| Adamson | |
|---|---|
 ' | |
|
Real Name |
Silent Sam Adamson |
|
First Appearance |
Adamson (October 17, 1920) |
|
Original Publisher |
Söndags-Nisse |
|
Created by |
Oscar Jacobsson |
Origin[]
Adamson's Adventures strip, from 1922.
Adamson is a silent, grumpy looking, cigar-smoking man with an odd high hat. The strip originally appeared in the Swedish humor publication Söndags-Nisse, where it debuted on October 17, 1920. Adamson is an almost pure pantomime comic, and he spoke extremely rarely and instead expressed himself with mimic and gestures.
The fact that he almost never uttered a word, was one of the benefits of the comic, making it feasible internationally.
It soon became very popular and was published in hundreds of newspapers all over the world, not only in Sweden but also in the rest of Europe, the US, China and Japan.
Oscar Jacobsson was resident in the United States for eight months in 1922 and during the long visit sold the series for syndication to the PIB syndicate. Soon the comic, which in the United States was usually called Silent Sam, came to be a success.
The popularity of Adamson was certainly due to the fact that the figure had a specific and easily recognizable appearance – small in size, bald but for three hairs, grumpy looking with a half-smoked cigar in the mouth. Adamson also ended up in situations that, though exaggerated, many readers could identify with.
Public Domain Appearances[]
- Adamson (1920-1929)
Notes[]
- Silent Sam was the possible style inspiration for Homer Simpson.