Bringing Up Father — 19 September 1925

George McManus's Bringing Up Father follows Jiggs, a newly rich Irish-American bricklayer who can't escape his old habits, and his socially ambitious wife Maggie. In this four-panel daily, Jiggs lounges contentedly at home until a visitor — Mr. Jiggs's acquaintance — arrives seeking advice: when should his wife begin singing lessons? Jiggs's answer, delivered deadpan, is right away — followed immediately by the door slamming and "An' don't come back!" McManus's draftsmanship is elegant: crosshatched check suits, fluid brushwork, and expressive silhouettes. Launched in 1913, the strip ran for decades and shaped the grammar of newspaper comics — regularized panel grids, integrated speech balloons, and a recurring cast whose domestic friction supplied endless variation. Daily strips like this one fed directly into the reprint pamphlets that became the first comic books.