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

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

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."

 

Plutonium Made Me Do It

A Smith Family strip on pollution and temper. A Smith kid muses that our woes may come from diet and ruined air, that the ill are grouchy and prone to rage, and that plutonium oxide in our future won't help, then delivers the punchline: "Plutonium made me do it."

 

Everybody Loves the Comics: The Courier-Journal Classroom Display

A Newspaper in the Classroom display from The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times featuring The Smith Family. It pairs a Smith Family strip (Washington Star Syndicate) with a photo of George and "Hon" Smith and their eleven children, and tells George's story from his first Saturday Evening Post cartoon in 1941 through WWII service as chief artist for the 58th Signal Battalion.