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107-397: The Family Circus (originally The Family Circle , also Family-Go-Round ) is a syndicated comic strip created by cartoonist Bil Keane and, since Keane's death in 2011, written, inked and rendered (colored) by his son Jeff Keane . The strip generally uses a single captioned panel with a round border, hence the original name of the series, which was changed following objections from

214-424: A mashup of artwork from The Family Circus and dialogue from the reality show Jersey Shore . It juxtaposes the innocent artwork of the comic with the often adult dialogue from the show to parody both media phenomena. The 1999 novel The Funnies , by J. Robert Lennon , centered around a dysfunctional family whose late patriarch drew a cartoon similar to The Family Circus . Lennon later said that, although there

321-981: A Farmer in Pennsylvania, To the Inhabitants of the British Colonies , which were published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle between December 2, 1767, and February 15, 1768. When the Founding Fathers convened in Philadelphia in 1774, 12 colonies sent representatives to the First Continental Congress . The Second Continental Congress , which began in May 1775, authored and signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, but when Philadelphia fell to

428-723: A century, the Pennsylvania General Assembly met at various places in the Philadelphia area before it began meeting regularly in Independence Hall in Philadelphia for 63 years. However, events such as the Paxton Boys massacres of 1763 had made the legislature aware of the need for a central capital. In 1799, the General Assembly moved to the Lancaster Courthouse. The Pennsylvania General Assembly met in

535-464: A family whose surname is rarely mentioned (although the cartoon of August 26, 2013, in which Billy refers to "Grandma Keane" and "Grandma Carne" indicates the same surnames as the author's family). The parents, Bil and Thelma (Thel), are modeled after the author and his wife, Thelma Carne Keane . Their four children, Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and P.J., are fictionalized composites of the Keanes' five children. With

642-512: A grant that incorporated all lands included in the original Virginia Company of Plymouth Grant and other lands. This grant was in conflict with the Dutch claim for New Netherland , which included parts of today's Pennsylvania. On June 24, 1664, the Duke of York sold the portion of his large grant that included present-day New Jersey to John Berkeley and George Carteret for a proprietary colony. The land

749-451: A heavy snowstorm, presumably because of a faulty flue . The General Assembly met at a nearby Methodist Church until a new capitol could be built. Following an architectural selection contest, Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb was asked to design and build a replacement building. However, the legislature had little money to allocate to the project. When they dubbed the roughly finished, somewhat industrial Cobb Capitol building complete,

856-614: A large industry. Syndication properly took off in 1896 when the competitors the New York World and the New York Journal began producing Sunday comic pages. The daily comic strip came into practice in 1907, revolutionizing and expanding the syndication business. Syndicates began providing client newspaper with proof sheets of black-and-white line art for the reproduction of strips." By 1984, 300 syndicates were distributing 10,000 features with combined sales of $ 100 million

963-457: A leader in technology and healthcare. Similarly, Philadelphia has a concentration of university expertise. Healthcare, retail, transportation, and tourism are some of the state's growing industries of the postindustrial era. As in the rest of the nation, most residential population growth has occurred in suburban rather than central city areas, although both major cities have had significant revitalization in their downtown areas. Philadelphia anchors

1070-504: A more detailed drawing of Keane's, such as Billy crying over losing a game to his father, and then the next strip saying "This is what really happened, by Billy," showing the crude drawing of Billy winning and an annoyed Bil Keane retorting, "No more games, I gotta draw Sunday's cartoon!" One series of strip for the dailies in 1990 had the father away on a business trip while "Billy" explains a multitude of childish reasons for his father's absence, such as alien abduction or having been baked into

1177-429: A pennant reading "NC" on the wall, a tribute to his alma mater and his Catholic education. Sometimes Keane's strips would have crude drawings purportedly done by "Billy, Age 7." Some of "Billy's" drawings would be explaining vocabulary, only he does not understand the right word, such as confusing "hysterical" with "historical" or defining "acquire" as "a group of singers in church." The "Billy" drawings would often show

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1284-470: A popular ice cream parlor named the Sugar Bowl (based on a real restaurant of the same name that features many strips signed by Keane), and Jeffy once went to St. Joseph's Hospital for a tonsillectomy . Thel was seen playing tennis with a racket marked "Scottsdale Racket", and Bil mentioned moving up to B class at Scottsdale Racket Club in a 1984 strip. Also, a sign for Paradise Valley , where Bil Keane lived

1391-679: A score of newspapers in the U.S. northeast. By the end of the Civil War, three syndicates were in operation, selling news items and short fiction pieces. By 1881, Associated Press correspondent Henry Villard was self-syndicating material to the Chicago Tribune , the Cincinnati Commercial , and the New York Herald . A few years later, the New York Sun ' s Charles A. Dana formed

1498-468: A straight dotted line. Other strips would show the dotted line with captions. In April 1975, Keane introduced an invisible gremlin named "Not Me" who watches while the children try to shift blame for a misdeed by saying, "Not me." Additional gremlins named "Ida Know" (in September 1975), "Nobody," "O. Yeah!" and "Just B. Cause" were introduced in later years. Although it is clear that the parents do not accept

