The Smith Family Comic Archive Project

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit preserving The Smith Family, the syndicated comic strip created by George and Virginia Smith (1950–1994). We digitize the strip and the Smiths' magazine cartoons and share them free with students, researchers, and the public.

Tuesday, October 13, 2026

AFTER-DINNER SPEAKER (The Saturday Evening Post, July 17, 1948)


George Smith tells this whole story without a single word. In four panels across the bottom of a page in the July 17, 1948 Saturday Evening Post, a banquet speaker rises and gets more and more worked up. The poor guest sitting beside him gets the worst of it. Anyone who has sat through a long dinner speech will understand.

Details

  • Publication: The Saturday Evening Post
  • Issue date: July 17, 1948 (Vol. 221, No. 3)
  • Printed page: 92
  • Title: AFTER-DINNER SPEAKER (wordless, four panels)
  • Signature: scrawled script signature, lower right of the last panel
  • Source: archive.org scan



"Everything was fine till you yelled, 'Pull over!'" (The Saturday Evening Post, June 12, 1948)


Here's a back-seat driver with a lot to answer for. In this George Smith gag from the June 12, 1948 Saturday Evening Post, a car has ended up wrapped right around the post of a ONE WAY sign. The two people inside are tangled up on top of it. The driver knows exactly who to blame.

Details

  • Publication: The Saturday Evening Post
  • Issue date: June 12, 1948 (Vol. 220, No. 50)
  • Printed page: 103
  • Caption: "Everything was fine till you yelled, 'Pull over!'"
  • Signature: "G. Smith '47" in script, lower right
  • Source: archive.org scan







"The sweater unbuttons, dear—the head doesn't come off." (The Saturday Evening Post, May 22, 1948)





George Smith cartoon: a father struggles to pull a sweater over a small boy's head while the mother knits in an armchair and a bat and ball lie on the floor.

Every parent has fought a sweater and lost at least once. In this George Smith gag from the May 22, 1948 Saturday Evening Post, a determined father is pulling a sweater down over his young son, head first. Mom keeps knitting and offers one calm, well-timed tip. Off to one side, a baseball bat, ball and glove wait for the boy to get free.

Details

  • Publication: The Saturday Evening Post
  • Issue date: May 22, 1948 (Vol. 220, No. 47)
  • Printed page: 51
  • Caption: "The sweater unbuttons, dear—the head doesn't come off."
  • Signature: script scrawl, lower right (reads as "G… Smith")
  • Source: archive.org scan

Monday, October 12, 2026

Geo Smith — Saturday Evening Post, December 20, 1947





"It's quite a story. First my hat blew off . . ."

Cartoon by George Smith, signed "Geo Smith"

The Saturday Evening Post, December 20, 1947 (Vol. 220 No. 25), page 73

Geo Smith — Saturday Evening Post, August 9, 1947



"You're holding your breath, aren't you?"

Cartoon by George Smith, signed "Geo Smith"

The Saturday Evening Post, August 9, 1947 (Vol. 220 No. 6), page 74

Geo Smith — Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947

"We'll have to omit the grand entrance . . . I can't budge you."

Cartoon by George Smith, signed "Geo Smith"

The Saturday Evening Post, August 30, 1947 (Vol. 220 No. 9), page 86

Geo Smith — Saturday Evening Post, September 6, 1947


"Why, I've been hoodwinked, you dirty, deceitful, cunning, insidious, delusive, tricky . . . h'm-m-m . . . how would you like to work for me?"

Cartoon by George Smith, signed "Geo Smith"

The Saturday Evening Post, September 6, 1947 (Vol. 220 No. 10), page 68


Geo Smith — Saturday Evening Post, November 22, 1947


"Okay, okay! I'll be in to dinner in a minute!"

Cartoon by George Smith, signed "Geo Smith"

The Saturday Evening Post, November 22, 1947 (Vol. 220 No. 21), page 153


Geo Smith — Saturday Evening Post, November 8, 1947

"Would anybody care for some peanuts?"

Cartoon by George Smith, signed "Geo Smith"

The Saturday Evening Post, November 8, 1947 (Vol. 220 No. 19), page 161

The Gummint, the Fourth of July, and Boom Boom vs. Yum Yum

Two Smith Family strips about government spending and war. In the 1981 strip (June 20), the kids hear the "gummint" spends the average American's income every split second, on fireworks, so how far off is the Fourth of July? In the second, Grandpa calls the world's botch a "moronic preference for Boom Boom rather than Yum Yum."
 
The Smith Family comic strip by Mr. & Mrs. George Smith, June 20, 1981. Two Smith kids learn the government spends the average American's income every split second on fireworks and ask how far off the Fourth of July is.




The Smith Family comic strip, June 12. A child asks Grandpa why the world is such a botch; Grandpa blames a preference for "Boom Boom" over "Yum Yum," and the child wonders how long it takes to grow from one into the other.