Our Boarding House, the story of wizened homeowner Martha Hoople and her quirky stable of boarders, appeared for four months in 1921 before Major ambled obnoxiously back into estranged wife Martha’s life after a ten-year absence.

Though the strip was interesting enough without him, Major Hoople’s disagreeably daft personality proved to be quite the ratings boon, as readers embraced him in with Archie Bunker aplomb.

Aside from his affinity for cigars and the weathered fez donning his balding head, Hoople was best known for stretching the strip’s text bubbles to the bursting point with his long-winded speeches, littered with “Hmph”s and “Egads,” about the astounding ten years he spent away from his wife.

Though strip creator Gene Ahern retired in 1953, Our Boarding House, continued in popularity for decades, inspiring a shortlived radio show starring Arthur Q. Bryan, Patsy Moran and Conrad Binyon, as well as a Big Little Book and a one-shot comic.