| Bud Fisher | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Fisher in 1915 | |
| Born | Harry Conway Fisher (1885-04-03)April 3, 1885 |
| Died | September 7, 1954(1954-09-07) (aged 69) |
| Nationality | American |
Notable works | Mutt and Jeff |
| Spouses | |
Harry Conway "Bud"Fisher (April 3, 1885 – September 7, 1954) was an Americancartoonist who createdMutt and Jeff, the first successful dailycomic strip in the United States.
Born inChicago, Illinois, the son of a merchant, Fisher attended public high school and then studied for three years at theUniversity of Chicago.[1] After a short-lived attempt atprizefighting, he began painting comic signs for window displays before becoming a layout person in the production department of theSan Francisco Chronicle, where he soon became a cartoonist.[1]
He introducedA. Mutt, the comic strip that would be better known by its later title,Mutt and Jeff, on November 15, 1907, on the sports pages of theSan 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."[2] During this time, newspaper cartoons appeared in a single-panel format. Fisher innovated by telling 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 byClare Briggs withA. Piker Clerk four years earlier, but that short-lived effort did not inspire further comics in a comic-strip format. As comics historianDon Markstein explained,
Fisher's comic strip was very similar toA. Piker Clerk, which cartoonist Clare Briggs ... had done in the very same daily format forThe Chicago American in 1903. But tho Fisher was born in Chicago, it's unknown whether or not he ever saw the Briggs strip, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he had an idea. Despite the Briggs primacy,A. Mutt is considered the first daily strip because it's the one that sparked a trend in that direction, which continues to this day.[3]
Mutt and Jeff gained such popularity that Fisher, who was able to claimcopyright to the characters, received an offer to produce it for theSan Francisco Examiner, owned byWilliam Randolph Hearst. The move to theHearst Corporation chain exposed the strip to a multitude of new readers across the United States.
In 1911,Nestor Studios ofNew Jersey acquired the right to makeMutt and Jeffshort film comedies, after which Fisher decided he could make more money controlling film production himself. In 1913, he created the Bud Fisher Film Corporation and signed a deal withAmerican Pathé. They made 36Mutt and Jeff short comedies in 1913, but production ceased for two years when Fisher's copyright was challenged. Once the courts upheld Fisher's copyright claim, the comic strip was syndicated nationwide, and between 1916 and 1926, his film production company created another 277Mutt and Jeff film productions. On these film projects, Fisher is almost exclusively credited as the writer, animator and director, although the majority of animation was byRaoul Barré andCharles Bowers, and often the plots were adaptations of popular stories and fairy tales, such as A Kick for Cinderella (1925).[4]
Mutt and Jeff was also published in comic book form. The income from multiple uses of his characters made Fisher a wealthy man. In 1932, he authorizedAl Smith to produce the strip under his supervision. Smith drewMutt and Jeff for 48 years. When Fisher died in 1954, Smith began signing his own name and continued to draw the strip until 1980 when George Breisacher took over for its final two years.
On April 20, 1912, Fisher eloped with Pauline Margaret Welch, a vaudeville actress fromBaltimore.[5] They were divorced in 1917.[6]
On October 25, 1925, Fisher married Aedita de Beaumont, former wife of Count François de Beaumont. The couple parted after four weeks[7] but never divorced. After Fisher's death, ownership of the strip passed to Aedita de Beaumont, and on her death in 1985 to her son from her earlier marriage,Pierre de Beaumont (1915–2010).[8]
Fisher acquired a large stable ofThoroughbredracehorses. In 1924, his horseNellie Morse became the fourthfilly (out of only six total as of 2022) to win thePreakness Stakes. That same year, his colt Mr. Mutt finished second in theBelmont Stakes.
Fisher died September 7, 1954, of cancer at age 69, atRoosevelt Hospital in New York City. He lived at the time at 383Park Avenue.[1] and was buried in theWoodlawn Cemetery inThe Bronx, New York City.
It would take up too much room, and readers are used to reading down the page, and not horizontally.
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