Bringing Up Father

George McManus

This drawing by George McManus for the Sunday comic strip Bringing up Father (Jiggs and Maggie), was published on Sunday, May 9, 1920. From its start in 1913 Bringing up Father established a rapidly growing audience, and it would become the most popular output of McManus' lengthy and varied career, with Jiggs and Maggie becoming beloved symbols of the Irish American immigrant family and the American family on the whole. It would later become a part of the MGM film canon when a series of movies based on the strip was released in the 1920s through the '50s.

Jiggs' character was used as the insignia for the U.S. Airforce's 11th Bomb Squadron in both World Wars; the strip iteself was later commemorated on a postage stamp for the US Postal Service's "Classic Comic Strips" series.

In this full-page strip Maggie is excited to learn that she'll be entertaining the Count De Lusion for dinner, with hopes of presenting her daughter to him as a possible wife. Jiggs, however, soon receives a telegram from the Count stating that his train has been delayed and he will not be joining them that evening. Rather than informing his wife, he calls up a friend and tells him to rent a tux and pretend to be the Count, so that they may have an evening of cards and fine dining at home. Maggie is dismayed at this "Count's" disinterest in her hospitality and watches as the men retire to the den for a game of pinochle without her. Suddenly, the doorbell sounds. Lo and behold, there stands the real Count De Lusion. The imposter "Count" and Jiggs must then flee the wrath of Maggie.