Foxy Grandpa

Carl E. Schultze's Foxy Grandpa (1904)

Foxy Grandpa was a newspaper comic strip featuring an eponymous character, created by cartoonist Carl E. Schultze drawing under the name of “Bunny.”

Foxy Grandpa made its first appearance on January 7, 1900.^[1] The strip initially ran in the New York Herald, but it moved to the New York American on February 16, 1902.^[2]

Selchow and Righter licensed Foxy Grandpa for the Foxy Grandpa Hat Party Game (similar to Pin the Tail on the Donkey) after 1900. Between 1901 and 1917, Foxy Grandpa was published in books, more than 30 volumes from four different publishers. The strip was also adapted to Broadway shows and early silent films (with Foxy Grandpa played by stage performer Joseph Hart). In 1912, the strip was briefly distributed by the C.J. Mar Syndicate, but it was dropped in 1918.

In the typeset Foxy Grandpa's Stories, distributed by Newspaper Feature Syndicate, Foxy Grandpa was the narrator, appearing in a one-panel cartoon at the top of each column. This feature lasted through the 1920s and well into the 1930s. In 1929, the strip appeared in America's first comics periodical, The Funnies.^[2]

Characters and story[edit | edit source]

The strip revolved around Foxy Grandpa, an elderly gentleman, with two mischievous grandsons (Chub and Bunt) who constantly try to trick him. Foxy Grandpa, however, always managed to get the better of the two boys, combining brains with a perverse sense of humor, while demonstrating skills at acrobatics, illustration and construction of various small devices.^[2]

Cultural legacy[edit | edit source]

In the 1938 film Crashing Hollywood the squirrelly Movie mogul Hugo Wells is called Foxy Frandpa.
In the 1944 film Murder My Sweet detective Phillip Marlowe refers to the villainous Jules Amthor as Foxy Grandpa.
In the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "One Krab's Trash," "Foxy Grandpa" is written on a trucker hat offered to SpongeBob SquarePants by his boss, Mr. Krabs.