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''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". Historians regard ''Mutt and Jeff'', originally titled ''A. Mutt'', as the first American newspaper cartoon published as a strip of panels, as opposed to a single panel, making it the first "comic strip" to successfully pioneer that since-common format. It remained in syndication until 1983, employing the talents of several cartoonists, chiefly Al Smith who drew the strip for nearly 50 years. The series became a comic book (initially published by All-American Publications and later by DC Comics, Dell Comics and Harvey Comics), as well as cartoons, films, merchandising and reprints. Jeff is the mascot of the Fairbury, Nebraska High School. They are known as the "Fairbury Jeffs" or the "Jefferson County Jeffs". ==Syndicated success== Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher was a sports cartoonist for ''The San Francisco Chronicle'' in the early 1900s, a time when a newspaper cartoon was single panel. His innovation was to tell a cartoon gag in a sequence, or strip, of panels, creating the first American comic strip to successfully pioneer that since-common format. The concept of a newspaper strip featuring recurring characters in multiple panels on a six-day-a-week schedule actually had been created by Clare Briggs with ''A. Piker Clerk'' four years earlier, but that short-lived effort did not inspire further comics in a comic-strip format. As comics historian Don Markstein explained, ''A. Mutt'', the comic strip that would be better known by its later title, ''Mutt and Jeff'', debuted on November 15, 1907 on the sports pages of the ''San Francisco Chronicle''. The featured character had previously appeared in sports cartoons by Fisher, but was unnamed. Fisher had approached his editor, John P. Young, about doing a regular strip as early as 1905, but was turned down. According to Fisher, Young told him, "It would take up too much room, and readers are used to reading down the page, and not horizontally."〔''The Comics Journal'' #289, April 2008, p. 175.〕 This strip focused on a single main character, until the other half of the duo appeared on March 27, 1908. It appeared only in the ''Chronicle'', so Fisher did not have the extended lead time that syndicated strips require. Episodes were drawn the day before publication, and frequently referred to local events that were currently making headlines, or to specific horse races being run that day. A 1908 sequence about Mutt's trial featured a parade of thinly-disguised caricatures of specific San Francisco political figures, many of whom were being prosecuted for graft. On June 7, 1908, the strip moved off the sports pages and into Hearst's ''San Francisco Examiner'' where it was syndicated by King Features and became a national hit, subsequently making Fisher the first celebrity of the comics industry.〔("Bud Fisher ) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. (Archived ) from the original on April 4, 2012.〕 Fisher had taken the precaution of copyrighting the strip in his own name, facilitating the move to King Features and making it impossible for the ''Chronicle'' to continue the strip using another artist. A dispute between Fisher and King Features arose in 1913, and Fisher moved his strip on September 15, 1915, to Wheeler Syndicate (later Bell Syndicate), who gave Fisher 60% of the gross revenue, an enormous income in those times.〔 Hearst responded by launching a lawsuit which ultimately failed. By 1916, Fisher was earning in excess of $150,000 a year. By the 1920s, merchandising and growing circulation had increased his income to an estimated $250,000.〔http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21568586-internet-has-unleashed-burst-cartooning-creativity-triumph-nerds〕 In 1918, ''Mutt and Jeff'' added a Sunday strip, and as success continued, Fisher became increasingly dependent on assistants to produce the work. Fisher hired Billy Liverpool and Ed Mack, artists Hearst had at one point groomed to take over the strip, who would do most of the artwork. Other assistants on the strip included Ken Kling, George Herriman and Maurice Sendak (while still in high school). Fisher appeared to lose all interest in the strip during the 1930s, and after Mack died in 1932, the job of creating the strip fell to Al Smith. The strip retained Fisher's signature until his death, however, and not until December 7, 1954 was the strip signed by Smith.〔 Al Smith received the National Cartoonists Society Humor Comic Strip Award in 1968 for his work on the strip. Smith continued to draw ''Mutt and Jeff'' until 1980, two years before it ceased publication. In the introduction to ''Forever Nuts: The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff'', Allan Holtz gave the following reason for the strip's longevity and demise: During this final period it was drawn by George Breisacher. Currently, Andrews McMeel Universal continues to syndicate ''Mutt and Jeff'' under the imprint ''Classic Mutt and Jeff'' (in both English and Spanish language versions) under the signature of Pierre S. de Beaumont (1915-2010), founder of the Brookstone catalog and retail chain. De Beaumont inherited the strip from his mother, Aedita de Beaumont,〔(Fox, Margalit. "Pierre de Beaumont, Brookstone Founder, Dies at 95". ''The New York Times'', March 18, 2011. )〕 who married Fisher in 1925 (the couple parted after four weeks, but never divorced).〔"Private Lives", ''Life'' magazine, 28 December 1936, page 62〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mutt and Jeff」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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