1605-477: A syndicate to sell the short stories of Bret Harte and Henry James . The first full-fledged American newspaper syndicate was the McClure Newspaper Syndicate , launched in 1884 by publisher S. S. McClure . It was the first successful company of its kind, turning the marketing of columns , book serials (by the likes of Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle ), and eventually comic strips , into

1712-693: A vital and historic role in the American Revolution and the ultimately successful quest for independence from the British Empire , hosting the First and Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia , which formed the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander in 1775, and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence the following year. On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania

1819-691: A witch's pie. The story arc ended with a drawing showing the father back at home and the kids asking about such preposterous happenings to his befuddlement. One of the best-known features of Keane's work is the dotted-line comics, showing the characters' paths through the neighborhood or house with a thick dotted line. The earliest appearance of the dotted line was on April 8, 1962 (an undotted path had first appeared on February 25). This concept has been parodied by other comic strips, including Pearls Before Swine , For Better or For Worse , FoxTrot , Calvin and Hobbes , Garfield , Liō , Marvin and xkcd . In an interview, Jeff Keane, who now produces

1926-669: A year. With the 1960s advent of the underground press , associations like the Underground Press Syndicate , and later the Association of Alternative Newsmedia , worked together to syndicate material — including weekly comic strips — for each other's publications. Prominent contemporary syndication services include: IFA-Amsterdam (International Feature Agency) provides news and lifestyle content to publications. Cagle Cartoons offers newspaper editorial cartoons and columns. 3DSyndication comprises syndication service from India,

2033-716: Is a U.S. state spanning the Mid-Atlantic , Northeastern , Appalachian , and Great Lakes regions of the United States . It borders Delaware to its southeast, Maryland to its south, West Virginia to its southwest, Ohio and the Ohio River to its west, Lake Erie and New York to its north, the Delaware River and New Jersey to its east, and the Canadian province of Ontario to its northwest via Lake Erie . Pennsylvania

2140-480: Is a college-educated homemaker. The Los Angeles Times ran a feature article on the Thelma character when Keane updated her hairstyle in 1996. The eldest child is seven-year-old Billy. A recurring theme involves Billy as a substitute cartoonist for a Sunday strip. The strips purportedly drawn by Billy are crudely rendered and reflect his understanding of the world and his sense of humor. The first use of this gag by Keane

2247-827: Is in Duncannon in Perry County . According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 's 2022 Annual Homeless Assessment Report , there were an estimated 12,691 homeless people in Pennsylvania. Among Pennsylvania residents, as of 2020, nearly three out of four, 74.5%, are native to the state and were born in Pennsylvania, 18.4% were born in a different U.S. state, 1.5% were born in Puerto Rico , U.S. Island areas, or born abroad to American parent(s), and 5.6% were foreign born. Foreign-born Pennsylvanians are largely from Asia (36.0%), Europe (35.9%), and Latin America (30.6%) with

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2354-464: Is the fifth-most populated state in the U.S. after California , Texas , Florida , and New York . In 2019, net migration to other states resulted in a decrease of 27,718, and immigration from other countries resulted in an increase of 127,007. Net migration to Pennsylvania was 98,289. Migration of native Pennsylvanians resulted in a decrease of 100,000 people. 7.2% of the population was foreign-born as of 2021. Pennsylvania's center of population

2461-471: Is the southeastern Delaware Valley , which includes and surrounds Philadelphia, the state's largest and nation's sixth-most populous city. The second-largest metropolitan area, Greater Pittsburgh , is centered in and around Pittsburgh , the state's second-largest city. The state's subsequent five most populous cities are Allentown , Reading , Erie , Scranton , and Bethlehem . Pennsylvania's history of human habitation extends thousands of years before

2568-543: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid book and film series, the main character, Greg Heffley, and his dad share a common dislike for the comic strip Lil' Cutie, which Greg claims is "for the lameness of a Family Circus knockoff comic." Some Pearls Before Swine strips include appearances by the Family Circus characters or parodic Family Circus strips. In one series of strips, Rat is captured by Family Circus fans after poking fun at

2675-764: The British in the Philadelphia campaign , the Continental Congress moved west, where it met at the Lancaster courthouse on Saturday, September 27, 1777, and then to York . In York, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation , largely authored by Pennsylvania delegate John Dickinson, that formed 13 independent States into a new union. Later, the Constitution was written, and Philadelphia

2782-761: The Delaware River in the east and the Susquehanna River in central Pennsylvania. The second tribe, the Susquehannock , spoke an Iroquoian language and were based in Western Pennsylvania from New York state in the north to West Virginia in the southwest, including the Susquehanna, Allegheny , and Monongahela rivers near present-day Pittsburgh . European disease and constant warfare with several neighboring tribes and groups of Europeans weakened these two tribes, and they were grossly outpaced financially as

