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Robert Sidney Smith (February 13, 1877 – October 20, 1935), known as Sidney Smith, was the creator of the influential comic strip ''
The Gumps ''The Gumps'' is a comic strip about a middle-class family. It was created by Sidney Smith in 1917, launching a 42-year run in newspapers from February 12, 1917, until October 17, 1959. According to a 1937 issue of ''Life'', ''The Gumps'' was i ...
'', based on an idea by Captain Joseph M. Patterson, editor and publisher of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...
''.


Biography

He was born in
Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...
. The son of a dentist, Smith never finished high school and began drawing cartoons for his hometown newspaper when he was 18. He also delivered
chalk talk A chalk talk is an illustrated performance in which the speaker draws pictures to emphasize lecture points and create a memorable and entertaining experience for listeners. Chalk talks differ from other types of illustrated talks in their use of r ...
s and worked in newspaper art departments in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio.Markstein, Don. Toonopedia.
/ref> In 1908, he signed on as a sports
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
at the '' Chicago Examiner'' where he created a talking goat in a feature, ''Buck Nix'', which involved continuity: "What will tomorrow bring?" In 1911, Smith moved to the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he introduced a new goat character when ''
Old Doc Yak ''Old Doc Yak'' is a comic strip by Sidney Smith that centers on a talking goat. The origin of the character was Buck Nix, a goat Smith drew in 1908 for the '' Chicago Evening Journal''. For three years, Nix romanced a she-goat called Nanny. In ...
'' began as a daily on February 5, 1912, with the Sunday page starting a month later on March 10. In either 1912 or early 1913 he began creating "Old Doc Yak" animated films. Some sources show the first cartoon as appearing in 1912 whereas the Library of Congress lists 3 films in 1913, 13 in 1914 and 2 in 1915. This is the first animated series with a recurring character. It was distributed through Selig films, a major Chicago-based studio. No films seem to have survived, but a single printed background was in the files of Smith's final assistant Andy Hettinger. At the ''Chicago Tribune'' on October 28, 1914, he started a panel, "Light Occupations", which ran alongside an untitled local sports-oriented feature. Expanding from sports into a variety of recurring strips, it initially appeared in various odd sizes, continuing until Saturday, January 20, 1917.


From goats to ''Gumps''

The last ''Old Doc Yak'' ended February 10, 1917 with the well-dressed Yak and his family leaving their house, wondering who might next move into it. The last panel showed only the empty house. On February 12, 1917, in the space formerly occupied by ''Old Doc Yak'', newspapers displayed the initial episodes of ''The Gumps'', showing them moving into the same house. ''The Gumps'' had a 42-year run in newspapers, continuing until October 17, 1959. The strip, its merchandising (toys, games, a popular song, playing cards, food products) and media adaptations made Smith a wealthy man. In addition to his townhouse, he had a large estate near Chicago and a farm. He believed in physical fitness, keeping in shape with amateur boxing and long-distance running. Smith's studio was in a large 12-room lakefront house at
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin Lake Geneva is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located in Walworth County and situated on Geneva Lake, it is home to an estimated 8,105 people as of 2019, up from 7,651 at the 2010 census. It is located about 40 miles southwest of Milwa ...
. Wearing a coonskin cap, Smith threw large parties at his estate, which also had a log cabin, a caretaker's home, a four-car garage and a statue of Andy Gump on the front lawn. The circular drive that led to the house surrounded a large illuminated fountain. Sam Carr Polk wrote: :''The Gumps'' episode with inventor "Tom Carr" and his lady love "Mary Gold" was inspired by Smith's friendship with my uncle, inventor E.G. "Ted" Carr and his beautiful red-head secretary, Mary Bridgeman. Uncle Ted manufactured road machinery of his own invention at 939 West North Avenue in Chicago, and Smith fell in love with his secretary—for a while. When they broke up, poor Mary Gold had an untimely death, which inspired the flood of letters he's lying among in the publicity photo. Smith's strip was adapted into a live-action/animated film series in 1920–21 by Wallace Carlson, starring Joe Murphy (Andy) and
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 ...
. During production, Carlson formed a partnership with ''Gumps'' writer
Sol Hess Sol Hess (born 1886, Philadelphia, PA – d. 1953) was an American typeface designer. After a three-year scholarship course at Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Design, he began at Lanston Monotype in 1902, rising to typographic manag ...
, and together they launched ''The Nebbs'', a ''Gumps''-like family comic strip which began May 1923 and continued until 1946. Mary Gold's death in 1929—one of the earliest cartoon deaths—was a media sensation, attracting intense interest across the country. In 1922, Smith signed a million-dollar contract ($100,000 per year for ten years).Warren, James
"A grand tribute to a golden era of cartoons,"
''Poynter'' (JANUARY 2, 2018).
Two years later, he published the 183-page ''Andy Gump, His Life Story'' (1924). In 1935, he signed a new contract, giving him $150,000 a year. On his way home from signing that contract, he crashed his car and died in a head-on collision at the age of 58 on October 20, 1935. It is often reported that Smith crashed a brand new Rolls-Royce that was given to him by ''The Chicago Tribune'' at this time. This is only a legend. Smith was given a
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost The Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost name refers both to a car model and one specific car from that series. Originally named the " 40/50 h.p." the chassis was first made at Royce's Manchester works, with production moving to Derby in July 1908, ...
, chassis number 14MG, in 1922, not in 1935. The car in which Smith died was a "small sedan."


Influence

''The Gumps'' inspired ''
Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...
'' and thus had a huge influence on the introduction of radio serial continuity and radio-television
situation comedies A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...
, as detailed by broadcast historian
Elizabeth McLeod Elizabeth McLeod (born 1963) is a journalist and broadcast historian who lives and works on the coast of Maine. She is best known for her extensive research into the origin and history of ''Amos 'n' Andy'', an authoritative study first available o ...
in the "Andy Gump to Andy Brown" section of her popular culture essay, "Amos 'n' Andy—In Person," and her book, ''The Original Amos 'n' Andy: Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, and the 1928–43 Radio Serial''.McLeod, Elizabeth. ''The Original Amos 'n' Andy: Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, and the 1928–43 Radio Serial'' (McFarland, 2005). Mainly due to the research of McLeod, Sidney Smith is now regarded as a seminal figure in 20th-century popular culture.


Books

* Herb Galewitz compiled
daily strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. Bud Fisher's ''Mutt and Jeff'' is commonly regarded as the first daily c ...
s for his book, ''Sidney Smith's The Gumps'', published in 1974 by Charles Scribner's Sons. * ''LOAC Essentials 2:
The Gumps ''The Gumps'' is a comic strip about a middle-class family. It was created by Sidney Smith in 1917, launching a 42-year run in newspapers from February 12, 1917, until October 17, 1959. According to a 1937 issue of ''Life'', ''The Gumps'' was i ...
'' (2013)


References


External links


Barnacle Press: Old Doc YakBarnacle Press: Buck NixBarnacle Press: The GumpsRoberts, Garyn G. ''Dick Tracy and American Culture: Morality and Mythology, Text and Context''. McFarland, 2003.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Sidney 1877 births 1935 deaths American comic strip cartoonists American comics writers Bloomington High School (Bloomington, Illinois) alumni Chicago Tribune people Road incident deaths in Illinois 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male writers