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Mort Walker Beetle Bailey, the world's most famous work-shirking private, must envy the comfortable lifestyle now enjoyed by his creator, celebrated cartoonist Mort Walker. But making it to the top of the competitive newspaper comics field took plenty of hard work, which was never popular in Beetle's bailiwick. The year 2000 marked the completion of "Mort Walker's Private Scrapbook". For half a century Beetle has lived up to his reputation for sowing laziness in the ranks, while Walker earned his rank as the world's most prolific cartoonist, along with stacks of prestigious honors and awards. In May 2000, Walker was honored by the The University of Missouri, Walker's alma mater, mounted a Beetle Bailey 50th anniversary exhibition in the grand concourse of the Elmer Ellis Library from Sept. 1-30, 2000. The exhibition included original daily and Sunday strips, copies of published reprints of the strips, and poster-size lithographs of selected strips. The retrospective also includes a section on Walker's days on campus, focused primarily on his editorship of a campus humor magazine that was regularly in trouble with the campus administration. And the exhibition looks back at a visit Walker paid to the campus in 1992 for the dedication of a life-sized Beetle Bailey statue, which resides in front of the University alumni center on a busy campus street.
Beetle, in a proud military salute, was featured as a 45-foot tall helium parade balloon that made its television debut in the 2000 Fourth of July Parade in Philadelphia. The Beetle balloon also highlighted the Thanksgiving parade on Nov. 19, 2000 and in 2005, in Stamford, Conn. Born in 1923 in El Dorado, Kan., Walker published his first comic when
he was 11. He sold his first cartoon at 12, and at 14 he was selling gag
cartoons regularly to Child Life, Inside Detective and Flying Aces
magazines. At 15, he was comic-strip artist for a weekly metropolitan
newspaper. At 18, he became chief editorial designer at Hall Bros.,
ushering in a light, playful style for the company's Hallmark Cards line.
He then went to New York City to pursue his cartooning career. In order
to survive he worked as editor of three magazines for Dell Publishing
Company. His first 200 cartoons were rejected, but he persisted, and
editors started to recognize his talent and in two years he was the
top-selling magazine cartoonist.
His first big break came in 1950, when King Features picked up
"Beetle Bailey" for syndication.
Beetle, who was originally called "Spider," The comic strip experienced two other notable jumps in circulation. In 1954, when the Tokyo edition of Stars & Stripes dropped the
strip because it supposedly engendered lack of respect for officers, the
U.S. press had a field day attacking the maneuver, and 100 more newspapers
enlisted "Beetle Bailey." Then in 1970, when Lt. Jack Flap first
marched into Sarge's office, "Beetle Bailey" became the first
established strip to integrate a black character into a white cast. Stars
& Stripes and some Southern newspapers quickly discharged the strip,
but 100 other newspapers joined up. King Features now distributes "Beetle Bailey" to roughly 1,800
newspapers, to over 50 countries with a combined readership of over 200 million every day.
Walker also created "Boner's Ark" in 1968 under the name
"Addison," and created "Sam & Silo" Walker has been recognized not only for the wide and enduring
popularity of his work but also for his stylistic innovations and his
leadership in the comics field. His use of high-contrast, deceptively
simple imagery and compact gags became the standard for a generation of
cartoonists and endures today.
The museum started in a mansion in Greenwich, Connecticut, then moved to a castle in Rye Brook, New York.
Walker has written several books on the art and history of comics, as
well as children's books. He has published numerous collections of his
comics work, including 92 "Beetle Bailey" and 35 "Hi and
Lois" paperbacks. Available here, online or in bookstores is Walker's
autobiography, "Mort Walker's Scrapbook: Celebrating a Life of Love and
Laughter". An animated "Beetle Bailey" television special was created
for CBS in 1989 and "Beetle" animated shorts are available on DVD.
Some of Walker's many awards:
1953: "Cartoonist of the Year, "National Cartoonists Society" ("The
Reuben").
1955: Banshee Award, Silver Lady, "Outstanding Cartoonist."
