Bringing Up Father — buf401231

Three panels follow Jiggs, George McManus's perennially rumpled social climber, as his wife Maggie catches him disheveled—shirt open, trousers riding up—and berates him before he can enter a gathering of elegant ladies. He shuffles to the doorway hoping his appearance will pass muster; in the punchline panel he stands before a row of silhouetted society women, balloon reading 'An' I get bawled out for havin' the shirt open.' McManus's line work is unusually refined: the silhouette group in panel three is pure Art Deco illustration. Launched in 1913, Bringing Up Father ran for decades and its recurring cast, escalating domestic tension, and panel-to-panel continuity helped establish the visual grammar American newspaper comics—and, by direct descent, comic books—still use.