One hundred years ago saw the debut of Smitty by Walter Berndt who had soldBill the Office Boyto The New YorkWorld,but did not last long there, due to what might euphemistically be called 'creative differences' with his boss. However, the same strip, presented to Captain Joseph Patterson, editor of The ChicagoTribunebecame a success once Patterson had changed its name to the more succinctSmitty,which he had decided upon after going through a phone book. The daily strip was launched on 27 November 1922.
According to Don Markenstein: Smitty’s full name was Augustus Smith. He was 13 years old when the strip began, cheerful and energetic. He worked as an office boy for a Mr. Bailey, whose exact sort of business was not important. Mr. Bailey had a stenographer named Ginnie, whom Smitty liked to tease. At home, there were Ma and Pa, and 4-year-old Herby. Smitty’s whole world was full of love and geniality, which was probably a large factor in the strip’s popularity.Eventually Smitty started to age. Smitty grew up enough to marry the girl who had started out older and he and Ginnie tied the knot in the late 1950s. But that was all the growing Smitty did. He remained a young man as long as the strip lasted. The daily comic strip ended on 6 October 1973.By which time Herby had taken over as star, with Smitty and Ginny becoming Herby’s custodians.The Sunday would go on another eight months, until June 1974,again with Smitty a supporting character in his eponymous strip. When Smitty ended in 1974 Walter Berndt had lasted with the strip for 51 and a half years, at that time a record for a cartoonist staying on one newspaper comic.
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