Gasoline Gus is a character that was popular in cartoon strips, a record single, and films. The comic strip was written by O.P. Williams and was syndicated by the

Philadelphia North American ''The North American'' was an American newspaper published in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1839, though it could claim a lineage back to 1771, and published until 1925, when it was purchased by the owner of the rival '' Public Led ...

between 1913 and 1914. The character Gasoline Gus was a

taxi driver ''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying and ...

and car fanatic who constantly wrecked his early

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

. Billy Murray and the American Quartet recorded the song "Gasoline Gus and his Jitney Bus" in 1915. It was recorded on Edison Record

phonograph cylinder Phonograph cylinders are the earliest commercial medium for recording and reproducing sound. Commonly known simply as "records" in their era of greatest popularity (c. 1896–1916), these hollow cylindrical objects have an audio recording engra ...

. It was one of several songs about jitneys in the U.S. as they became popular in the lead up to World War I. Two films were made based on Gasoline Gus. The first in 1915 with a cast that included

Fay Tincher Fay Tincher (April 17, 1884 – October 11, 1983) was an American comic actress in motion pictures of the silent film era. Early years Tincher was born in Topeka, Kansas, and was the daughter of George Tincher and Elizabeth Tincher. She had th ...

and

Elmer Booth William Elmer Booth (December 9, 1882 – June 16, 1915) was an American stage and film actor. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was the elder brother of Margaret Booth, a renowned film editor for Hollywood productions for nearly 70 year ...

, and the second '' Gasoline Gus (1921 film)''. The 1921 film was based on a ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' story by George Pattullo (writer). The petroleum scientist and Director of Universal Oil Products,

Gustav Erloff Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

, was nicknamed Gasoline Gus from 1915.Science (magazine) 11 May 1956

References

{{comics-stub American comic strips American comics characters 1913 comics debuts 1915 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Comics characters introduced in 1913 American comics adapted into films Male characters in comics