''Grin and Bear It'' is a former daily comic

panel Panel may refer to: Arts and media Visual arts * Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image *Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...

created by George Lichtenstein under the pen name

George Lichty George Lichty (May 16, 1905 – July 18, 1983) was an American cartoonist, creator of the daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday cartoon series ''Grin and Bear It''. His work was signed Lichty and often ran without mention of his first name. ...

. Lichty created ''Grin and Bear it'' in 1932 and it ran 83 years until 2015, making it the 10th-longest-running comic strip in American history. Frequent subjects included computers, excessive

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and

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. Situations in his cartoons often took place in the offices of commissars, or the showrooms of "Belchfire" dealers with enormous cars in the background. His series "Is Party Line, Comrade!" skewered Soviet bureaucrats, always wearing a five-pointed star medal with the label "Hero". For his Sunday feature, George Lichty sometimes grouped four cartoons into a layout of two horizontal cartoons between a circular panel and a vertical panel. A similar approach was used by

Fred Neher Fred Neher (September 29, 1903 – September 22, 2001) was an American cartoonist best known for his syndicated gag panel, ''Life's Like That'', which offered a humorous look at human nature, with a focus on American society and family life, for ...

with the layout of gag cartoons on his Sunday ''

Life’s Like That ''Life's Like That'' was a gag panel by Fred Neher which found humor in life's foibles. Spanning five decades -- from October 1, 1934 to August 20, 1977 — the panel was initially distributed by Consolidated News Features, and later by the Bell ...

''. Lichty's cartoon style had a strong influence on the cartoons drawn by Joe Teller, father of Teller (of

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo h ...

fame), as evidenced in Teller's book ''"When I'm Dead All This Will Be Yours!": Joe Teller—A Portrait by His Kid'' (2000).

Publication history

Launched in 1932, the strip was first distributed by

Chicago Times Syndicate The ''Chicago Daily Times'' was a daily newspaper in Chicago from 1929 to 1948, and the city's first tabloid newspaper. It is best known as one of two newspapers which merged to form ''Chicago Sun-Times'' in 1948. For much of its existence, the ...

before moving to

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 ...

, and then to the

Field Newspaper Syndicate The Field Newspaper Syndicate was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated independently from 1941 to 1984, for a good time under the name the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate. The service was founded by Marshall Field III and was part of ...

beginning in 1941. Field Enterprises was sold in 1984 to

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

, which then in turn was sold in 1986 to King Features Syndicate, which distributed the feature until its last episode on May 3, 2015."'Carpe Diem' comic debuts Sunday,"
''Press Connects'' (May 11, 2015). Lichty worked on the panel until 1974. Journalist Arthur Erenberg most likely wrote the gags from 1939 to 1974. After Lichty and Erenberg left the panel, cartoonists who worked on it included Fred Wagner,

Rick Yager Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

and Ralph Dunagin. It received the National Cartoonists Society's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1956, 1960, 1962 and 1964. At the end of its run, it was drawn "by Fred Wagner and written by Ralph Dunagin". The last Saturday episode ran on May 2, 2015, and the last Sunday on May 3.

Books

Lichty's cartoons were collected in three books, ''Grin and Bear It'' (McGraw-Hill, 1956), the paperback ''Grin and Bear It'' (Pocket Books, 1970) and ''Is Party Line, Comrade'' (Public Affairs Press, 1965).

References

Sources

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

External links

Don Markstein's ToonopediaNational Cartoonists Society Awards
American comic strips Gag cartoon comics Gag-a-day comics 1932 comics debuts 2015 comics endings {{comic-strip-stub