| Abie the Agent | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Abraham Kabibble |
|
First Appearance |
Abie the Agent (February 2, 1914) |
|
Original Publisher |
King Features Syndicate |
|
Created by |
Harry Hershfield |
Origin[]
Abraham Kabibble, known as Abie the Agent, was the first Jewish protagonist of an American comic strip. Abie's humorous caricature was a rebuttal of some of the Jewish stereotypes in caricatures, and represented a moderately successful middle-class immigrant. He worked as a car salesman.
Abie and his friends had many typical Jewish characteristics, such as their names or their use of Yiddish words and accents, they also lacked many of the negative or malicious elements, such as exaggerated physical traits, found in the depictions of Jews from this time. Abie was in many ways indistinguishable from other Americans. During 1917, the character enlisted in the United States Army to help the U.S. forces in World War I.
The character lost many of his more typical Jewish characteristics over the decades, showing his successful integration but also slowly diminishing the particular features of this comic strip.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of Abie the Agent from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Abie the Agent Comic Strip (1914-1929)
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- All the Funny Folks (1926)
Public Domain Film Appearances[]
- Two animated shorts were made in 1917 by International Film Service.
Notes[]
- An indication of the strip's popularity was the reference to 'Abe Kabibble' in the 1930 Marx Brothers film Animal Crackers.