''Mike and Ike (They Look Alike)'' was a comic strip by Rube Goldberg, who introduced the identical twin characters in the ''

San Francisco Bulletin The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...

'' on September 29, 1907. The strip was syndicated by the

McClure Syndicate McClure Newspaper Syndicate, the first American newspaper syndicate, introduced many American and British writers to the masses. Launched in 1884 by publisher Samuel S. McClure, it was the first successful company of its kind. It turned the marke ...

from March 9, 1913, to February 1, 1914. Comics historian

Don Markstein Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

traced the history of the characters in his ''Toonopedia'': :Mike & Ike started while Goldberg was in San Francisco, working as sports cartoonist for that city's ''Bulletin'' (where he'd replaced another great, Thomas A. "Tad" Dorgan, creator of ''Judge Rummy'' and his pals). The identical twin morons were originally done as a half-page Sunday series for World Color Printing Co., which later printed most of America's comic books. At the time, it was functioning as both a printer and a syndicate for

Sunday comics The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...

, distributing ''Slim Jim'', ''Major Ozone'' and several others. They didn't have much impact there, but the concept hung around. For years afterward, Goldberg often slipped ''Mike & Ike'' panels, in which they played straight man and gag man, onto the ends of his daily comics, keeping them in the public eye. They were well enough known to have starred in the second issue of ''Comic Monthly'' (February, 1922) a short-lived magazine that reprinted various

King Features King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial ...

offerings, such as ''

Polly and Her Pals ''Polly and Her Pals'' is an American comic strip, created by cartoonist Cliff Sterrett, which ran from December 4, 1912, until December 7, 1958. It is regarded as one of the most graphically innovative strips of the 20th century. It debuted as ...

'' in #1 and ''S'matter, Pop?'' in #3. Though it didn't use what later became the standard format for

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s, ''Comic Monthly'', which flitted across the publishing scene in a single year, long predated ''

Famous Funnies ''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...

'' as America's first periodic comic book. In the late 1920s, Goldberg asserted they were uncles of

Boob McNutt ''Boob McNutt'' was a comic strip by Rube Goldberg which ran from June 9, 1918 to September 23, 1934. It was syndicated by the McNaught Syndicate from 1922 until the end of its run. Publication history Comics historian Don Markstein traced ...

, and they became supporting characters in Boob's Sunday page.''Mike and Ike (They Look Alike)''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on July 30, 2016.

Films

Goldberg's characters were adapted to film with ''Dancing Fools'', released by Universal Pictures on September 21, 1927. Charles King (as Mike) and Charles Dorety (as Ike) portrayed the duo in eight of the 24 "Mike & Ike" comedy shorts. The others starred Joe Young and Ned La Salle. The series ended August 28, 1929 with the release of ''Good Skates''.

Candy

The candy company

Just Born Just Born, Inc. is a family-owned Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based candy company that manufactures and markets a number of candies including Goldenberg's Peanut Chews, Hot Tamales, Mike and Ike, Peeps, Teenee Beanee jelly beans, and Zours. Advert ...

introduced their

Mike and Ike Mike and Ike is a brand of fruit-flavored candies that were first introduced in 1940 by the company Just Born, Inc. The origin of the candy's name remains unknown, but there are many conjectures. Mike and Ikes were originally all fruit flavor ...

confection in 1940, but it was not a licensed product, as Goldberg's goofy guys were gone by then.

References

External links

St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture: Rube Goldberg
American comics characters American comic strips Animated films based on comics Comic strip duos Fictional identical twins Gag-a-day comics {{comic-strip-stub __NOTOC__