The strip appeared in major papers including the Boston Globe and the Washington Star, George and Virginia''s work was distinctive. The Smith' 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 across nearly five decades.
Explore the ArchiveGeorge 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 across North America and Canada. What made the Smith's ' 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. "The Smith Family" comic strip.
George's cartoons appear in PIC Magazine, True, Medical Economics, and American Legion Magazine.
"The Smith Family" launches. George ranks 14th nationally in 1950 magazine single panel gag sales.
Strip appears in Philadelphia Inquirer, Oakland Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and dozens more.
The strip finds a new home in Vancouver, Washington's The Columbian newspaper.
After almost 50 years, "The Smith Family" concludes its historic run.
Preserving this archive means preserving nearly five decades of primary-source material documenting American family life, social values, and cultural history through the lens of everyday storytelling.