2889-482: The Delaware River to the east, 80°31' W to the west, and the 42° N to the north, except for a short segment on the western end where a triangle extends north to Lake Erie . The state has five geographical regions: Allegheny Plateau , Ridge and Valley , Atlantic Coastal Plain , Piedmont , and Erie Plain . Pennsylvania's diverse topography produces a variety of climates, though the entire state experiences cold winters and humid summers. Straddling two major zones,

2996-618: The Family Circus cartoon. Nichole Millard and Kathryn Price have been hired to adapt the comic strip as a live-action project. An educational video game was released for home computers in 1992. Called Our House featuring the Family Circus (a.k.a. Now and Then ), the game compares life in modern times to those when the parents, grandparents and other ancestors of the comic were young. The Family Circus has been widely satirized in film, television, and other daily comic strips. In an interview with The Washington Post , Keane said that he

3103-521: The Family Circus , including an extended series during which the titular character, a pinhead , sought "Th' Way" to enlightenment from Bil, Thel, Billy, and Jeffy. Bil Keane was credited as "guest cartoonist" on these strips, drawing the characters exactly as they appear in their own strip, but in Zippy's world as drawn by Zippy creator Bill Griffith . Griffith described the Family Circus as "the last remaining folk art strip." Griffith said, "It's supposed to be

3210-497: The Family Circus . In the week of June 27, 2005, Stephan Pastis portrayed the cartoon Keane family inviting Osama bin Laden into their house. Bin Laden is captured by the police while following Billy's dotted lines, and the whole family is imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for harboring a terrorist. The 2016 graphic novel The Fun Family by Benjamin Frisch tells the dark story of the family of

3317-837: The Hurons and Iroquois blocked them from proceeding west into Ohio during the Beaver Wars . As they lost numbers and land, the Hurons abandoned much of their western territory and moved closer to the Susquehanna River, and the Iroquois and Mohawk tribes moved further north. Northwest of the Allegheny River was the Iroquoian Petun , who were fragmented into three groups during the Beaver Wars:

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3424-848: The Northeast megalopolis and is associated with the Northeastern United States . Pittsburgh is part of the Great Lakes megalopolis and is often associated with the Rust Belt . During the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States , the small town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania , received worldwide attention after United Airlines Flight 93 crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township , located 1.75 miles (2.82 km) north of

3531-506: The Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln . Control of the machine was subsequently passed on to Cameron's son J. Donald Cameron , whose ineffectiveness resulted in a transfer of power to the more shrewd Matthew Quay and finally to Boies Penrose . The post-Civil War era, known as the Gilded Age , saw the continued rise of industry in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was home to some of

3638-765: The Spanish–American War . Pennsylvania was an important industrial center in World War I , and the state provided over 300,000 soldiers for the military. On May 31, 1918, the Pittsburgh Agreement was signed in Pittsburgh to declare the formation of the independent state of Czechoslovakia with future Czechoslovak president Tomáš Masaryk . In 1922, 310,000 Pennsylvania miners joined the UMW General coal strike , which lasted 163 days and shut down most coal mines within

3745-520: The Tribune Content Agency and The Washington Post Writers Group also in the running. Syndication of editorial cartoons has an important impact on the form, since cartoons about local issues or politicians are not of interest to the national market. Therefore, an artist who contracts with a syndicate will either be one who already focuses their work on national and global issues, or will shift focus accordingly. An early version of syndication

3852-647: The United States . Pennsylvania has 51 miles (82 km) of coastline along Lake Erie and 57 miles (92 km) of shoreline along the Delaware Estuary . Of the original Thirteen Colonies , Pennsylvania is the only state that does not border the Atlantic Ocean . The boundaries of the state are the Mason–Dixon line (39°43' N) to the south, Twelve-Mile Circle on the Pennsylvania- Delaware border,

3959-594: The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia . The university, one of nine colonial colleges , was the first college established in Pennsylvania and one of the first in the nation. Today, it is an Ivy League university, which is routinely ranked among the world's best universities. Dickinson College in Carlisle , founded by Benjamin Rush and named after John Dickinson, was the first college founded after Revolutionary War and

4066-603: The county commission and freedom of religion , which were subsequently replicated in many of the Thirteen Colonies . What had been Upland on the Pennsylvania side of the Pennsylvania-Delaware border was renamed Chester County when Pennsylvania instituted its colonial governments on March 4, 1681. Penn signed a peace treaty with Tamanend , leader of the Lenape, which began a long period of friendly relations between

4173-502: The seventh-largest metropolitan area in the country and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, and Pittsburgh is the center of the nation's 27th-largest metropolitan areas. As of 2020, the Lehigh Valley in eastern Pennsylvania is the nation's 69th-largest metropolitan area. Pennsylvania also has six additional metropolitan areas that rank among the nation's 200-most populous metropolitan areas. Philadelphia forms part of

4280-673: The 15th U.S. president and was the first president to be born in Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg , the major turning point of the American Civil War , took place near Gettysburg in July 1863. An estimated 350,000 Pennsylvanians served in the Union Army forces, including 8,600 African American military volunteers . The politics of Pennsylvania were for decades dominated by the financially conservative Republican -aligned Cameron machine , established by U.S. Senator Simon Cameron , later

