Mort Walker (b. 1923)

Born: 1923 September 3 in El Dorado, Kansas, United States

Died: 2018 January 27 in Stamford, Connecticut, United States

Biography: Creator:
Beetle Bailey, Boner's Ark, Gamin and Patches, Hi and Lois, and Sam and Silo.
Co-created The Evermores with Johnny Sajem in 1982.

Founder:
Museum of Cartoon Art, 1974.

Additional biography:
Freelancer (Drukel Publication) #4, Fall 1957.
World of Comic Art (World of Comic Art Publications) #1, 1966; #3, 1966.
Cartoonist PROfiles (Jud Hurd) #12, #16, #32, #38, #41, #43-44, #48-51, 1971-1980.
World Encyclopedia of Comics, 1976, 1999.
Nemo (Fantagraphics) #5, 1984.
Comics Journal (Fantagraphics) #116, 1987.
Ron Goulart's Comics History Magazine (Goulart Publishing Empire) #4, Summer 1997.
A Gallery of Rogues: Cartoonists' Self-Caricatures (Billy Ireland Cartoon Library), 1998, by Robert C. Harvey.
Mort Walker: Conversations (University Press of Mississippi), 2005.
News from ME, "Mort Walker, R.I.P.", Saturday, January 27, 2018 at 10:00 AM, https://www.newsfromme.com/2018/01/27/mort-walker-r-i-p/ (retrieved 27 January 2018).
Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mort_Walker.
Stamford Advocate, "‘Beetle Bailey’ cartoonist Mort Walker dies at 94", By John Breunig Updated 5:25 pm, Saturday, January 27, 2018 (http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Beetle-Bailey-cartoonist-Mort-Walker-dies-12530668.php?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP, retrieved 27 January 2018).

Comic strip and comic strip syndication:
Lime Juicers (Limejuicers) daily for the Kansas City Journal (Kansas City, Missouri), 1936, for one year.
Submitted gag for the Li'l Abner topper, Advice fo' Chillun (United Feature Syndicate), published Sunday, October 24, 1937.
Submitted strip Wake of the Wanderer to a syndicate but was rejected, 1938.
Sunshine and Shadow comic strip for the American Dairy Review (Watt Publishing Company), 1939-1940.
Beetle Bailey daily and Sunday (King Features Syndicate), 1950-2018 (writer throughout entire run; penciler, and inker through most of the run).
Betty Boop and Friends daily (King Features Syndicate), 1984-1988 (writer).
Boner’s Ark daily and Sunday (King Features Syndicate), 1968-1984 (writer).
The Evermores daily and Sunday (King Features Syndicate), 1982-1985 (writer).
Gamin and Patches daily and Sunday (United Feature Syndicate), 1987-1988 (writer).
Hi and Lois daily and Sunday (King Features Syndicate), 1954-1990 (writer).
Mrs. Fitz’s Flats daily (King Features Syndicate), 1957-1972 (writer).
Sam and Silo daily and Sunday (King Features Syndicate), 1977-1981 (writer).
Sam’s Strip daily (King Features Syndicate), 1961-1963 (writer).

Editorial cartoons for Scarritt Scout, mimeographed grade school newspaper, 1933.
At age of 11, Walker makes his first cartoon sale to Child Life (Rand McNally) for one dollar, 1934.
Walker enters and wins a national oil painting contest for ten dollars with a certificate of merit, 1940.
Chief editorial designer, Hall Brothers (Hallmark Cards), 1941-1942.
Drafted into United States Army, 1942. Discharged as First Lieutenant in 1946. Walker's experience in the Army served as inspiration for Beetle Bailey.
Editor-in-Chief for Missouri Showme Magazine from the University of Missouri, 1946-1948.
As part of a University of Missouri experiment, one of Walker's cartoons becomes the first to be transmitted via fax, 1947.
Submits, with friend David Hornaday, a teenager comic strip to syndicates, but does not sell, 1947.
Hired by Dell as a editor, working as editor-in-chief on 1000 Jokes (Dell, 1939 series), Hollywood's Family Album (Dell, 1948 series), Film Fun (Dell, ? series), and assistant editor on Western Stars (Dell, 1948 series), and Sport (Dell, 1946 series), 1948.
1949 married Jean Suffill, had seven children, later divorced.
Submits cartoons regularly to magazines, including one based off his friend David Hornaday, around a character named Spider to the Saturday Evening Post. The Post declines to make it a regular feature, and Walker reworks it into Beetle Bailey, 1950.
Last comic strip to be personally approved by William Randolph Hearst, Beetle Bailey appears in twelve newspapers on September 4, 1950.
The Korean War causes a change in direction of Beetle Bailey, as the titular character leaves college to join the army, 1951.
Works with cartoonist Dik Browne to create the comic strip Hi and Lois, 1954.
Creates comic strip Mrs. Fritz's Flats, 1957.
Works with cartoonist Jerry Dumas to create the comic strip Sam's Strip, 1961. Creates with Dumas the spinoff strip, Sam and Silo, eventually passing it onto Jerry Dumas, 1977.
Fifty animated Beetle Bailey cartoons produced by Paramount Pictures, Walker writes two cartoons, 1962
Walker creates comic strip Boner's Ark, eventually passing it onto cartoonist Frank Johnson.
August 24, 1985 married Catherine Carty, had three step-children.

