Robert Sidney Smith (February 13, 1877-October 20, 1935), known as Sidney Smith, was the creator of the influential comic strip, The Gumps, based on an idea by Captain Joseph M. Patterson, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune.
He was born in Bloomington, Illinois. The son of a dentist, Smith never finished high school and began drawing cartoons for his hometown newspaper when he was 18. He also delivered chalk talks and worked in newspaper...
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Robert Sidney Smith (February 13, 1877-October 20, 1935), known as Sidney Smith, was the creator of the influential comic strip, The Gumps, based on an idea by Captain Joseph M. Patterson, editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune.
He was born in Bloomington, Illinois. The son of a dentist, Smith never finished high school and began drawing cartoons for his hometown newspaper when he was 18. He also delivered chalk talks and worked in newspaper art departments in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
In 1908, he signed on as a sports cartoonist at the Chicago Examiner where he created a talking goat in a feature, Buck Nix, which involved continuity: "What will tomorrow bring?" He continued the goat character in Old Doc Yak when he moved to the Chicago Tribune.
The last Old Doc Yak ended with the well-dressed Yak and his family leaving their house, wondering who might next move into it. The last panel showed only the empty house. The next day's newspapers, in the space formerly occupied by...
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