The Bungle Family

Last updated
The Bungle Family
Bung.jpg
Author(s) Harry J. Tuthill
Current status/scheduleDaily and Sunday; concluded
Launch date1918
End dateJune 2, 1945
Alternate name(s)Home, Sweet Home
Syndicate(s) McClure Newspaper Syndicate (1919–1924)
McNaught Syndicate (1924–1942)
Self-syndicated (1943–1945)
Publisher(s) Eastern Color Printing
Genre(s)Humor; gag-a-day

The Bungle Family is an American gag-a-day comic strip, created by Harry J. Tuthill, that first appeared in 1918. Originally titled Home, Sweet Home, it first appeared as part of a series of rotating strips in the New York Evening Mail . The strip ran until June 2, 1945.

Contents

In 1999, The Bungle Family was voted one of the Top 100 English language comics of the 20th Century by The Comics Journal . [1] Art Spiegelman praised The Bungle Family as "Visually deadpan, genuinely hilarious once you tune into its frequency, with a great ear for dialogue and an unsurpassed sense of character". Spiegelman also described the strip as "one of the darkest visions of American life this side of Nathanael West." [2]

Publication history

Harry J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family Bunglefam.jpg
Harry J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family

Seen only sporadically in 1918, the strip was published daily and was nationally syndicated with the McClure Newspaper Syndicate by the end of 1919. Home, Sweet Home followed the adventures of Mabel (later Josephine) and George, a young couple beset on all sides by in-laws, neighbors and businessmen.

Tuthill took the strip to the McNaught Syndicate when the Evening Mail was sold in 1924, changing the name to The Bungle Family and adding daughter Peggy Bungle to the cast. A Sunday page was in existence by September 9, 1923.

Tuthill continued to draw The Bungle Family for McNaught until he had a dispute with the syndicate in 1939. This led to Tuthill ending the strip on August 1, 1942. After a hiatus, the strip returned — syndicated by Tuthill himself — on May 16, 1943, with newspapers running a promotional banner, "The Bungles Are Back!" It ran for two more years until June 2, 1945, when Tuthill retired. [1]

The Bungle Family Sunday page had three different toppers during the run: Little Brother (Oct 24, 1926 - March 28, 1937), Another Day Shot (1936) and Short Stories (April 4, 1937 - 1938). [3]

Characters and story

Called "the finest, most inventive and socially critical of the family strips" by comics historian Bill Blackbeard, The Bungle Family was a popular domestic comedy that emphasized dialogue and realistic situations. The titular patriarch of the strip, long-suffering, cantankerous George Bungle, voiced the petty frustrations and joys of the common man during the Jazz Age and through the Depression. [4]

Comics historian Don Markstein described life among the Bungles:

George was skinny, middle-aged, cucumber-nosed and mustachioed, sort of like A. Mutt, Andy Gump or the self-caricatures of R. Crumb. Josie was his equivalent, not a dowdy old frump, but about as comfortably domestic looking as Mutt's or Andy's wife, or to cite a more recent example, Mrs. Ferd'nand. They were typical lower middle class city people of the time, living in a walk-up apartment and having frequent run-ins with the landlord, bill collectors, neighbors and most of all, each other. George and Jo would fight over practically anything. Their disputes frequently went on for hours, provoked noise complaints to the police, dragged the neighbors in, or all three. They were not very likable, and certainly not high-minded. But they were funny. Through them, Tuthill displayed a sort of amused contempt for the more petty concerns of ordinary urban life. The Bungles weren't the sort of folks most people would want to live downstairs from, but they were very much capable of providing entertainment for those who didn't have to put up with them in person. [1]

In the mid-1930s, Tuthill serialized exotic adventures and introduced a large supporting cast over the next several yearsmoves that were accompanied by a huge surge of public interest in the strip. Around this time, Tuthill began incorporating fantasy and time travel into the strip. [5]

Harry J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family (June 13, 1926), hand-colored original art BungleFamilySunday1926.jpg
Harry J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family (June 13, 1926), hand-colored original art

Reprints

Reprints of the strip were first featured in the comic book Famous Funnies beginning with its first issue in 1934. In 2006, it was announced that Spec Publications, a Colorado-based publisher of classic comics, planned to reprint The Bungle Family in collected editions.

In 2014, The Library of American Comics published a year of The Bungle Family (1930) in their LoAC Essentials series.

Harry J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family Bungle1023.jpg
Harry J. Tuthill's The Bungle Family

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Herriman</span> American cartoonist (1880–1944)

George Joseph Herriman III was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Krazy Kat (1913–1944). More influential than popular, Krazy Kat had an appreciative audience among those in the arts. Gilbert Seldes' article "The Krazy Kat Who Walks by Himself" was the earliest example of a critic from the high arts giving serious attention to a comic strip. The Comics Journal placed the strip first on its list of the greatest comics of the 20th century. Herriman's work has been a primary influence on cartoonists such as Elzie C. Segar, Will Eisner, Charles M. Schulz, Robert Crumb, Art Spiegelman, Bill Watterson, and Chris Ware.

<i>Mutt and Jeff</i> 1907–1983 American comic strip

Mutt and Jeff is a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspaper strip featuring recurring characters in multiple panels on a six-day-a-week schedule had previously been pioneered through the short-lived A. Piker Clerk by Clare Briggs, but it was Mutt and Jeff as the first successful daily comic strip that staked out the direction of the future trend.

<i>Barney Google and Snuffy Smith</i> American comic strip

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, originally Take Barney Google, for Instance, is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appearing in 900 newspapers in 21 countries. The initial appeal of the strip led to its adaptation to film, animation, popular song, and television. It added several terms and phrases to the English language and inspired the 1923 hit tune "Barney Google " with lyrics by Billy Rose, as well as the 1923 record "Come On, Spark Plug!"