Name:

    Mort Walker Type: Common Alternative Name

Other Names:

  1. Addison Type: Pen Name
  2. Addison Morton Walker Type: Name at Birth
    Given name: Addison Morton Family name: Walker
  3. M. Walker Type: Pen Name

Schools:

  1. Washington University [St. Louis] ? to ?

  2. University of Missouri 1946 to 1948

    Notes: Graduated with A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) in the Humanities.

Signatures:

  1. Mort [generic]
  2. Mort Walker [generic]
  3. Mort Walker [generic]

Art Influences:

Mort Walker (b. 1923) stated influences by:
  1. Dale Beronius (b. 1903)
  2. Darrell Porter
  3. S. J. Ray (b. 1891)
Influences by Mort Walker (b. 1923) were stated by:
  1. Tom Armstrong (b. 1950)
  2. Daniel Clowes (b. 1961)
  3. Dan DeCarlo (b. 1919)
  4. Fred Hembeck (b. 1953)
  5. Mike Kaye (b. 1976)
  6. Fred Rhoads (b. 1921)

Memberships:

  1. Museum of Cartoon Art (Greenwich, Connecticut) Type: member Duration: 1974 - ?
    Notes: Founder of the museum.

  2. Newspaper Features Council Type: member Duration: 1989 - ?
    Notes: National Chairman of Cartoonists for Literacy from the Newspaper Features Council.

  3. National Cartoonists Society Type: president
    Notes: President from 1959 to 1960 and editor of society newsletter.

Non Comics Works:

  1. Publication Title: ? (advertising) - Role: artist
    Notes: Commercial Art & Design for General Electric (GE), Coca Cola (Coke), Vicks VapoRub, Sprite known. Details needed.

  2. Publication Title: Backstage at the Strips (book) - Role: writer - Year: 1975
    Employer Name : A & W Visual Library

  3. Publication Title: Beetle Bailey (movie) - Role: writer - Year: 1962
    Employer Name : Famous Studios
    Work Title: Home Sweet Swampy
    Notes: Production company, Famous Studios. Distributor, Paramount Pictures. Animated cartoon short.

  4. Publication Title: Beetle Bailey (movie) - Role: writer - Year: 1962
    Employer Name : Famous Studios
    Work Title: Hero's Reward
    Notes: Production company, Famous Studios. Distributor, Paramount Pictures. Animated cartoon short.

  5. Publication Title: Flying Aces (magazine) - Role: artist - Years: 1938?; 1939?
    Employer Name : Periodical House, Inc.
    Work Title: “Fessenden, you’ll have to bail out. I simply CAN’T work with anyone looking over my shoulder.”

  6. Publication Title: Hallmark Greeting Cards (other) - Role: artist - Years: 1941?; 1942?
    Employer Name : Hall Brothers
    Notes: Helped redesign the greeting cards from cute cuddly type to gag cartoon types of interest to those in military service.

  7. Publication Title: Inside Detective (magazine) - Role: artist - Years: 1938?; 1939?
    Employer Name : Inside Detective Publishing Company
    Work Title: "Heck! A swell serial story, and I'm getting hung tomorrow!"

  8. Publication Title: Land of Lost Things (book) - Role: writer - Year: 1973
    Employer Name : Windmill Books
    Notes: Written and with illustrations by Dik Browne.

  9. Publication Title: Most (book) - Role: artist - Year: 1971
    Employer Name : Windmill Books
    Notes: Writer with Dik Browne doing the illustrations.

  10. Publication Title: Stripped (other) - Role: art director - Year: 2015
    Employer Name : Sequential Films
    Notes: Makes an appearance in the direct to DVD documentary about comic strip creators.

  11. Publication Title: The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (television) - Role: writer - Year: 1972
    Employer Name : American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
    Notes: Did one episode.

  12. Publication Title: The Comics Journal (magazine) - Role: writer - Year: 1990
    Employer Name : Fantagraphics
    Work Title: Cartooning Is Live and Well
    Notes: Contributor essay to The Comics Journal (Fantagraphics, 1977 series)) #137, September 1990, page 99.

  13. Publication Title: The Lexicon of Comicana (book) - Role: writer - Year: 1980
    Employer Name : Comicana Books

  14. Publication Title: The Open Road for Boys (magazine) - Role: writer - Years: 1937?; 1938?; 1939?; 1940
    Employer Name : The Torbell Company
    Notes: As youngster, Walker submitted solutions to cartoon problems found in this magazine. One date known, June 1940, where he won the contest for that month.

  15. Publication Title: The Open Road: America Looks at Aging (television) - Role: actor - Year: 2005
    Employer Name : The Documentary Center, George Washington University
    Notes: Production company: The Documentary Center, George Washington University for American Public Television.

Relations:

  1. Parent of - Brian Walker (b. 1952)
    Notes: Collaborated together on Hi and Lois and Beetle Bailey.
  2. Parent of - Greg Walker (b. 1949)
    Notes: Collaborated together on the comic strips Hi and Lois and Beetle Bailey.
  3. Parent of - Morgan Walker
  4. Parent of - Neal Walker (b. 1962)

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