Salt Lake Tribune | 1919-07-20 | Page 64 | "Mutt and Jeft" Pictures Pleased Even the Germans

"Mutt and JefF Pictures Pleased Even the Germans AT your 'service Captain "Bud" Fisher, late of the British army, an officer under Field Marshal Sir Douglas Halg, says an interviewer in the Exhibitors' Ex-hibitors' Bulletin of the Fox Film corporation. cor-poration. "Bud" was not in uniform when found at his apartment on Riverside drive. A deep-blue, satin bathrobe enveloped his thin, wiry figure, for he works late, does "Bud." to tndke the world laugh, and occasionally oc-casionally h rises at an hour to conform with the late retirement. "Bud" welcomed wel-comed his interviewer with a smile that seemed to well right up from his heart, a nd there was a merry twinkle in his gray eyes that advertised the humorist who has made hundreds of millions laugh at 'he antics of his creations. Mutt and Jeff. There may be emperors with pomp and panoply who command (or did command com-mand until this war) millions of men to do their bid 'ling, but none of these crowned gentlemen has had such ardent sincere love from their stibjects as is awakened by the magic scepter of "Bud" Fisher his inimitable pen. "What do you want to know?" asked Bud. "Your war experiences. People would like to know something of the dangers faced by the man who makes Fox fans love Mutt and Jeff." "Well, I saw enough of them as a l'aison officer under General Haig in the British army." "Was it your duty to keep the British general in good humor?" "Oh, no," .Bud replied seriously: for let it be said that "Mr. Fisher is a very seri-i seri-i ous man when speaking of the war. "I ! was fn the front -lino t renches and had to tend strictly to business. I .went over ; the top at Cambral, St. Que n tin and other places. I saw some fierce fighting in Arris. "There is a great misconception with regard to the danger of sticking one's bend over the edge of a first-line trench. During t he hard fighting we used to stand above the trenches in full view of the enemy and they never bothered us. You see, we were too small fry for them. They were not interested in removing one or two cartoonists or orderlies from the face of the earth by sharpshooting. They went after death en masse. Of course, the shells would be falling all around us. but .tho only shelter from tli em would have been bomb-proof dugouts. dug-outs. "In the front-line trenches the men were not close together, either. They averaged about fifty men to the mile. Yes, many false notions are entertained with regard to front-Ime conditions." "Were the British soldiers aware of the fact that you were the author of the Mutt and Jeff animated cartoons?" "They found out about that, all right. I'd see 'em look when we officers would line up for inspection. Thev were all strong for the Mutt and Jefts. Why. I found one Canadia n division using Mutt and Jeff as the official, insignia. They had Mutt and Jeff sewed on their shoulders shoul-ders and painted on all the army trucks and transport vehicles of the force. "One of ; he things Tommies were cray about was the souvenir. They were all anxious to bring something back from the battlefield. So was I. In fact, my home is pretty well filled with all j sorts of war souvenirs, such as a machine gun, rifles, bayonets, helmets and that sort of stuff. The Tommy was so loaded down, and so restricted by certain regu- 1 lations, that he couldn't send anything j of that sort home. We officers enjoyed i a little more leeway. Consequently, Tommy went after the souvenir which didn't need to be shipped the German soldier's watch. But the 'Jerry' carried his watch in his pocket. It was made with a nickel case, which completely surrounded the works and did not permit per-mit a view of the numbers on the watch. One could tell the time only by guessing guess-ing from the position of the hands. "We officers all. were anxious to Obtain Ob-tain one of these watches, but few of us were able to lay hands on one. as the Tommies would frisk the 'Jerries' for them as soon as they laid hands on them dead or. alive. One day I went out to the front-line trenches in a machine and saw a British private frisking a Hun of one of these timepieces. I asked my orderly to buy It from him for me. " 'Not on your life,' said the Tommy. T had to kill five Germans to get this one.' "At Arras." continued Bud, "we and the Germans were at opposite ends of the city and there was some warm fighting there. When we drove 'em out T found some German posters on the walls, and I could Just make out enough of the contents con-tents to understand that Mutt and Jeff were being advertised in German. The Huns evidently obtained these films through neutral countries like Sweden and Denmark. Later I learned from several sev-eral German prisoners that they were great fans for Mutt and Jeff. These prisoners greeted me with smiles when one of the orderlies told them who I was. I learned that the cartoons were being shown in all the German cities throughout through-out t he war."