250px, One of the strips of the character (1920) ''Judge Rummy'' (also known as ''Silk Hat Harry's Divorce Suit'', ''Old Judge Rumhauser'', and ''Judge Rummy's Court'')Judge Rummy, Silk Hat Harry, etc.
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia; by Don Markstein; published 2007; retrieved January 24, 2019 was an American

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

Tad Dorgan Thomas Aloysius Dorgan (April 29, 1877 – May 2, 1929), also known as Tad Dorgan, was an American cartoonist who signed his drawings as Tad. He is known for his cartoon panel ''Indoor Sports'' and comic strip '' Judge Rummy'', as well as the ma ...

published from 1910 until 1922. It featured an

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

dog. Between 1918 and 1922 the character was also the subject of a series of short animated cartoons.

S. J. Perelman Sidney Joseph Perelman (February 1, 1904 – October 17, 1979) was an American humorist and screenwriter. He is best known for his humorous short pieces written over many years for ''The New Yorker''. He also wrote for several other magazines ...

stated in 1978 that Dorgan's inspiration for the strip had been the murder trial of

Harry K. Thaw Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr.. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, the younger Thaw is most notable for murdering the renowned architect Sta ...

, and that the strip led Dorgan to be threatened with libel lawsuits more than once.HOW I LEARNED TO WINK AND LEER: Perelman takes an affectionate look back at the satirical cartoonist Tad, who a half-century ago enriched our language and launched our author on his comedic way.
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''; published April 23, 1978

Fictional biography

Alexander Rumhauser, better known as Judge Rummy, works as a court judge as his moniker implies. However, he is often seen doing other things like drinking alcohol and having affairs with women despite being married. Whenever he interacts with other characters, the strip often ends with at least one of them (including Judge Rummy) being upside down and showing only the feet (as shown in the strip above). He had a minor role in an earlier strip in which his best friend was the protagonist, but later strips began focusing on him. His wife is an

obese Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

lady who is four times his size. Whenever Judge Rummy dates a woman other than her or does something she finds unfavorable, the hefty wife would resort to brawling and roughing him up. Unlike other characters in the strip, she calls him either by his real name or sometimes "Alecthander." Judge Rummy's best friend is a look-alike dog named Silk Hat Harry. Both dogs share similar interests in drinking booze and pursuing ladies.

In film

Judge Rummy also appears in short films created by the

International Film Service International Film Service (IFS) was an American animation studio created to exploit the popularity of the comic strips controlled by William Randolph Hearst. History In 1914, William Randolph Hearst expanded his International News Service wir ...

and

Bray Productions Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...

from 1918 to 1922. The cartoons were directed by

Gregory La Cava Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director of Italian descent best known for his films of the 1930s, including ''My Man Godfrey'' and ''Stage Door'', which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best ...

, Jack King,

Burt Gillett Burton F. Gillett (October 15, 1891 – December 28, 1971) was a director of animated films. He is noted for his Silly Symphonies work for Disney, particularly the 1932 short film ''Flowers and Trees'' and the 1933 short film ''Three Little Pigs' ...

and

Grim Natwick Myron "Grim" Natwick (' Nordveig; August 16, 1890 – October 7, 1990) was an American artist, animator, and film director. Natwick is best known for drawing the Fleischer Studios' most popular character, Betty Boop. Background Born in Wis ...

. * 1918: "Judge Rummy's Off Day" (Aug 19), "Hash and Hypnotism" (Oct), "Twinkle Twinkle" (Dec) * 1919: "Snappy Cheese" (Mar 22), "The Sawdust Trail" (June 22), "The Breath of a Nation" (June 29), "Good Night Nurse" (Aug 24), "Judge Rummy's Miscue" (Sept), "Rubbing It In" (Oct), "A Sweet Pickle" (Nov) * 1920: "Shimmie Shivers" (Apr 21), "A Fitting Gift" (May 7), "His Last Legs" (May 25), "Smokey Smokes" (June 6), "Doctors Should Have Patience" (June 19), "A Fish Story" (July 3), "The Last Rose of Summer" (July 17), "The Fly Guy" (Aug 26), "Shedding the Profiteer (Sept 5), "The Sponge Man" (Sept 22), "The Prize Dance" (Oct 3), "Hypnotize Hooch" (Oct 26), "The Hooch Ball" (Nov 3), "Kiss Me" (Nov 3), "Snap Judgement" (Nov 22), "Why Change Your Husband" (Nov 22), "Bear Facts (Dec 10), "Yes Dear" (Dec 12) * 1921: "Too Much Pep" (Jan 4), "The Chicken Thief" (Jan 17), "The Skating Fool" (Mar 15)

References

1910 comics debuts 1922 comics endings American comics adapted into films American comics characters American comic strips Animated films based on comics Anthropomorphic dogs Comics about animals Comics adapted into animated series Comics characters introduced in 1910 Comics about dogs Fictional dogs Fictional judges Gag-a-day comics Male characters in comics {{comics-char-stub