Bringing Up Father — buf390812

Four panels follow Jiggs, the Irish-immigrant social climber created by George McManus, as he tries to quiet a crying baby on a staircase landing. A tenant knocks to complain about the infant's wailing; Jiggs stammers an apology — then the punchline lands: his adult daughter emerges, revealing she was the one crying alongside the baby. McManus's ligne-claire draftsmanship is on full display: hatched waistcoats, rubbery facial takes, and speech balloons whose lettering bends to match each character's hesitation. Bringing Up Father launched in 1913 and ran for decades, its daily and Sunday strips helping establish the recurring-cast comic as a newspaper staple — the direct commercial and formal ancestor of the comic book pamphlets that followed in 1933–38.