The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-08-14

as the vaudeville actors say at their
club.
public saw his possibilities and fell
for him. He had been confined to
4 five columns on his debut The man
aging editor interviewed Fisher the
following day.
Make it seven columns wide for
tomorrow he directed.
Il would have filled the whole page
If he would have let me-" Bud has de-
clared since.
However, the strip was not very
deep at this time as the published adj
vertisements showing Mr.. Fishers
first strip would indicate.
the character of Mutt?'' was asked
the father of that gentleman.
Before started the comic, used
to go to the races pretty regularly,
around among the hustlers, touts.
owners and boOkmakers trying to pick
up tips which would make them some
money, None was heavy bettor, but
they all looked as if they needed the
money to feed their families. They
showed more anxiety over their pix
ing bets than the big plungers diu.
II decided to make one of these
race track frequenters the character
of my new strip, and so 1 picked out
composite type. He had to be a
weak guy, and 1 made A. Mutt with
mo chin He must be nosey to get the
on the races, SO Mr.. Mutt had long
nose. Then he was tall and thin and
angular so he could hustle"
1t took week to convince the edi-
tor of the Sar Francisco Chronicle he
wasn't giving up good space, which
could have been used for news, to
junk.
But Mutt won his way into the
hearts of the San Francisco folks over
night, for the inhabitants of that city
are warm hearted anyway, Even the
Skeptical editor was convinced when
he watched the thousands of fans go
ing to the racetraclk reading Mr.. A.
Mutt in the Chronicle to see what his
tips on the horses for that day were.
According to Bud, the prototypes
from which he had drawn the char
acter of Mutt began to read him
conscientiously every day to see
what Mutt was going to do about
betting and followed suit. Fisher
named real horses in real races at
real odds in his comic, and he OBJ
tanned his data from experts of his
acquaintance. His tips were good,
and Mutt at one time actually roIIed
up a fortune on paper. Fisher eacn
night would take the entries for the
races the next day and select a horse
for Mutt to play. His choice soon be-
gan to affect the odds at the track,
and the bookmakers would back
down the price If they saw in the
Morning Chronicle that Mutt was
playing Feedbag to win. But the
entry always received big play any
way, no matter what the price, for
Fisher made it a point to give the
readers as good knowledge as he could
obtain.
Little Jeff plays as big a part in
Bud Fishers cartoons, which will be
published exclusively in this paper.
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
/ i H. ~ -;oAr I'D
which the bookmakers would accept
He decided to change his headquarters
to an insane asylum, where ne couiu
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 wide range for his humor
The various characters in the en-
placed entered the strip day by day.
One morning a funny little fellow
came along wearing boxing gloves
who are you?" asked Mutt.
I'm James ]. Jeffries.' replied the
new conner, land I 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 picture of the strip showed
James J. Jeffries down on the floor
with Nuts foot 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 re-
ceive it frequently in the years to
come. 1t was from James ]. Jeffries.
then the champion of the world, that
little Jeff received his name. At first
he was known as Little Jeffries. later
as just little jeff A great charac-
ter had been born.
How did you happen to make him
the type he is?" I asked Bud.
We'll" was the reply, sit is always
small nut who believes he can whip
is constantly getting into muses. and
receiving the worst of it. To make
him look more foolish, L put whiskers
on him
Did Jeff continue in the pictures
daily from the time Mutt found him
in the insane asylum ?"
mo, 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 1 took Mutt out of the
asylum, Jeff went back on the shelf
with Shakespeare and Napoleon and
to draw cartoons on the graft case, I
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 cir
cumstances. jeff has been in the daily
pictures regularly ever since except oc-
casionally when Mutt appears alone
Jeff has also starred alone in some
strips
So that is how little JEFF broke into
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