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Is it that time of year again? Yes! It's time for classic Christmas comic strips! It's a Christmas tradition that shows no signs of ending soon (despite the lack of other posts on this blog).

This year, we start with Smitty, a comic strip about 13-year-old newspaper office boy Augustus Smith (also known as Smitty). The strip was based on the boyhood experiences of its creator, Walter Berndt. Another comic strip about an office boy, "Jerry on the Job," was already popular at the time, and Berndt figured his "million bucks worth of experience" as an office boy himself would be useful in creating his own strip. "Jerry on the Job" was itself based on Walter Hoban's office boy days (and you may see some of him later this month).

I do wonder if this particular strip is any kind of metaphor for the usefulness of office boys generally. Smitty appears to be helping out, but in the end becomes more of a burden. This may be why that particular profession no longer exists.