Grin and Bear It

Last updated
Grin and Bear It
Lichty18-big.jpg
For his Sunday feature, George Lichty often grouped four cartoons in this layout design of two horizontal cartoons between a circle and a vertical. (August 2, 1953)
Author(s) George Lichty (1932–c. 1974)
Arthur Erenberg (1939–1974)
Ralph Dunagin (c. 1974–2015)
Illustrator(s) George Lichty (1932–c. 1974)
Rick Yager (c. 1963–1992)
Fred Wagner (1992–2015)
Current status/scheduleDaily and Sunday; concluded
Launch dateMarch 1932
End dateMay 3, 2015
Syndicate(s) Chicago Times Syndicate (c. 1935–1938)
United Feature Syndicate (1938–1941)
Field Enterprises (1941–1947)
Sun and Times Company (1947–1948)
Publishers Syndicate (1948–1967)
Publishers-Hall Syndicate (1967–1975)
Field Enterprises (1975–1984)
News America Syndicate (1984–1986)
North America Syndicate (1986–2015) [1]
Publisher(s) McGraw-Hill
Pocket Books
Public Affairs Press
Genre(s)Humor, Politics

Grin and Bear It is a former daily comic panel created by George Lichtenstein under the pen name George Lichty. 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 capitalism and Soviet bureaucracy. 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".

Contents

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 with the layout of gag cartoons on his Sunday Life’s Like That .

Lichty's cartoon style had a strong influence on the cartoons drawn by Joe Teller, father of Teller (of Penn & Teller 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 before moving to United Feature Syndicate, and then to the Field Newspaper Syndicate beginning in 1941. Field Enterprises was sold in 1984 to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which then in turn was sold in 1986 to King Features Syndicate, which distributed the feature until its last episode on May 3, 2015. [2]

Lichty worked on the panel until 1974. Journalist Arthur Erenberg most likely wrote the gags from 1939 to 1974.[ citation needed ] After Lichty and Erenberg left the panel, cartoonists who worked on it included Fred Wagner, Rick Yager 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". [3] The last Saturday episode ran on May 2, 2015, and the last Sunday on May 3. [2]

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).

Related Research Articles

A comic strip is a sequence of 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 century, these have been published in newspapers and magazines, with daily horizontal strips printed in black-and-white in newspapers, while Sunday papers offered longer sequences in special color comics sections. With the advent of the internet, online comic strips began to appear as webcomics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoon</span> Type of two-dimensional visual art

A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Cartoonists Society</span> Professional organization

The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the troops. They enjoyed each other's company and decided to meet on a regular basis.

<i>Theyll Do It Every Time</i> American comic strip (1929–2008)

They'll Do It Every Time is a single-panel newspaper comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which had a long run over eight decades, first appearing on February 5, 1929, and continuing until February 3, 2008. The title of the strip became a popular catchphrase.

A gag cartoon is most often a single-panel cartoon, usually including a caption beneath the drawing. A pantomime cartoon carries no caption. In some cases, dialogue may appear in speech balloons, following the common convention of comic strips.

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. They typically are smaller, 3-4 grids compared to the full page Sunday strip and are black and white.

Tundra is a comic strip written and drawn by Wasilla, Alaska, cartoonist Chad Carpenter. The comic usually deals with wildlife, nature and outdoor life. Tundra began in December 1991 in the Anchorage Daily News and is currently self-syndicated to over 600 newspapers. The strip was named the best newspaper panel of 2007 by the National Cartoonists Society and nominated again in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Lichty</span> American cartoonist (1905–1983)

George Lichty was an American cartoonist, creator of the daily and Sunday cartoon series Grin and Bear It. His work was signed Lichty and often ran without mention of his first name.

<i>Laugh Parade</i> American comic strip

Laugh Parade was a group of weekly gag cartoons written by Bunny Hoest and drawn by John Reiner. It ran in Parade, a Sunday newspaper magazine supplement.

John Joseph Gallagher (1926–2005) was an American cartoonist and illustrator. He contributed to most major magazines in the 1950s and 1960s, signing his work “Gallagher.” He won the National Cartoonist Society Gag Cartoon Award in 1957 and 1971.

Glenn McCoy is a conservative American cartoonist, whose work includes the comic strip The Duplex and the daily panel he does with his brother Gary entitled The Flying McCoys. McCoy previously produced editorial cartoons until May 2018, when he refocused his career on animations after being discharged from his job of 22 years at the Belleville News-Democrat. All three cartoon features are syndicated by Andrews McMeel Syndication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Breger</span> American cartoonist (1908–1970)

Irving David Breger was an American cartoonist who created the syndicated Mister Breger (1945–1970), a gag panel series and Sunday comic strip known earlier as Private Breger and G.I. Joe. The series led to widespread usage of the term "G.I. Joe" during World War II and later. Dave Breger was his signature and the byline on his books. During World War II, his cartoons were signed Sgt. Dave Breger.

Margaret Shulock was an American cartoonist who worked as a writer-artist on several features.

<i>Out Our Way</i> American comic strip by J.R. Williams

Out Our Way was an American single-panel comic strip series by Canadian-American comic strip artist J. R. Williams. Distributed by Newspaper Enterprise Association, the cartoon series was noted for its depiction of American rural life and the various activities and regular routines of families in small towns. The panel introduced a cast of continuing characters, including the cowboy Curly and ranch bookkeeper Wes. Out Our Way ran from 1922 to 1977, at its peak appearing in more than 700 newspapers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clare Victor Dwiggins</span> American cartoonist

Clare Victor Dwiggins was an American cartoonist who signed his work Dwig. Dwiggins created a number of comic strips and single-panel cartoons for various American newspapers and newspaper syndicates from 1897 until 1945, including his best-known strip, the long-running School Days.

<i>Lifes Like That</i> American comic strip by Fred Neher

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-McClure Syndicate and the United Feature Syndicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Yager</span> American cartoonist

Richard Sidney Yager was an American cartoonist most famous for his work on the Buck Rogers comic strip during its heyday in the mid-20th century.

Dana Summers is an American editorial cartoonist and comic strip creator, whose work is syndicated by Tribune Content Agency. His editorial cartoons are published in the Orlando Sentinel, usually reflecting a conservative opinion. He also created the Bound and Gagged comic strip, and co-wrote The Middletons with Ralph Dunagin.

<i>What a Guy!</i> American comic strip by Bill and Bunny Hoest

What a Guy! is an American comic strip created by Bill Hoest and Bunny Hoest, the team responsible for The Lockhorns and Agatha Crumm. It began in March 1987, just over a year before Hoest's death in 1988.

<i>Chicago Daily Times</i>

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 paper also operated the small Chicago Times Syndicate, which distributed comic strips and columns.

References

  1. Holtz, Allan. "Which Newspaper Strip Was Distributed by the Most Syndicates?", Stripper's Guide (July 15, 2019).
  2. 1 2 "'Carpe Diem' comic debuts Sunday," Press Connects (May 11, 2015).
  3. "King Features". Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-08-06.

Sources