Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher was born April 3,
1885 in Chicago, Illinois. was an American cartoonist who created the first
successful daily comic strip in the United States. Fisher studied at the University
of Chicago where he saw a daily cartoon strip in the Chicago American call
'A. Piker Clerk' that had been running since 1903.
In 1905, Fisher dropped out of college and went to San
Francisco as a journalist and sketch artist in the sports department of the
San Francisco Chronicle. Fisher was an avid horseracing fanatic, so in late
1907 he introduced a daily comic strip 'Mr. A. Mutt' who was a horseracing
fanatic that instantly became popular .. Not long after, Fisher introduced
a sceond character he named 'Jeff,' and 'Mutt and Jeff' were born.
Fisher had noticed that when another comic strip artist
had left his employment with another newspaper, in a fight over The Katzenjammer
Kids, the paper had won the right to keep the strip. Without the Chronicles
knowledge, Fisher applied and received a copyright for Mutt and Jeff, and
ran several issues with the copyright symbol on it in the papers. When Fisher
was offered a job by the San Francisco Examiner owned by William Randolph
Hearst, he was able to leave and was the first to own and take with him the
feature that he created.
In 1911, Fisher was approached by Nestor Studios to
acquire the rights to make 'Mutt and Jeff' shorts. Not satisfied with the
situation, Fisher formed the Bud Fisher Film Corporation and in 1913 signed
with Pathe for 36 cartoons.
In 1916, Fisher signed with Fox Film and from 1916-1923
released over 250 Mutt and Jeff cartoons. Soon Fisher hired animators like
Charles Bowers and Raoul Barre to make the films and Fisher received the credit.
In addition to the comic strips and theater shorts, Fisher had Mutt and Jeff
comic books. Fisher became so wealthy that he lived the life of luxury while
everyone else did all the work.
Later in life his wild luxurious ways caught up with
him and he spent the last few years in seclusion similar to Howard Hughes.
Fisher died September 7, 1954.
Fisher didn't produce anything else but the Mutt and Jeff series.
Here is Fisher's Mutt and Jeff filmology:
Produced and Distributed by Nestor
Studios - we don't know how many were produced.
Mutt and Jeff on the Job
Produced with Pathe-Freres and distibuted by General Film - 36 cartoons
produced in 1913 with most of them named just 'Mutt and Jeff'
Mutt and Jeff
Mexican Problem
Hypnotist
A Substitute for Peroxide
Johnny Reb's Wooden Leg
Mutt's Marriage
Ball Game
Merry Milkmaid
California Alien Land Law
Baseball
Pickaninni's G-string
Mutt Puts One Over
Sandstorm
Mutt and Jeff in Mexico
Sultan's Harem
Mutt's Moneymaking Scheme
Mutt and Jeff in Turkey
Matrimonial Agency
Mutt and Jeff in Constantinople
Mutt and Jeff at Sea: Part 1
Mutt and Jeff at Sea: Part 2
Whadya Mean You're Contended
Distributed by Celebrated Players in 1916-17
1916
Indestructible Hats
Mutt and Jeff in the Submarine
Jeff's Toothache
Cramps
Dog Pound
Hock Shop
Promoters
Two for Hire
Wall Street
1917
Submarine Chasers
Bell Hops
Boarding House
Chamber of Horrors
Cheese Tamers
A Chemical Calamity
Cows and Caws
A Day in Camp
A Dog's Life
Interpreters
In the Theatrical Business
Janitors
Preparedness
Prospectors
Revenge Is Sweet
Distributed by Fox Film from 1918 - 1923
1918
Throwing the Bull
Draft Board
Hitting the High Sports
New Champion
Pot Luck in the Army
Around the World in Nine Minutes
Doughboy
A Lot of Bull
The Side Show
Our Four Days in Germany
Bulling the Bolshevik
Kaiser's New Dentist
To the Rescue
At the Front
Accident Attorney
Efficiency
Landing a Spy
An
Ace and a Joker
Joining the Tanks
Hotel De Mutt
Hunting the U-Boats
Extra-Quick Lunch
Burglar Alarm
Seventy-Mile Gun
Meeting
Theda Bara
Life Savers
Hospital Orderlies
Tale of a Pig