4387-537: The 45th President of the United States Donald Trump occurred. Pennsylvania is 170 miles (274 km) north to south and 283 miles (455 km) east to west. Of a total 46,055 square miles (119,282 km ), 44,817 square miles (116,075 km ) are land, 490 square miles (1,269 km ) are inland waters, and 749 square miles (1,940 km ) are waters in Lake Erie . It is the 33rd-largest state in

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4494-428: The 48 states. The Philadelphia Naval Shipyard served as an important naval base, and Pennsylvania produced important military leaders, including George C. Marshall , Hap Arnold , Jacob Devers , and Carl Spaatz . During the war, over a million Pennsylvanians served in the armed forces, and more Medals of Honor were awarded to Pennsylvanians than to individuals from any other state. The Three Mile Island accident

4601-507: The Americas began, at least two major Native American tribes inhabited Pennsylvania. The first, the Lenape , spoke an Algonquian language and inhabited the eastern region of the state, then known as Lenapehoking . It included most of present-day New Jersey and the Lehigh Valley and Delaware Valley regions in eastern and southeastern Pennsylvania. The Lenape's territory ended somewhere between

4708-449: The Dodge/Plymouth twins and includes the Chrysler corporate pentastar logo on its hood. The children enjoy showing the new van to their friends: "And it has a sliding door, like an elevator." Early strips also showed the family in a small convertible, a caricature based on Keane's Sunbeam Rapier . The daily strip consists of a single captioned panel with a round border. The panel is occasionally split in two halves. One unusual practice in

4815-543: The Dutch began settling the Delmarva Peninsula by establishing the Zwaanendael Colony on the site of present-day Lewes, Delaware . In 1638, Sweden established the New Sweden Colony in the region of Fort Christina on the site of present-day Wilmington, Delaware . New Sweden claimed and, for the most part, controlled the lower Delaware River region, including parts of present-day Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, but settled few colonists there. On March 12, 1664, King Charles II of England gave James, Duke of York

4922-408: The Family Circus (1978), A Family Circus Christmas (1979), A Family Circus Easter (1982). The Easter special featured jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie as the Easter Bunny. This special is a musical and features Dolly singing "Hey There, Easter Bunny". In October 2010, 20th Century Fox and Walden Media announced that they had acquired the film rights for a live-action feature film based on

5029-427: The General Assembly refused to occupy the building. In 1901, political and popular indignation prompted a second contest that was restricted to Pennsylvania architects; Joseph Miller Huston of Philadelphia was chosen to design the present Pennsylvania State Capitol that incorporated Cobb's building into a magnificent public work, finished and dedicated in 1907. James Buchanan , a Franklin County native, served as

5136-401: The India Today Group's Syndications Today , and Times Syndication Service of India. Pennsylvania This is an accepted version of this page Pennsylvania ( / ˌ p ɛ n s ɪ l ˈ v eɪ n i ə / PEN -sil- VAY -nee-ə , lit.   ' Penn's forest country ' ), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( Pennsylvania Dutch : Pennsilfaani ),

5243-409: The Netherlands confirmed the English conquest on July 21, 1667, although there were temporary reversions. On September 12, 1672, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , the Dutch reconquered New York Colony / New Amsterdam , establishing three County Courts, which went on to become original Counties in present-day Delaware and Pennsylvania. The one that later transferred to Pennsylvania was Upland. This

5350-439: The Petun of New York, the Wyandot of Ohio, and the Tiontatecaga of the Kanawha River in southern West Virginia. South of the Allegheny River was a nation known as Calicua, which may have been part of the Monongahela culture . In the 17th century, the Dutch and the English each claimed both sides of the Delaware River as part of their colonial lands in America. The Dutch were the first to take possession. By June 3, 1631,

5457-563: The Quakers and the Indians. Additional treaties between Quakers and other tribes followed. The Treaty of Shackamaxon of William Penn was never violated. Between 1730 and when the Pennsylvania Colony was shut down by Parliament with the Currency Act in 1764, the Pennsylvania Colony made its own paper money to account for the shortage of actual gold and silver. The paper money was called Colonial Scrip . The Colony issued bills of credit, which were as good as gold or silver coins because of their legal tender status. Since they were issued by

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5564-418: The cartoons and strips in as many newspapers as possible on behalf of the artist. In some cases, the work will be owned by the syndicate as opposed to the creator. A syndicate can annually receive thousands of submissions from which only two or three might be selected for representation. The leading strip syndicates include Andrews McMeel Syndication , King Features Syndicate , and Creators Syndicate , with

5671-429: The children's response to a given scenario, although the speaker of any given speech balloon is never explicitly shown (this format began on May 30, 1965). There are 89 compilations of Family Circus cartoons. For a full list of book titles, see Family Circus collections . The Family Circus characters appeared in animated form in three television holiday specials, all broadcast on NBC : A Special Valentine with

