Editing Maggie Simpson (section)

====Creation====
[[File:UllmanMaggie.png|right|thumb|Maggie in her first appearance in the Ullman short "Good Night".]]
[[Matt Groening]] conceived Maggie and the rest of the Simpson family in 1986 in the lobby of [[James L. Brooks]]'s office. Groening had been called in to pitch a series of animated shorts for ''[[The Tracey Ullman Show]]'', and had intended to present an adaptation of his ''[[Life in Hell]]'' comic strip. When he realized that animating ''Life in Hell'' would require him to rescind publication rights for his life's work, Groening decided to go in another direction,<ref name="americasfirstfamily">{{cite video |people=BBC |year=2000 |title=The Simpsons: America's First Family (6 minute edit for the season 1 DVD) |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250735/ |format=DVD |location=UK |publisher=20th Century Fox |access-date=June 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211081722/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250735/ |archive-date=February 11, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> and hurriedly sketched out his version of a [[dysfunctional family]] and named the characters after members of his own family. The baby of the family was named Maggie after Groening's youngest sister.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Matt Groening|last=Sadownick|first=Doug|author-link=Douglas Sadownick|magazine=[[The Advocate (magazine)|The Advocate]]|issue=571|date=February 26, 1991|url=https://www.simpsonsarchive.com/other/interviews/groening91.html|access-date=September 23, 2024|archive-date=September 24, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240924010418/https://www.simpsonsarchive.com/other/interviews/groening91.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2003818762_realsimpsons030.html |title=The real people behind Homer Simpson and family |access-date=January 19, 2008 |last=Rose|first=Joseph |date=August 3, 2007 |work=[[The Oregonian]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120525111318/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2003818762_realsimpsons030.html |archive-date=May 25, 2012 }}</ref> Maggie then made her debut with the rest of the Simpsons family on April 19, 1987, in the [[The Simpsons shorts|short]] "[[Good Night (The Simpsons short)|Good Night]]".{{sfn|Richmond & Coffman|1997 |p=14}} In 1989, the shorts were adapted into ''The Simpsons'', a half-hour series that would air on the [[Fox Broadcasting Company]]. Maggie and the rest of the family remained the main characters on this new show.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?id=568&IssueNum=32 |title=3rd Degree: Harry Shearer |access-date=September 1, 2006 |last=Kuipers|first=Dean|author-link=Dean Kuipers |date=April 15, 2004 |website=[[Los Angeles City Beat]] |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308105912/http://www.lacitybeat.com/cms/story/detail/?id=568&IssueNum=32 |archive-date=March 8, 2008}}</ref>

The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette.<ref>Groening, Matt. (2005). Commentary for "[[Fear of Flying (The Simpsons)|Fear of Flying]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings.<ref name="americasfirstfamily"/> Maggie's physical features are generally not used in other characters; for example, in the later seasons, no character other than Lisa shares her hairline.<ref>Groening, Matt; Reiss, Mike; Kirkland, Mark. (2002). Commentary for "[[Principal Charming]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> While designing Maggie and Lisa, Groening "couldn't be bothered to even think about girls' hair styles".<ref name=THOHV>Silverman, David; Reardon, Jim; Groening, Matt. (2005). Illustrated commentary for "[[Treehouse of Horror V]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Sixth Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref> At the time, Groening was primarily drawing in black and white and when designing Lisa and Maggie, he "just gave them this kind of spiky starfish hair style, not thinking that they would eventually be drawn in color".<ref>Groening, Matt. (2006). "A Bit From the Animators", illustrated commentary for "[[All Singing, All Dancing]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete Ninth Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref>

Groening thought that it would be funny to have a baby character that did not talk and never grew up, but was scripted to show any emotions that the scene required.<ref name=sundvd>{{cite video |people=Groening, Matt; Scully, Mike; Jean, Al; Brooks, James L.; Silverman, David |year=2007 |title=The Simpsons Movie: A Look Behind the Scenes |medium=DVD |work=[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]}}</ref> Maggie's comedic hallmarks include her tendency to stumble and land on her face while attempting to walk, and a penchant for sucking on her pacifier, the sound of which has become the equivalent of her catchphrase and was originally created by Groening during the [[The Tracey Ullman Show|Tracey Ullman period]]. In the early seasons of the show, Maggie would suck her pacifier over other characters' dialogue, but this was discontinued because the producers found it too distracting.<ref>Groening, Matt. (2001). Commentary for "[[Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire]]", in ''The Simpsons: The Complete First Season'' [DVD]. 20th Century Fox.</ref>