The Gumps

    (Bridgeport Herald, 1947)
™ and ©1947 The Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate

The Gumps were an American comic-strip institution from the time Sidney Smith created them in 1912, to their eventual retirement in 1959. A mainstay of the daily comics, the Gumps were a family headed by Andy Gump, a somewhat dim-witted blowhard with a talent for getting into trouble. His wife, Min, acted as his comic foil, along with their son Chester, and adventurous Uncle Bim.

A popular favorite, The Gumps broke new ground by inspiring the first comic-related radio show in 1931. They also were perhaps the first comic strip to introduce continuity into the formula, allowing for more involved plotlines, and a string of romances for Uncle Bim. It also seemed to work marvels for reader loyalty, causing national uproar when longtime character Mary Gold died in 1929 and paused trading on the Minneapolis Board of Trade in 1923 while fans awaited news on whether or not Uncle Bim had been trapped into marriage by a greedy widow.
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