The Potts

The Potts was an Australian comic strip series. It was created in August 1920 by Stan Cross under the name You & Me. In 1939 Jim Russell took the series over, while it changed to its current title. It would be continued by him until his death on August 15, 2001. This makes The Potts one of the longest-running comic strips of all the time and, with 62 years of syndication, the longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same single artist.

The strip appeared in Australia's The Sun News-Pictorial. It was syndicated in the United States from 1957 to 1962, during which time it was renamed Uncle Dick.

History

In August 1920 Stan Cross published the first episode of a comic strip known as You & Me in Smith's Weekly. Initially the strip only featured two characters, "Pott" and "Whalesteeth", and was designed as a means of offering political comment. The name of the first was derived from rhyming slang in which 'the old pot and pan' stood for 'the old man'; the name of the second referred to the fellow's prominently displayed teeth, which, when he grinned or grimaced, took possession of the entire lower portion of his face. This aspect was short-lived and Cross was asked to continue the comic as a domestic humour strip. "Mrs Potts" was introduced in November and with her came the marital disputes and slanging matches, which were to characterise the strip under Cross. In terms of drinking,arguing, swearing and displays of bad temper, You & Me remains unique in Australian comic book history and pre-dated Andy Capp by almost 40 years. Cross continued to draw the weekly strip for nineteen years until he left Smith's in late December 1939 to join the Melbourne Herald, taking the character of "Whalesteeth" with him In January 1940 the responsibility for You & Me was given to Cross' staff colleague, Jim Russell, who subsequently lightened the tone of the strip and changed the title to Mr & Mrs Potts.