1966: "Best Humor Strip, "National Cartoonists Society."
1969: "Best Humor Strip, "National Cartoonists Society."
1972: Il Secolo XIX Award, Italy.
1975: Adamson Award, "Best International Cartoonist," Sweden.
1977: Power of Printing Award.
1977: Elzie Segar Award, "Lifetime Achievement."
1978: Fourth Estate Award, American Legion.
1979: The Jester, Newspaper Features Council.
Inkpot Award, San Diego Comic Convention.
1980: Faculty Alumni Award, University of Missouri. Scholar in
residence.
1981: Doctor of Letters, William Penn College.
1987: "Man of the Year," Kappa Sigma Fraternity.
1988: Adamson Award Platinum (Sweden)
1994: El Dorado Kansas, Key to the City
1990: U.S. Army Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian
Service
1991: Distinguished Alumni Award, Missouri University
1999: Golden T-Square, National Cartoonists Society (50 years of
service)
(Second ever to receive award)
1999: Order of Chevalier, French Minister of Culture and Communication
1999: Elzie Segar Award
2000: The Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service
2005: The Connecticut Legend Award
2006: Longest Que Line, Norway Book Festival
2007: Gold Key Hall of Fame, NCS
2010: Snoopy Award, Cartoon Art Museum
2012: Purple Heart Award
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United States Army at the
Pentagon with The Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service, the
highest award the Secretary of the Army can bestow on a civilian. He was
also lauded at the Pentagon ceremony by the Association of the United
States Army, the National World War II Memorial Campaign and the Non
Commissioned Officers Association for his efforts to help build awareness
and raise funds for the National World War II Memorial. A Twilight Tattoo
sunset parade, hosted by the Army Office of Public Affairs and the
Military District of Washington, was performed in his honor.
The following year, 1943, Walker was drafted into the Army. He served in Italy as an intelligence and investigating officer and was also in charge of a German POW camp. He was
discharged as a first lieutenant four years later, and graduated from the
University of Missouri in 1948. While at M.U., he was editor of the school
magazine.
began as a college cutup.
When he stumbled into an Army recruiting post in 1951 during the Korean
War, circulation began to climb.
Walker's comic strip "Hi and Lois," which he created with Dik
Browne, began in 1954 as a spin-off of "Beetle Bailey," when Beetle
went home on furlough to visit his sister Lois and brother-in-law Hi.
with Jerry Dumas in 1977.
Walker also recognized the historic contributions of his predecessors
and contemporaries and in 1974, he founded the Museum of Cartoon Art, the first museum dedicated to the preservation and elevation of the art of comics. The museum now houses the largest complete collection of its kind, making it the premier showcase for one of America's few indigenous art forms. Walker was inducted into The Hearst Hall of Fame in 1989.
In 1992 it relocated to Boca Raton, Florida. It's new name is The National Cartoon Museum. Walker's dedication to the project is tireless. He organizes
exhibitions, creates fund-raising campaigns and is involved in all facets
of the museum. A retrospective exhibit commemorating "50 years of
Beetle Bailey" opened at the Museum on Veteran's Day, November 11,
2000 and ran through February 2001. The exhibition featured original comic
strips and character art, special interactive exhibits for children,
animated Beetle Bailey cartoons, Beetle and Sarge costumed
character appearances, and a 16-foot-high birthday cake display, complete
with animatronic Beetle and Sarge characters.
Walker still oversees the 9-to-5 work of the staff at his Connecticut
laugh factory studio, which was unofficially dubbed "King Features East"
because the work generated there once rivaled the combined output of the
entire King Features Syndicate comics department.
Walker and his wife, Catherine, have 9 children between them from
previous marriages. Six of his children, as well as the son of his former
collaborator Dik Browne, contribute to the funny business, along with
several other artists and writers. The shop uses only the best gags --
there are more than 10,000 unused gags in the vault -- and in 55 years,
the studio has never missed a deadline, keeping King Features happy and
comics fans in stitches.
