1878, despite Grips prediction that Mackenzie would win again. The magazine supported no party officially in its early years, but made its support for the Liberals explicit in the elections of 1887 and of 1891, after Wilfrid Laurier had become party leader. In the mid-1880s the Grip Printing and Publishing Company took on printing duties for the Ontario Liberal government. This support, however, resulted in no federal election wins. Grip had considerable influence on the public perception of politicians. That it was slanted in favour of Liberals and against Conservatives drove Conservative supporters to launch rival publications. The first was Jester, begun in 1878, which featured cartoons by Henri Julien that painted Macdonald in a benevolent light. Jester failed to find an audience to match Bengough's and folded the following year. In 1886, Bengough reported a weekly circulation for Grip of 50,000. In March 1874, in the music hall of the Toronto Mechanics' Institute, Bengough began giving comic chalk talk performances, which he later toured across the country. He impressed audiences with his ability to capture the likeness of members of the audience in a single penstroke. He continued his chalk talks throughout his life and travelled with them to the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Britain. He published an autobiography titled Chalk Talks in 1922, the year before his death. Early Canadian feminist writer Sarah Anne Curzon made regular contributions to Grip. At Bengough's request in 1882, she wrote the closet drama The Sweet Girl Graduate for the book The Grip Sack. The drama tells of a woman who disguises herself as a man to attend university at a time when women were barred in Canada from post-secondary education. In 1883, Frank Wilson took over management of the printing of Grip. Thomas Phillips Thompson became associate editor. He shared with Bengough a radical political outlook and a taste for satire, though was less open to new ideas than Bengough, who was quick to attach himself to new causes. Thompson was anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist, and anti-militarist. In 1892, the managers of Grip passed the editorship from Bengough to Thompson and Bengough's cartoons stopped appearing after the 6 August 1892 issue. Years later, Bengough's brother Thomas blamed the board of directors at Grip, Inc., for the falling out over "general mismanagement", which may have involved losses incurred in relation to a government contract. Grips tone became increasingly strident: anti-French, anti-Catholic, pro-socialist. This,