About The Smith Family Comic Strip

George J. Smith was born on February 5, 1920, in the back of an ambulance on the way to Cumberland Street Hospital in Brooklyn, New York — a fittingly dramatic entrance for a man who would spend his life making people laugh.

 

George and his wife Virginia Smith were a husband-and-wife cartooning team whose work appeared in syndicated newspapers across the United States from the 1950s through the 1980s. Their strip, The Smith Family, offered an unflinching and often hilarious look at American family life — touching on everything from the generation gap to political absurdity to the everyday negotiations of marriage and parenthood.

 

In 1950, George ranked 14th in national cartoon sales — competing against legendary names like Mort Walker, Hank Ketcham, and the Berenstains. Their work appeared in The Boston Globe, The Columbian, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Austin American-Statesman, The Prattville Progress, and dozens of other newspapers nationwide.

 

What made the Smiths' work distinctive was its willingness to go places polite conversation avoided. The strip tackled gun control, military spending, environmental poisoning, women's equality, and cultural hypocrisy decades before these topics became mainstream. And it did so with a warmth and humanity that never felt preachy.

 

George also had a prolific career as a magazine gag cartoonist, selling hundreds of cartoons to publications including The Saturday Evening Post, American Legion Magazine, PIC Magazine, and others — at a time when breaking into those markets was brutally competitive.

 

This blog is an archive of their legacy — their newspaper strips, magazine cartoons, original artwork, and the stories behind the work. It exists to ensure that George and Virginia Smith's creative vision continues to speak, teach, inspire, and connect across generations.

 

Browse the Archive

•    By decade: Use the Labels in the sidebar to browse strips by era

•    By theme: Labels include Political Commentary, Social Satire, Family Life, Women & Gender, and more

•    By year: Use the Blog Archive widget to find posts by date

 

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