Jerry on the Job

Jerry on the Job is a comic strip created by cartoonistWalter Hoban, set for much of its run in a railroad station. Syndicated by William Randolph Hearst's International Feature Service, it originally ran from 1913 to 1931. The strip had a brief revival by Bob Naylor from 1946 to 1949.

When Hoban was given only a weekend to devise a comic strip, he created Jerry on the Job, about pint-size Jerry Flannigan, initially employed as an office boy and then in a variety of other jobs. The strip was launched on December 29, 1913.^[1][2] Comics historian Don Markstein described Hoban's character and work situations:

Jerry was about the size of a five-year-old who was small for his age, and proportioned like an infant (larger head as compared with the rest of his body) only more so—Jerry was only two heads tall; i.e., the remainder of him, all put together, was about as big as his head... After a year or two, he began moving from job to job. He was a retail clerk, a messenger boy, even a prize fighter (at his size!) and other things before Hoban went off to fight World War I, and the strip went on hiatus. When it returned, Jerry was working at a railroad station under the supervision of Mr. Givney, the station's manager. His job included just about everything that went into making a railroad station function—selling tickets, sweeping floors, toting baggage, running little errands for the boss, etc. Sources of humor included the eccentrics who hung around the station, Mr. Givney's peevishness, and Jerry's own ineptitude. Also, Hoban pioneered in the use of humorous signs posted here and there in the background, a motif also seen in Smokey Stover, Mad and elsewhere. Many commentators on the strip have praised Hoban for putting his characters through spectacular "takes", that is, exaggerated physical responses to surprising or disconcerting events. He specialized in what some call the "flip take", which left the character undergoing it (usually Givney) as flat on the ground as Charlie Brown after trying to kick Lucy's football.^[3]

The Jerry on the JobSunday page began in 1919, but on October 19, 1930 it became a topper strip above another Hoban feature, Rainbow Duffy.^[4] The daily strip came to an end in 1931, as did Rainbow Duffy and the Sunday strip.^[4]

Hoban murió en 1939, pero su antiguo asistente, Bob Naylor, revivió Jerry on the Job como una tira cómica sindicada para King Features, a partir del 21 de octubre de 1946. Sin embargo, el relanzamiento de Naylor no tuvo tanto éxito como la tira original de Hoban, y la tira fue cancelada en 1949. ^{[ 3 ]}

Entre 1916 y 1920, Jerry on the Job fue adaptado por International Film Service y Bray Studios en una serie de películas animadas, entre las que se incluyen The Mad Locomotive , Cheating the Piper , A Thrilling Drill , Swinging His Vacation y Without Coal . ^{[ 5 ]} El animador fue Walter Lantz , quien recordó: «Animaba un episodio de Jerry on the Job de 250 pies cada dos semanas». ^{[ 6 ]}

La obra de Hoban influyó notablemente en el dibujante Merrill Blosser y en su tira cómica Freckles and His Friends , que se publicó desde 1915 hasta 1971.

A finales de la década de 1930, el personaje de Hoban se utilizó para publicitar los copos de Grape-Nut de Post . Los anuncios aparecieron en las páginas de historietas de los periódicos y en Woman's Day . ^{[ 3 ]}

• Cheating the Piper - una de las películas animadas basadas en la tira cómica

• Barnacle Press: Jerry en el trabajo
• Jerry trabajando en Lileks.com