5778-429: The city's population as of 2000. In the 20th century, as Pennsylvania's historical national and even global leadership in mining largely ceased and its steelmaking and other heavy manufacturing sectors slowed, the state sought to grow its service and other industries to replace the jobs and economic productivity lost from the downturn of these industries. Pittsburgh's concentration of universities has enabled it to be

5885-938: The creator of a Family Circus -like strip. Print syndication The syndicate is an agency that offers features from notable journalists and authorities as well as reliable and established cartoonists. It fills a need among smaller weekly and daily newspapers for material that helps them compete with large urban papers, at a much lesser cost than if the client were to purchase the material themselves. Generally, syndicates sell their material to one client in each territory. News agencies differ in that they distribute news articles to all interested parties. Typical syndicated features are advice columns (parenting, health, finance, gardening, cooking, etc.), humor columns , editorial opinion, critic 's reviews, and gossip columns . Some syndicates specialize in one type of feature, such as comic strips. A comic strip syndicate functions as an agent for cartoonists and comic strip creators, placing

5992-420: The development of labor unions helped them gain living wages. However, the rise of unions also led to a rise of union busting with several private police forces springing up. Pennsylvania was the location of the first documented organized strike in North America, and Pennsylvania was the location of two hugely prominent strikes, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Coal Strike of 1902 . The eight-hour day

6099-432: The earliest known signs of human activity in Pennsylvania and perhaps all of North America, including the remains of a civilization that existed over 10,000 years ago and possibly pre-dated the Clovis culture . By 1000 CE, in contrast to their nomadic hunter-gatherer ancestors , the native population of Pennsylvania had developed agricultural techniques and a mixed food economy. By the time European colonization of

6206-413: The epitome of squareness, but it turns the corner into a hip zone." For the 1997 April Fools' Day comic strip switcheroo , Dilbert creator Scott Adams swapped cartoons with Keane; and Stephan Pastis drew a series in which Family Circus "invaded" Pearls Before Swine in 2007. Pastis, who had a close relationship with Bil and Jeff Keane, created numerous parodies of Family Circus "because it

6313-401: The exception of P.J., no characters have aged appreciably during the run of the strip. Bil (named Steve in the early years of the strip) works in an office, and he is believed to be a cartoonist, most likely based on the writer of the strip because he draws large circles on paper, presumably a cartoon version of the Family Circus . Some panels refer to Bil as a veteran of World War II . Thel

6420-456: The existence of the gremlins, they did include them as members of the family, perhaps tongue-in-cheek , when being interviewed by a member of the U.S. Census Bureau . Another time when Thel was sick of hearing about the gremlins from the kids ("Who's been rummaging in Gramma's purse?" "Not me!"), she asked her mother-in-law if she had ever dealt with such absurdity, causing Florence to remark, "Well, I'm sure that he has been around at least since I

6527-411: The family. Bil's father (Al, called Granddad by the kids and Bil) is dead but occasionally appears in the strip as a spirit or watching from heaven. Bil's father (as a spirit) plays a prominent role in the TV special A Family Circus Christmas . Al died after the launch of the feature. However, in the November 25, 2012 strip, it was indicated that he had died before Jeffy was born, although the character Al

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6634-417: The fifth and currently the sixth-largest city after decades of being among the top three. After 1990, as information-based industries became more important in the economy, state and local governments put more resources into the old, well-established public library system. Some localities, however, used new state funding to cut local taxes. New ethnic groups, especially Hispanics and Latinos , began entering

6741-463: The first. At the time, Pennsylvania was the most ethnically and religiously diverse of the thirteen colonies. Because a third of Pennsylvania's population spoke German , the Constitution was presented in German so those citizens could participate in the discussion about it. Reverend Frederick Muhlenberg , a Lutheran minister and the first Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives , acted as chairman of Pennsylvania's ratifying convention. For half

6848-448: The foundation of the colonial Province of Pennsylvania in 1681. Archaeologists believe the first settlement of the Americas occurred at least 15,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Period , though it is unclear when humans first inhabited present-day Pennsylvania. Between 10,000 and 16,000 years ago, Native Americans crossed the two continents, arriving in North America . Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Jefferson Township includes

6955-515: The government and not a banking institution, they were interest-free, largely defraying the expense of the government and therefore taxation of the people. It also promoted general employment and prosperity, since the government used discretion and did not issue excessive amounts that inflated the currency. Benjamin Franklin had a hand in creating this currency, whose utility, he said, was never to be disputed. The currency also met with "cautious approval" by Adam Smith . In 1740, Franklin also founded

7062-586: The grocery store. Keane states that the religious content reflects his own upbringing and family traditions. Keane was Roman Catholic , and in past cartoons the children have been shown attending Catholic schools with sisters as teachers and attending Catholic church services, much as Keane did in his childhood years at St. William Parish in Philadelphia. Keane was a frequent contributor to his high school newspaper The Good News at Northeast Catholic High School for Boys in Philadelphia, where he graduated in 1940. Some of his comics with scenes in Billy's bedroom depict