Tonsorial Artists
Superintendents
Occultism
A Fisherless Cartoon
Helping McAdoo
On Ice
Freight Investigation
Leak
Back to the Balkans
Decoy
1919
Another Man's Wife
He Ain't Done Right by Our Nell
For Bitter or for Verse
Cutting Out His Nonsense
Why Mutt Left the Village
Chambermaid's Revenge
Plumbers
Confessions of a Telephone Girl
Window Cleaners
In the Money
Bound in Spaghetti
New York Night Life
Honest Book Agent
Mutt and Jeff in Spain
Everybody's Doing It
All That Glitters Is Not Goldfish
Mutt and Jeff in Paris
Mutt and Jeff in Switzerland
Hard Lions
Sound Your 'A'
Frozen
North
Oil's
Well That Ends Well
Jazz Instructors
West Is East
A Tropical Eggs-pedition
Downstairs and Up
Look Pleasant Please
A Prize Fight
Pets and Pests
Hands Up
Sweet Papa
Oh Teacher
Shell Game
Left at the Post
Sir Sidney
Cave Man's Bride
Seeing Things
Pigtails and Peaches
Subbing for Tom Mix
Mutt the Mutt Trainer
Cow's Husband
Out An' in Again
William Hohenzollern Sausage Maker
Wild Waves and Angry Woman
Fireman Save My Child
Pousse Cafe
500 Miles on a Gallon of Gas
Bearded Lady
Landing an Heiress
Dog-Gone Tough Luck
Hula Hula Cabaret
Here and There
Lion Tamers
1920
All Stuck Up
A Hard Luck Santa Claus
Home Brew
Parlor Bolshevist
Cleopatra
Farm Efficiency
Medicine Man
A Tightrope Romance
Brave Toreador
Flapjacks
High Cost of Living
League of Nations
Politicians
Cowpunchers
Home Sweet Home
Hot Dogs
Merry Cafe
Napoleon
Song Birds
Tailor Shop
In Wrong
Yacht Race
Bare Idea
Breakfast Food Industry
Departed Spirits
Mystery of the Galvanized Iron Ash Can
Three Raisins and a Cake of Yeast
One Round Jeff
Tango Dancers
Toy Makers
A Trip to Mars
Bicycle Race
Bowling Alley
Nothing But Girls
Paper Hangers
Private Detectives
Wrestlers
Beautiful Model
Chewing Gum Industry
Great Pickle Robbery
Honest Jockey
Hula Hula Town
Price of a Good Sneeze
Chemists
Dead Eye Jeff
Fishing
I'm Ringing Your Party
Mint Spy
Pawnbrokers
Plumbers
Putting on the Dog
Soul Violin
Berth of a Nation
Fisherman's Luck
A Glutton for Punishment
His Musical Soup
Latest in Underwear
Mutt and Jeff in Iceland
Mutt and Jeff's Nooze Weekly
On Strike
Pretzel Farming
A Rose by Any Other Name
Rum Runners
Shaking the Shimmy
1921
Bony Parts
Getting A-Head
Stolen Snooze
Fast Freight
A Messy Christmas
Village Cutups
Matri-Money
White Meat
Shadowed
Turkish Bath
Big Mystery
Galley Slave
In Asia
Knock Out
A Race for Home
Stampede
Tong Sandwich
Crows and Scarecrows
Darkest Africa
Far East
Not Wedded, But a Wife
Painter's Frolic
Touring
Watering the Elephants
Gusher
Cold Tea
A Shocking Idea
Training Woodpeckers
A Hard Shell Game
Far North
Gathering Coconuts
It's a Bear
Mademoiselle Fifi
Vacuum Cleaner
Naturalist
Flivvering
A Rare Bird
Factory to Consumer
Dr. Killjoy
A Crazy Idea
Ventriloquist
Lion Hunters
Glue Factory
Gum Shoe Work
Hypnotist
North Woods
On the Hip
Papoose
Sherlock Hawkshaw and Company
1922
Gym Jams
Chewing Gum Industry
Bumps and Thumps
Wishing Duck
Cold Turkey
Fallen Archers
Red Hot
Riding the Goat
Court Plastered
Falls Ahead
Hither and Thither
Modern Fishing
Hop, Skip, and Jump
Getting Even
Amid the Pyramids
Tin Foiled
Golfing
Hoot Mon
Any Ice Today?
Cashier
Too Much Soap
Last Shot
Crystal Gazer
Phoney Focus
Stuck in the Mud
Bull Fight
Beside Her Cider
A Ghostly Wallop
Hole Cheese
Last Laugh
Long Live the King
1923
Nearing the End
Down in Dixie
Steeplechase
Distributed by Short Film Syndicate from 1925-1926
1925
A Link Missing
Thou Shalt Not Pass
Mixing in Mexico
All at Sea
The Bear Facts
Oceans of Trouble
Invisible Revenge
Where Am I?
Accidents Won't Happen
Soda Jerks
1926
Globe Trotters
A
Roman Scandal
Mummy O'Mine
Big Swim
Dog Gone
Playing with Fire
Ups and Downs
Slick Sleuths
Aloma of the South Seas
Westward Whoa
When Hell Freezes Over
On Thin Ice
A Stretch in Time
Bombs and Bums
Set Em Up Again
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