The Bungle Family

The Bungle Family was an American comic strip, created by Harry J. Tuthill, that first appeared in 1918. The strip, originally titled "Home, Sweet Home", appeared initially as part of a series of rotating strips in the New York Evening Mail. Known as "the finest, most inventive and socially critical of the family strips," [Blackbeard, Bill (1976). "The Bungle Family". The World Encyclopedia of Comics (ed. Maurice Horn). New York: Chelsea House. ISBN 0-87754-030-6.] The Bungle Family was a popular domestic comedy that emphasized dialogue and realistic situations. The titular patriarch of the strip, long-suffering, cantankerous George Bungle, voiced the petty frustrations and joys of the common man during the Jazz Age and through the Depression.

History

Appearing only sporadically at first in 1918, by the end of 1919 the strip was published daily and was nationally syndicated. "Home, Sweet Home" followed the adventures of Mabel (later Jo) and George, a young couple beset on all sides by in-laws, neighbours, and businessmen. Tuthill took the strip to the McNaught Syndicate when the Evening Mail was sold in 1924, changing the name to "The Bungle Family" and adding daughter Peggy Bungle to the cast of the strip. A Sunday page was in existence by September 9 1923 - it's unknown when Tuthill began the Sunday page. Tuthill introduced serialized exotic adventures and a large supporting cast over the next several years --moves that were accompanied by a huge surge of public interest in the strip. Reprints of the strip were featured in the comic book Feature Funnies beginning in 1937. Despite its fame, the strip was ended by its creator on August 1, 1942. It was revived briefly beginning May 17, 1943 but ended permanently June 2, 1945.

In 1999, "The Bungle Family" was voted one of the Top 100 English-language comics of the 20th century by the Comics Journal, a leading magazine devoted to comics history and criticism.

In 2006 it was announced that Spec Publications, a Colorado-based publisher of classic comics, will begin reprinting "The Bungle Family" in collected editions.

Book Collections

*"The Bungle Family: A Complete Compilation, 1928" (The Hyperion library of classic American comic strips). Westport,Conn.: Hyperion, 1977.

*"Home, Sweet Home". New York: M.S.Co, 1925.

External links

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/bungle.htm Don Markstein's Toonopedia]

Notes