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Mutt and Jeff were comic-strip characters from the early 20th century. A precursor to Laurel and Hardy, they were two working-class everymen -- drinking, gambling, and getting in hot water with their wives. We managed to find some great stuff on these guys from Britannica.com and a Yahoo! search. In 1907, a San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist named Bud Fisher began drawing a daily comic strip called "Mr. Mutt." A short time later, he added the diminutive Mr. Jeff, and "Mutt and Jeff" was born. Mutt
was a tall, lanky man with a penchant for the ponies, while Jeff looked like the Monopoly man after a rough weekend. Mutt and Jeff were affable losers -- the guys in the cheap seats at horse races on a Wednesday afternoon. The boys started out as an amusing side strip in the Chronicle sports pages, but by 1915 Mutt and Jeff were a national phenomenon. Fisher launched himself full-throttle into a life of fame and fortune (he once owned 50 thoroughbreds), but he quit drawing the strip. He "supervised" a woefully underappreciated team of illustrators and writers until his death in 1954. Many people consider
"Mutt and Jeff" to be the first daily comic strip. While this is open to debate, they were certainly quite popular in their day, even scoring a lucrative cereal sponsorship at the height of their fame. Way to go, fellas!
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