7169-535: The house until he finished his homework, she told him, "One day when you are grown up you will thank me for this!," causing Billy to imagine the absurdity of himself as a fully grown man visiting his elderly mother just to thank her for telling him that as a child. Other adult ideas included the parents telling Jeffy not to be shy when they invited friends to the house, and then he is pictured 25 years later as an outgoing late-night talk-show host akin to Jay Leno . Another example showed P.J. not wishing to be introduced to

7276-433: The land be called New Wales, but there were objections to that name, so he recommended Sylvania (from the Latin silva : "forest, woods"). The King named it Pennsylvania (literally "Penn's Woods") in honor of Admiral Penn. The younger Penn was embarrassed at this name, fearing that people would think he had named it after himself, but King Charles would not rename the grant. Penn established a government with two innovations,

7383-567: The largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Heinz Company was also founded during this period. These huge companies exercised a large influence on the politics of Pennsylvania; as Henry Demarest Lloyd put it, oil baron John D. Rockefeller "had done everything with the Pennsylvania legislature except refine it". Pennsylvania created a Department of Highways and engaged in a vast program of road-building, while railroads continued to see heavy usage. The growth of industry eventually provided middle class incomes to working-class households after

7490-399: The largest steel companies in the world. Andrew Carnegie founded the Carnegie Steel Company in Pittsburgh and Charles M. Schwab founded Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem . Other titans of industry, including John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould , also operated in Pennsylvania. In the latter half of the 19th century, the U.S. oil industry was born in Western Pennsylvania , which supplied

7597-491: The latter part of his life, is seen in one 1976 strip. Sometimes the family is depicted enjoying snow at their home in the strip, but Scottsdale receives very little snow in the winter. Bil Keane commented that he took aspects of his boyhood in Pennsylvania , such as snow, and added them to the strip. One distinguishing characteristic of the Family Circus is the frequent use of Christian imagery and themes, ranging from generic references to God to Jeffy daydreaming about Jesus at

7704-403: The magazine Family Circle . The series debuted February 29, 1960, and has been in continuous production ever since. According to publisher King Features Syndicate , it is the most widely syndicated cartoon panel in the world, appearing in 1,500 newspapers. Compilations of Family Circus comic strips have sold more than 13 million copies worldwide. The central characters of Family Circus are

7811-417: The majority of the state, except for the southeastern corner, has a humid continental climate ( Köppen climate classification Dfb ). The southern portion of the state has a humid subtropical climate. The largest city, Philadelphia , has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa ). Summers are generally hot and humid. Moving toward the mountainous interior of the state, the winter climate becomes colder,

7918-442: The north-central region with York , Carlisle , and the state capital Harrisburg on the Susquehanna River in the east-central region of the state. Altoona and Johnstown are in the state's west-central region. The state's three-most populated cities, in order of size, are Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Allentown. As of the 2020 U.S. census , Pennsylvania had a population of 13,011,844, up from 12,702,379 in 2010. Pennsylvania

8025-627: The number of cloudy days increases, and snowfall amounts are greater. Western areas of the state, particularly locations near Lake Erie , can receive over 100 inches (250 cm) of snowfall annually, and the entire state receives plentiful precipitation throughout the year. The state may be subject to severe weather from spring through summer into autumn. Tornadoes occur annually in the state, sometimes in large numbers, such as 30 recorded tornadoes in 2011; generally speaking, these tornadoes do not cause significant damage. Cities in Pennsylvania include Philadelphia , Reading , Lebanon , and Lancaster in

8132-635: The old Dauphin County Court House until December 1821 when the Federal -style Hills Capitol, named for Lancaster architect Stephen Hills , was constructed on a hilltop land grant of four acres set aside for a seat of state government in Harrisburg by the son and namesake of John Harris, Sr. , a Yorkshire native who founded a trading post and ferry on the east shore of the Susquehanna River in 1705. The Hills Capitol burned down on February 2, 1897, during

8239-429: The remainder from Africa (5%), North America (3.1%), and Oceania (0.4%). The state's largest ancestry groups, expressed as a percentage of total people who responded with a particular ancestry for the 2010 census, were German 28.5%, Irish 18.2%, Italian 12.8%, African Americans 9.6%, English 8.5%, Polish 7.2%, and French 4.2%. As of 2018, the top countries of origin for Pennsylvania's immigrants were India ,

8346-482: The series is the occasional use of both speech balloons within the picture and captions outside the circle. The daily strip does not generally follow a weekly story arc , with the exception of family vacations. The format of the Sunday strip varies considerably from week to week, although there are several well-known recurring themes. One recurring theme is a single picture surrounded by multiple speech balloons, representing

8453-404: The southeast, Pittsburgh in the southwest, and the tri-cities of Allentown , Bethlehem , and Easton in the central east, known as the Lehigh Valley . The northeast includes the former anthracite coal mining cities of Scranton , Wilkes-Barre , Pittston , Nanticoke , and Hazleton . Erie is located in the northwest. State College is located in the central region. Williamsport is in

