# Anybody know this old comic strip? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524 "2017-10-22T03:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/1 "2017-10-22T03:23:13Z")
Shux, I know going in nobody will remember it, but nothing ventured… The “strip” was really an assortment of unrelated gag panels. The two panels I remember, for no apparent reason, were these: A guy is sitting on a bench, like at a bus stop. He says to another something like “I’ve been searching for twenty years for why people like toast” The other guy says “They like their bread crispy”. The guy says: “this time I’m going to write it down”. The other panel hearkens back to the day when department stores sold furniture as complete rooms. A salesman tells a customer something like: The walls close in, the room is flooded, and the alligators are released. It’s our Flash Gordon room, and frankly, it’s not one of our best sellers". The strip was probably from the late 60s, early 70s. Ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/2 "2017-10-22T04:05:15Z")
Sounds like it could be _ **Mutt and Jeff** _, which goes back a long, long way, but was still around when I was in high school. > **[Mutt and Jeff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutt_and_Jeff)** > > Mutt and Jeff was 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 d... One I remember from that time: One of them (probably Mutt, the tall guy) is doing a crossword puzzle. He asks “How do you spell ‘Mississippi’?” Jeff (the short guy) answers “The river or the state?” ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/3 "2017-10-22T04:16:10Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Sounds like it could be _ **Mutt and Jeff** _, which goes back a long, long way, but was still around when I was in high school. > > [Mutt and Jeff - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutt_and_Jeff) > > One I remember from that time: One of them (probably Mutt, the tall guy) is doing a crossword puzzle. He asks “How do you spell ‘Mississippi’?” Jeff (the short guy) answers “The river or the state?” Definitely not M&J. Closer to something Joe (Willy 'an Ethel) Martin would do. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/4 "2017-10-22T04:32:02Z")
Sounds like something between _The Born Loser_ and a _New Yorker_ cartoon. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/5 "2017-10-22T05:12:32Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Shux, I know going in nobody will remember it, but nothing ventured… > > The “strip” was really an assortment of unrelated gag panels. The two panels I remember, for no apparent reason, were these: A guy is sitting on a bench, like at a bus stop. He says to another something like “I’ve been searching for twenty years for why people like toast” The other guy says “They like their bread crispy”. The guy says: “this time I’m going to write it down”. > > The other panel hearkens back to the day when department stores sold furniture as complete rooms. A salesman tells a customer something like: The walls close in, the room is flooded, and the alligators are released. It’s our Flash Gordon room, and frankly, it’s not one of our best sellers". > > The strip was probably from the late 60s, early 70s. Ring any bells? Black and white? Color? Sounds like you’re talking about a Sunday strip; is it? My guess is Dan Piraro’s excellent _Bizarro_; it’s only been around since 1985 but the non-sequitur humor is there, and his Sunday offerings often contain more than one gag under an umbrella heading. If you’re sure about the timeline, tho, I’d need more details about art style and where you think you saw it: newspaper, magazine, underground comic book, Playboy, etc. ETA: Kinda reminds me of New Yorker or Playboy type humor… Gahan Wilson or George Booth or something like that maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/6 "2017-10-22T05:29:19Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Black and white? Color? Sounds like you’re talking about a Sunday strip; is it? > > My guess is Dan Piraro’s excellent _Bizarro_; it’s only been around since 1985 but the non-sequitur humor is there, and his Sunday offerings often contain more than one gag under an umbrella heading. > > If you’re sure about the timeline, tho, I’d need more details about art style and where you think you saw it: newspaper, magazine, underground comic book, Playboy, etc. > > ETA: Kinda reminds me of New Yorker or Playboy type humor… Gahan Wilson or George Booth or something like that maybe? 60s or 70s. Sunday newspaper strip. The art was, iirc, rather loose. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/7 "2017-10-22T05:37:08Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > 60s or 70s. Sunday newspaper strip. The art was, iirc, rather loose. Where did you live back then? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/8 "2017-10-22T06:00:45Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Where did you live back then? Lincoln, Nebraska. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/9 "2017-10-22T11:33:14Z")
THere was a panel newspaper comic back then called Mr. Tweedy. The main character was something of a born loser type. I don’t recognize your examples, which means nothing, but does the name ring any bells? Another possibility I suppose would be Big George by Virgil partch. Absurdist in its own way. Not just Sunday though (not sure if Mr Tweedy was daily for that matter). Again, ring any bells? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/10 "2017-10-22T13:40:21Z")
The jokes sound like [Herman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_(comic_strip)) but the time period doesn’t fit. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/11 "2017-10-22T14:54:54Z")
Smokey Stover? [http://www.smokey-stover.com/50smoke-gumstring.html](http://www.smokey-stover.com/50smoke-gumstring.html) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/12 "2017-10-22T15:47:47Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Smokey Stover? > > [Smokey Stover During The 1950's](http://www.smokey-stover.com/50smoke-gumstring.html) Definitely not. Nix nix. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/13 "2017-10-22T20:31:53Z")
Could it have been “Grin and Bear It”? [http://comicskingdom.com/system/media/602\_content\_original.gif?1391461871](http://comicskingdom.com/system/media/602_content_original.gif?1391461871) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/14 "2017-10-22T21:44:17Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > Could it have been “Grin and Bear It”? > > [http://comicskingdom.com/system/media/602\_content\_original.gif?1391461871](http://comicskingdom.com/system/media/602_content_original.gif?1391461871) Nope. ---
**Author:** ![manu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7c8e57/32.png) [@manu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/15 "2017-10-23T23:32:51Z")
one of the great newspaper gag cartoonists of the 20th century. Max and Earnst, by Thaves. funny, insightful. here’s one i remember: two “bums” (a category/name that doesn’t even exists now) are sitting/laying in a pile of papers in a park, one guy apparently telling his story to the other, says, “…and then i switched to decaf.” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/16 "2017-10-24T06:42:06Z")
> [@manu](#): > > one of the great newspaper gag cartoonists of the 20th century. Max and Earnst, by Thaves. funny, insightful. You mean Frank And Earnest? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/17 "2017-10-24T15:06:48Z")
Do you remember which newspaper? I have a subscription to [Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com) and may be able to take a look around there and see if I can find something. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/18 "2017-10-24T15:18:11Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > Do you remember which newspaper? I have a subscription to [Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com) and may be able to take a look around there and see if I can find something. Probably the Lincoln Journal or Journal Star. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/19 "2017-10-24T15:32:43Z")
I know you said 60’s or 70’s but would you be able to narrow that down a bit? Late 60’s, mid 60’s, etc. Searching on ‘comics’ seems to find nothing. They may not have all the pages, the first Sunday issue of the Journal Star for 1960 says it has 68 pages but [Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com) only lists 52. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524/20 "2017-10-24T15:38:43Z")
[“Off The Record”](http://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn96083588/1938-09-15/ed-1/seq-15.pdf) by Ed Reed? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-know-this-old-comic-strip/799524.md?page=2)