and residents in the town of Gasoline Alley, with storylines reflecting traditio ...
'', by Jim Scancarelli, April 30, 2013. This continues on August 10, 2018.


References


Sources

* Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.


External links


Don Markstein's Toonopedia: ''Bringing Up Father''
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