Above, we continue our study in the evolution of comic artist Livingston Hopkins’ recurring comic strip character, Professor Tigwissel, with the second appearance of Hopkins’ Tigwissel-prototype, Professor Simple. This occurrence — titled “Tales of the Comet” — appeared on the front page of the July 8th, 1874 edition of the (New York) Daily Graphic, eleven months after Professor Simple’s first appearance (shown last week — click here to see it), and ten months prior to the first official Professor Tigwissel episode.

(NOTE: Click on the comic picture above, to open a version large enough for you to read!)

The comet around which the jokes are centered, is Coggia’s Comet, which was highly visible for several months in 1874. The top two-thirds of this Daily Graphic page involves Professor Simple’s misadventures in observing the comet from his rooftop. Hopkins even at this date is playing on the “egg-head” professor image, enlarging the size of Simple’s cranium from his first appearance, bringing him still closer resemble the eventual image of Hopkins’ future Professor Tigwissel. While Hopkins doesn’t use the word egg-head, his visual depiction here of Simple, and later Tigwissel — and the type of misadventures both scientific professor characters have — clearly elicits the definition of that word. One has to wonder where in the history of jokes involving the scientific klutz combined with a huge over-sized brain (probably going back to phrenology’s origins, at least), Hopkins’ depiction should be placed.

Of significant note as well, is the second, separate, four-panel story which ensues in the bottom two-thirds of the page, immediately following Simple‘s story. This involves a “Mr. Tigwissel”, found gazing at Coggia’s Comet from out a window, only to have the tenant above him accidentally knock a potted plant off her window-sill, and onto “Mr. Tigwissel’s” head. After recovering, Tigwissel (mispelled as “Pigwissel” the third time his name is given), decides to write a scientific work titled “Electrical Phenomena of Comets”.

So, here we have on July 8th, 1874 — with Simple above somewhat resembling the eventual Professor Tigwissel, plus a separate, non-professor character outright named Tigwissel, who is also engaged in scientific pursuits — the planted seeds which will in ten months time will grow into Hopkins’ full-flowered recurring scientist parody, Professor Tigwissel.

Doug Wheeler

ProfTigwissel NYDailyGraphic