Jerry on the Job | |
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![]() November 25, 1914, strip. | |
Author(s) | Walter Hoban |
Current status/schedule | Concluded daily & Sunday strip |
Launch date | December 29, 1913 |
End date | 1931 |
Syndicate(s) | International Feature Service |
Genre(s) | Humor |
Jerry on the Job is a comic strip created by cartoonist Walter Hoban, set for much of its run in a railroad station. Syndicated by William Randolph Hearst's International Feature Service, it originally ran from 1913 to 1931. The strip had a brief revival by Bob Naylor from 1946 to 1949.
When Hoban was given only a weekend to devise a comic strip, he created Jerry on the Job, about pint-size Jerry Flannigan, initially employed as an office boy and then in a variety of other jobs. The strip was launched on December 29, 1913. [1] [2] Comics historian Don Markstein described Hoban's character and work situations:
The Jerry on the Job Sunday page began in 1919, but on October 19, 1930 it became a topper strip above another Hoban feature, Rainbow Duffy. [4] The daily strip came to an end in 1931, as did Rainbow Duffy and the Sunday strip. [4]
Hoban died in 1939, but his former assistant, Bob Naylor, revived Jerry on the Job as a syndicated strip for King Features, starting on Oct. 21, 1946. However, Naylor's revival was not as successful as Hoban's original strip, and the strip was canceled in 1949. [3]
From 1916 to 1920, Jerry on the Job was adapted by International Film Service and Bray Studios into a series of animated films, including The Mad Locomotive , Cheating the Piper , A Thrilling Drill, Swinging His Vacation and Without Coal. [5] The animator was Walter Lantz, who recalled, "I animated one 250- foot Jerry on the Job every two weeks". [6]
Hoban's work was a strong influence on cartoonist Merrill Blosser and his comic strip Freckles and His Friends , which ran from 1915 to 1971.
During the late 1930s, Hoban's character was used to advertise Post Grape-Nut Flakes. The ads ran on newspaper comic pages and in Woman's Day . [3]