Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1915-08-01


"BUD" FISHER,
Creator Of Mutt and JEFF.
Concluding installment of the story of
Bud Fisher. whose famous character
creations will reaprear exclusively in
Washington in The Star, beginning Au-
gust 9.
Little Jeff plays a big part in Bud
Fishers cartoons. Jeff's introduction was
by accident and is a good story in itself.
At one stage Of his meteoric career on the
track Mutt became Disguised with the
odds and the prices and the bets which
the bookmakers would accept. He decided
to change his headquarters to an insane
asylum, where he could lay any price
he wanted to on any horse and bet as
much as he pleased, and none Of the
regular boarders at the asylum would
complain. 1t gave Fisher a wide range
for his humor
The scheme worked out to Nuts en-
tire satisfaction, although daily he was
bothered by nuts" One morning ma n
interrupted Mutt while he was studying
the dope sheet and told him he was
William Shakespeare. the Shakespeare
of Stratford on the-Avon. This did not
thrill Mutt.
go away Shakes" remarked Mutt,
| land don't bother me. I've the dope on
winner"
The following day Fisher had Napoleon
of the nut factory consult with Mutt.
| This guest at the asylum where Mr.. Mutt
was making all his imaginary money
was interested in military affairs and
believed he was the great emperor in all
his glory. He was. however. weak on
geography. He approached Mutt in the
daily strip and said:
II have to report / have just taken
Vicksburg.'
We'll. put it back and don't bother
me-" promptly replied Mutt.
The various characters in the environ
ment where Mutt had been placed en-
tered the strip day by day. One morn
ing a funny little fellow came along
wearing boxing gloves -
Who are you?" asked Mutt.
Thought He Was Champ"
I'm James J. Jenries.'' replied the
newcomer, land l want to fight you
He wanted Mutt to don boxing gloves
but the tall fellow was too busy with his
inevitable racing sheets, SO the last pic
ture of the strip showed James j. JEFF
in his face and the owner of the foot
quietly studying the form card. 1t was
the first time JEFF got his, but he was
destined to receive 1t frequently In the
years to come. 1t was from James J.
Jeffries, then the champion of the world,
that little Jeff received his name. At
first he was known as Little Jenr1es,
later as just little jeff. A great char
acter had been born.
How did you happen to make him the
oclra p,,d
Well was the reply. 'it is always
small nut who believes he can whip
any one in the world. The little hlbert
is constantly getting into muses. and
receiving the worst OF 1t. 10 make MN
look more foolish put whiskers on him.
This was good time. to ask Fisher a
question which had been rumbling around
in my mind for some time. fired away.
(Which one do you like better, Mutt
or jeff"
rive always liked Mutt better for he
was my first friend" he readily re-
Piled, land l try never to go back on
old friends However, lots of my read
ers have weakness for Jen, so let
him get the best Of it sometimes.
receive thousands of letters each year
taking Jeffs part and requesting ne
be given the edge in the future. He
has many friends. For long time a
sort of circular letter was sent about
which begged me for the love of every
thing / held dear to tell the writer
whether jeff would ever be as tall as
Mutt. One day, to satisfy these writ
ers, l made jeff the tall one and Mutt
short Just for change I told them"
Did Jeff continue in the pictures
daily from the time Mutt found him in
the insane asylum
jeff in the Graft Cases.
NO, he didn't get a steady job for
some time after that. He obtained his
permanent place in the comic during
the graft investigation in San Fran
CISCO After I took Mutt out of the
ASYLUM, jeff went back on the shelf
with Shakespeare and Napoleon and
all the other nuts When l began to
draw cartoons on the graft case. 1
brought JEFF back into the pictures.
The little fellow came out OF the asy-
lum in order to sympathiZe with Ru-
dolph Spreckels, because, he said,
Spreckels was crazier than he was. He
complained that he should not be kept
in the asylum under those circum-
stances. jeff has been in the daily pic
lures regularly ever since. except oc-
casionally when Mutt appears alone.
Jeff has also starred alone in some
strips"
the big league of cartoonists.
At the time of the San Francisco graft
investigation, Mr.. Fisher had seventeen
different characters in his daily comic
strip at one time and another. Francis
j. Heney was Attorney Beaney," Ru-
dolph Spreckels was Rudolph Pickles
and so on. Mutt and jeff played as
big parts in this investigation as the
real characters in the trial.
Mr.. Fisher caricatured Detective Will
liam Burns. who afterward ran down
the McNamaras in connection with the
blowing up of the Los Angeles Times
toho a w a
Turkish bath. he says. with curl pa
ing in the daily comic Burns was
shown wearing curl papers in his mus
tache, which is one of the great detec-
tive's most pronounced facial charac-
teristics Throughout the rest of the
trial Burns continued to make his daily
entrance with the curl papers in his
mustache, much to Mr.. Burns own
chaerin In fact, there are some spec
tators who say Mr.. Burns even let the
corners droop for a time.
Another job which fell to little JEFF
during these trying days in San Fran
cisco was to sprinkle water on the
feet of various characters in the big in
vestigation to keep them from dying
from their feet up. Quite as much at
tention was paid to Nuts and Jeff's
views on this investigation as to those
expressed in court. Mr.. Heney made a
speech at the University of California
about -; and declared that the pic
lures were made by "cigarette- smok-
ing, anemic artist, subsidized by a pub
Usher"
1.-The funny mart about it was" saws