8560-439: The state is forested . While it has no ocean shoreline, it has 140 miles (225 km) of waterfront along Lake Erie and the tidal Delaware River. Pennsylvania is the fifth-most populous state in the United States , with over 13 million residents as of the 2020 United States census . The state is the 33rd-largest by area and has the ninth-highest population density among all states. The largest metropolitan statistical area

8667-569: The state to fill low-skill jobs in agriculture and service industries. For example, in Chester County , Mexican immigrants brought the Spanish language , increased Catholicism , high birth rates, and cuisine when they were hired as agricultural laborers; in some rural localities, they made up half or more of the population. Stateside Puerto Ricans built a large community in the state's third-largest city, Allentown , where they comprise over 40% of

8774-569: The state's manufacturing-based economy contributed to the development of much of the nation's early infrastructure, including key bridges, skyscrapers , and military hardware used in U.S.-led victories in World War I , World War II , and the Cold War . Pennsylvania's geography is highly diverse. The Appalachian Mountains run through the center of the state; the Allegheny and Pocono mountains span much of Northeastern Pennsylvania ; close to 60% of

8881-796: The state. In 1923, President Calvin Coolidge established the Allegheny National Forest under the authority of the Weeks Act of 1911. The forest is located in the northwest part of the state in Elk , Forest , McKean , and Warren Counties for the purposes of timber production and watershed protection in the Allegheny River basin. The Allegheny is the state's only national forest. Pennsylvania manufactured 6.6 percent of total U.S. military armaments produced during World War II , ranking sixth among

8988-519: The state." The ensuing hostilities became known as Pontiac's War . After the Stamp Act Congress of 1765, delegate John Dickinson of Philadelphia wrote the Declaration of Rights and Grievances . The Congress was the first meeting of the Thirteen Colonies , which convened at the request of the Massachusetts assembly; nine of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Dickinson then wrote Letters from

9095-488: The strip, described how he creates the line by drawing one continuous black line and then breaking it into segments with white. The dotted line has taken different formats, such as when the family took a vacation to San Francisco and were shown in a dotted line down famous Lombard Street ("the crookedest street in the world"), or Jeffy and his grandfather taking a walk in the park, with Jeffy running around wildly, indicated by an uneven dotted line, with his grandfather's path as

9202-401: The toddler daughter of family friends, only to show 30 years later that both are now grown and are celebrating their wedding day. Yet another had Thel telling Billy that she cannot clean his messes for his whole life, then imagining a fully grown Billy as a businessman running a chain of "High Hat Hotels" and an aged, weary Thel working as one of the maids. For the first 25 years, the family car

9309-532: The town. All 40 civilians and 4 Al-Qaeda hijackers on board were killed. The hijackers had intended to crash the plane into either the United States Capitol or The White House . After learning from family members via air phone of the earlier attacks on the World Trade Center , however, Flight 93's passengers revolted against the hijackers and fought for control of the plane, causing it to crash. It

9416-524: The unification of the states. Established in 1773, it was ratified on September 9, 1783, five days after the Treaty of Paris . James Smith wrote that in 1763, "the Indians again commenced hostilities, and were busily engaged in killing and scalping the frontier inhabitants in various parts of Pennsylvania. This state was then a Quaker government, and at the first of this war the frontiers received no assistance from

9523-565: The vast majority of kerosene for years thereafter. As the Pennsylvania oil rush developed, Pennsylvania's oil boom towns, such as Titusville , rose and later fell. Coal mining, primarily in the state's Coal Region in the northeast region of the state, also was a major industry for much of the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1903, Milton S. Hershey began construction on a chocolate factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania ; The Hershey Company grew to become

9630-552: Was a station wagon , first based on Keane's own 1961 Buick . In 1985, a year after the introduction of the Plymouth Voyager and the Dodge Caravan , the family appears in a series of cartoons trading the station wagon for a new minivan (when the salesman assures Mom and Dad that " Lee Iacocca stands behind every vehicle we sell," the children look behind the van to see if Mr. Iacocca is back there). The family's minivan resembles

9737-459: Was a "resemblance," he did not "know anything about Bil Keane and made up my characters from scratch." The cartoon has been the subject of gags on many television sitcoms including episodes of Pinky and the Brain , Mystery Science Theater 3000 , The Simpsons , Friends , Drawn Together , Robot Chicken , Mad , an episode of Family Guy (" Dog Gone ") and the 1999 movie Go . In

9844-413: Was a little girl," in which there is a flashback to Florence's childhood with her father demanding to know, "Who scratched my new Glenn Miller record?," with little Florence firmly stating, "Not me!" and the "Not Me" entity smugly standing by. One theme that Keane tried occasionally was to picture the children as adults, or what might come of it. One time when Billy had been asked by Thelma not to leave

9951-400: Was an icon." The Dysfunctional Family Circus was a satire website which paired Keane's illustrations with user-submitted captions. Keane claimed to have found the site funny at first. However, disapproving feedback from his readership, coupled with the website's use of double entendre and vulgarity, prompted Keane to request that the site be discontinued. The webcomic Jersey Circus is

