Mutt and Jeff Buttons

     Collecting political campaign buttons, I came across this pin designed by Bud Fisher, the creator of the cartoon strip, Mutt and Jeff:

     There are two sizes.  The 7/8 inch pin is made with a paper print covered with celluloid, and the 1 1/4 inch pin is lithographed directly on the tin.  Most likely, neither button was produced for campaign purposes.  In fact, many companies issued "Tie the bull outside" pins that either had no illustration at all, or depicted a bovine bull.  However, Bud Fisher was one of several cartoonists who were contracted around 1912 (Probably by Whitehead & Hoag company of Newark) to produce cartoons that illustrate popular conversational phrases of the day on buttons that would be issued by a tobacco company.  Apparently, Bud Fisher found the Progressive Party's symbolic bull moose irresistible to illustrate the phrase, "Tie that bull outside." 

     I eventually discovered more Mutt and Jeff pins.  Here are a few:

     I began to wonder just how many different Mutt and Jeff buttons there are.  A book called Buttons in Sets 1896-1972, by Marshall N. Levin and Theodore L. Hake, mentions both sets under the heading, "Comic Cartoons.  It identifies the 7/8 inch set as issued by Hassan and Tokio cigarettes and manufactured by Whitehead & and Hoag of Newark, New Jersey. Ehrman, and T. J. Gleason.  It further states that other cartoonists including Rube Goldberg, TAD, Hal Hoffman, George Herriman, George McManus, Tom McNamara, Rudolph Dirks, TEP, Gus Mager, HBM, and C.M. Payne contributed to more than 290 multicolor designs and over 170 black and white pins.   So far, I have seen 27 phrases that were illustrated with Bud Fisher drawings on 7/8-inch color pins.

     According to Levin and Hake, the manufacturer of the 1 1/4 inch set is not identified.  The back of each 1 1/4 inch badge contains the legend "Factory No. 30, 2nd District New York."  They state that 48 designs had been seen, and that artists include Bud Fisher, Rube Goldberg, and TAD.  The 48 known phrases are listed as well.

     I am interested, of course, only in the badges designed by Bud Fisher for the two sets, and I have been searching for "Mutt and Jeff buttons" on the internet for a few years now.  I decided I could obtain more results by searching the for each of the 48 known phrases as well.  That's when I learned that Sweet Caporal Cigarettes issued the cartoon phrases on cigarette cards.  These cards title the group "Mutt and Jeff Series."  They state that there are "over 250 designs," and they tie Sweet Caporal Cigarettes to Factory No. 30.

     My search on the phrases determined that some of the 48 phrases in Levin and Hake's list of 1- 1/4 inch pins were illustrated by cartoonists other than Bud Fisher.  My own collection includes 8 Mutt and Jeff phrases that are not in that list of 48, so the total number of 1-1/4 inch pins could be 56.  But it is probable that not all of the Fisher designs in the 7/8 inch series were included in the 1-1/4 inch series.

     Since the name, "Mutt and Jeff Series," is applied to a set that includes pins and cards designed by the other cartoonists, I plan to refer to my subset of the series as "Bud Fisher pins."

     Although I now know a lot more about my Bud Fisher pins, I still don't know how many there are.  Here is a  list of the phrases that I know were illustrated by Bud Fisher:

1.   Aw! Stick around awhile

2.   Beat it!*

3.   Can it!*

4.   Cut that stuff

5.   Dog on you!

6.   For the love of Mike, Mutt, be reasonable

7.   Good Night*

8.   Got cleaned last night

9.   I smell a rat

10.  I'm stuck on you*

11.  I'm the guy*

12.  I'm the guy that done it all*

13.  I'm through

14.  Is My Hat on Straight?

15.  I've got you

16.  I've got your number (version 1)*

17.  I've got your number (version 2)

18.  Lead me to it

19.  Let's see what you've got*

20.  Nothing to do until tomorrow

21.  Oh, just hanging around

22.  Oh you Cubs!*

23.  On your way

24.  Speak right out*

25.  Struck with delight*

26.  Take it from me, Bo.*

27.  Take that noise outside*

28.  Tie that bull outside*

*I found these designs in both sizes.

Hold to Light

This instruction appeared on many post cards that were manufactured around the turn of the 20th century.  When the user holds the card up to a strong light, translucent portions of the card are illuminated from behind.  On some cards, an image appears in a normally blank space on the card.  On other cards, colored lights appear in windows, or reflections appear in the water.  The scene appears to change from day to night.  The card below, depicting the town of Heidelberg, Germany, shows the dramatic effect.

Of the hundreds of hold-to-light cards that were produced, only a few were made that depict ships at sea, or in a harbor.  So far, I have come across less than a dozen that depict ships.  The one that first caught my eye started my collection:

At this point, I have acquired 10 cards that depict ships.  Here are two more that illustrate the variety and drama that these novelty cards offer:

This last card is called a "meteor" card.  Unlike the others, which have cut-outs in a nearly opaque layer of the card, the entire meteor card is translucent in varying degrees. As you can see, the effect is pretty dramatic.

Today, movie films, television shows, YouTube videos that saturate us with vivid entertainment.  But 100 years ago, the novelty of post cards like these, along with stereoptican viewers and Edison cylinder phonographs were the state of the art for parlor entertainment.  I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do...