Allan’s Note: I did relate this story (without the colorful barroom angle) in my introduction to NBM’s The Early Years of Mutt & Jeff.
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Earlier I linked to a court case about this, I don't think I linked to this 1921 Appeals case of Fisher v. Star Co.
From the Michigan Law Review via Google Books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=q10qAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240&dq=%22comic+strip%22+fisher+v+star&as_brr=1&ei=bV_ZSfPJDorClQSN2fTtAg
or http://tinyurl.com/co85dj
and the same case, in more detail, from The Northeastern Reporter via Google Books:
http://books.google.com/books?id=oPYKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA134&dq=%22comic+strip%22&as_brr=1&ei=gl3ZSa31OI-gkQTrwtygAg#PPA133,M1
or http://tinyurl.com/d6jmd8
Great stuff DD! Have your peerless Googling superpowers had any luck in tracking down the Katzies case? Or even better, the Mr. Peewee case of 1903?
The Northeastern Reporter article is a pretty dry slog, but did you catch that bit at the end where a judge called comics “the nonsense produced by the brain for the diversion of the idle”? I love it!
-Allan
Haven’t been able to dig up anything worthwhile about The Katzies, Buster and Tige, or any others.
I’m wondering why the courts specifically ordered Hearst not to do any copy of Mutt and Jeff, but there were multiple copies of The Katz Kids that seemed safe from lawyers.