10058-550: Was eventually adopted, and the coal and iron police were banned. At the beginning of the 20th century, Pennsylvania's economy centered on steel production, logging , coal mining , textile production, and other forms of industrial manufacturing . A surge in immigration to the U.S. during the late 19th and early 20th centuries provided a steady flow of cheap labor for these industries, which often employed children and people who could not speak English from Southern and Eastern Europe . Thousands of Pennsylvanians volunteered during

10165-649: Was featured in strips prior to Granddad's death. Thel's parents are both alive but apparently live several hundred miles away in a rural area. Strips have mentioned them living in Iowa, but one 2007 strip mentioned Florida. The family occasionally visits them for a vacation. The family pets are two dogs—a Labrador named Barfy and a shaggy-haired mutt named Sam, a stray that the children brought home on January 26, 1970—and an orange tabby cat named Kittycat. The Family Circus takes place in Scottsdale, Arizona . They often visit

10272-461: Was flattered and believed that such parody "...is a compliment to the popularity of the feature..." The official Family Circus website contains a sampling of syndicated comic strips from other authors which parody his characters. Some newspaper comic strips have included entire storylines using Family Circus characters. In 1994, the surreal Zippy the Pinhead comic strip made multiple references to

10379-484: Was founded in 1681 through a royal land grant to William Penn , the son of the state's namesake . Prior to that, between 1638 and 1655, a southeast portion of the state was part of New Sweden , a Swedish Empire colony. Established as a haven for religious and political tolerance, the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania was known for its relatively peaceful relations with native tribes, innovative government system , and religious pluralism . Pennsylvania played

10486-535: Was in This Week magazine in 1962 in a cartoon titled "Life in Our House" that attributed the childish drawings to his six-year-old son Chris. Keane also modeled Billy after his eldest son Glen , now a prominent Disney animator. The character of five-year-old Dolly was modeled after Keane's daughter and eldest child Gayle. Dolly was a nickname that Thelma Keane called little girls. The character of three-year-old Jeffy

10593-404: Was named and modeled after Keane's youngest child Jeff. The comic family's youngest child P.J. (Peter John) was introduced through a series of cartoons about the mother's pregnancy that culminated in the baby's birth on August 1, 1962. P.J. grows to be about one year old and rarely speaks. Bil's mother (Florence, but usually called Grandma) appears regularly in the strip and apparently lives near

10700-737: Was not yet in British possession, but the sale boxed in the portion of New Netherland on the West side of the Delaware River. The British conquest of New Netherland began on August 29, 1664, when New Amsterdam was coerced to surrender while facing cannons on British ships in New York Harbor . The conquest was completed in October 1664, when the British captured Fort Casimir in what today is New Castle, Delaware . The Treaty of Breda between England, France, and

10807-527: Was once again chosen to be cradle to the new nation. The Constitution was drafted and signed at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, now known as Independence Hall , the same building where the Declaration of Independence was previously adopted and signed in 1776. On December 12, 1787, Pennsylvania was the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution , five days after Delaware became

10914-540: Was partially reversed on February 9, 1674, when the Treaty of Westminster ended the Third Anglo-Dutch War and reverted all political situations to the status quo ante bellum . The British retained the Dutch Counties with their Dutch names. By June 11, 1674, New York reasserted control over the outlying colonies, including Upland, and the names started to be changed to British names by November 11, 1674. Upland

11021-439: Was partitioned on November 12, 1674, producing the general outline of the current border between Pennsylvania and Delaware. On February 28, 1681, Charles II granted a land charter to Quaker leader William Penn to repay a debt of £16,000 (around £2,100,000 in 2008, adjusting for retail inflation) owed to William's father. The transaction represents one of the largest land grants to an individual in history. Penn proposed that

11128-596: Was practiced in the Journal of Occurrences , a series of newspaper articles published by an anonymous group of "patriots" in 1768–1769 in the New York Journal and Packet and other newspapers, chronicling the occupation of Boston by the British Army. According to historian Elmo Scott Watson , true print syndication began in 1841 with a two-page supplement produced by New York Sun publisher Moses Yale Beach and sold to

11235-441: Was the most significant nuclear accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. The state was hard-hit by the decline and restructuring of the steel industry and other heavy industries during the late 20th century. With job losses came heavy population losses, especially in the state's largest cities. Pittsburgh lost its place among the top ten most populous cities in the United States by 1950, and Philadelphia dropped to

11342-643: Was the only one of the four aircraft hijacked that day that never reached its intended target and the heroism of the passengers has been commemorated. Since 2003, the Tekko anime convention has been held annually in Pittsburgh. In October 2018, the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation , a conservative Jewish synagogue, experienced the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting , which resulted in 11 fatalities. On July 13, 2024, near Butler, Pennsylvania , an assassination attempt on

11449-564: Was the second state to ratify the U.S. Constitution . In July 1863, the Battle of Gettysburg , fought over three days in and around Gettysburg , was the bloodiest and most decisive battle of the American Civil War , claiming over 50,000 Union and Confederate fatalities and repelling Robert E. Lee 's invasion of the North, leading to the Union's preservation . Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries,

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