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topper (comic strip)</span>

A topper in comic strip parlance is a small secondary strip seen along with a larger Sunday strip. In the 1920s and 1930s, leading cartoonists were given full pages in the Sunday comics sections, allowing them to add smaller strips and single-panel cartoons to their page.

United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media from 1978 to 2011, and is now a division of Andrews McMeel Syndication. United Features has syndicated many notable comic strips, including Peanuts, Garfield, Li'l Abner, Dilbert, Nancy, and Marmaduke.

<i>Feature Comics</i> Comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics

Feature Comics, originally Feature Funnies, was an American comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the superhero genre.

<i>Funnies on Parade</i> American publication of 1933

Funnies on Parade is an American giveaway publication of 1933 that was a precursor of comic books. The eight-page publication featured reprints of such popular syndicated comic strips as The Bungle Family, Joe Palooka, Keeping Up with the Joneses, Mutt and Jeff, Reg'lar Fellers, and Somebody's Stenog. Creators included F. O. Alexander, Gene Byrnes, Al Capp, Clare Victor Dwiggins, A. E. Hayward, C. M. Payne, Al Smith, and Harry J. Tuthill.

<i>Famous Funnies</i> American comic strip anthology

Famous Funnies is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955 with two precursor one-shots appearing in 1933–1934. Published by Eastern Color Printing, Famous Funnies is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors.

Baron Bean is a newspaper comic strip created by the cartoonist George Herriman. Baron Bean was distributed by King Features Syndicate.

A comic strip syndicate functions as an agent for cartoonists and comic strip creators, placing the cartoons and strips in as many newspapers as possible on behalf of the artist. A syndicate can annually receive thousands of submissions, from which only two or three might be selected for representation. In some cases, the work will be owned by the syndicate as opposed to the creator. The Guinness World Record for the world's most syndicated strip belongs to Jim Davis' Garfield, which at that point (2002) appeared in 2,570 newspapers, with 263 million readers worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McNaught Syndicate</span> American newspaper syndicate between 1922 and 1989

The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the Dear Abby letters section and comic strips, including Joe Palooka and Heathcliff. It folded in September 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McClure Newspaper Syndicate</span>

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 marketing of comic strips, columns, book serials and other editorial matter into a large industry, and a century later, 300 syndicates were distributing 10,000 features with combined sales of $100 million a year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry J. Tuthill</span> American cartoonist

Harry J. Tuthill was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip The Bungle Family.

The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West 43rd Street and later at 229 West 43rd Street. It also reprinted comic strips in book form.

The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register and Tribune Syndicate offered newspapers some 60 to 75 features, including editorial cartoonist Herblock, comic strips, and commentaries by David Horowitz, Stanley Karnow, and others.

The Public Ledger Syndicate was a syndication company operated by the Philadelphia Public Ledger that was in business from 1915 to circa 1950. The Ledger Syndicate distributed comic strips, panels, and columns to the United States and the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia. The syndicate also distributed material from the Curtis Publishing Company's other publications, including The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies' Home Journal, and The Country Gentleman.

The Frank Jay Markey Syndicate was a small print syndication service that distributed comic strips and columns from the mid-1930s to c. 1950. Although small in size, the syndicate distributed strips by a number of notable cartoonists, including Ed Wheelan, Rube Goldberg, Boody Rogers, and Frank Borth. The syndicate also provided material for the burgeoning comic book industry, for companies like Quality Comics and Columbia Comics.

The Dingbat Family is a comic strip by American cartoonist George Herriman that ran from June 20, 1910, to January 4, 1916. It introduced Herriman's most famous pair of characters: Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse, who later featured in Herriman's best-known strip Krazy Kat (1913–1944).

The New York World was one of the first newspapers to publish comic strips, starting around 1890, and contributed greatly to the development of the American comic strip. Notable strips that originated with the World included Richard F. Outcault's Hogan's Alley, Rudolph Dirks' The Captain and the Kids, Denys Wortman's Everyday Movies, Fritzi Ritz, Gus Mager's Hawkshaw the Detective, Victor Forsythe's Joe Jinks, and Robert Moore Brinkerhoff's Little Mary Mixup.

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Bungle Family at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015.
  2. Art Spiegelman, "Most Underrated Comic Strip". American Heritage Magazine, May/June 1998 Volume 49, Issue 3. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  3. Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. pp. 57, 237, 350. ISBN   9780472117567.
  4. Blackbeard, Bill (1976). "The Bungle Family". The World Encyclopedia of Comics (ed. Maurice Horn). New York: Chelsea House. ISBN   0-87754-030-6
  5. "The Bungle Family, Hogan's Alley #13". Archived from the original on 2015-02-06. Retrieved 2013-08-12.

Sources

  • Home, Sweet Home. New York: M.S. Company, 1925.
  • Waugh, Coulton, The Comics, MacMillan, 1947, 1991, p. 110-111.
  • The Bungle Family: A Complete Compilation, 1928 / Harry J. Tuthill; introduction by Bill Blackbeard, The Hyperion library of classic American comic strips, Westport, Connecticut: Hyperion Press, 1977. LCCN 76053057 ISBN   0-88355-669-3
  • Hunter, Julius K., Westmoreland and Portland places: the history and architecture of America's Premier Private Streets, 1888-1988 (St. Louis, Missouri), University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Missouri, 1988, p. 84.
  • The Bungle Family 1930: LOAC Essentials Volume 5: Library of American Comics Essentials, Hardcover – July 15, 2014 / Harry J. Tuthill; IDW Publishing, 2014. ISBN   1613779585 ISBN   978-1613779583