Editing Mort Walker

{{Short description|American comic strip cartoonist (1923–2018)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox comics creator

| image         = Mort Walker 1.jpg
| imagesize     = 
| caption       = Walker in April 2016
| alt           = Addison
| birth_name    = Addison Morton Walker
| birth_date    = {{birth date|1923|9|3}}
| birth_place   = [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]], [[Kansas]], U.S.
| death_date    = {{death date and age|2018|1|27|1923|9|3}}
| death_place   = [[Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford]], [[Connecticut]], U.S.
| area          = 
| cartoonist    = y
| write         = y
| art           = y
| ink           = 
| edit          = 
| publish       = 
| letter        = 
| color         =
| alias         = Addison
| signature     = MortWalker.png
| signature_alt = 
| notable works = {{plainlist|
*''[[Beetle Bailey]]''
*''[[Hi and Lois]]''
}}
| awards        = [[#Awards|full list]]
| website       = 
| nonUS         = 
| spouse = {{plainlist|
*{{marriage|Jean Suffill|1949|1985|end=divorce}}
*{{marriage|Catherine Prentice|August 24, 1985}}
}}
| children      = 7
|module={{Infobox military person| embed = yes
 |branch=[[United States Army|U.S. Army]]
 |battles=[[World War II]]
 |rank=[[First lieutenant]]
 |serviceyears=1943–1947}}
}}

'''Addison Morton Walker''' (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American [[comic strip]] writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''[[Beetle Bailey]]'' in 1950 and ''[[Hi and Lois]]'' in 1954. He signed '''Addison''' to some of his strips.

==Early life==
Walker was born in [[El Dorado, Kansas]], as the third of four children in the family. His siblings were Peggy W. Harman (1915–2012), Robin Ellis Walker (1918–2013) and Marilou W. White (1927–2021).<ref name="SS">{{cite web|url=https://www.stripes.com/mort-walker-whose-beetle-bailey-was-a-comic-page-staple-for-decades-dies-at-94-1.508809|title=Mort Walker, whose 'Beetle Bailey' was a comic-page staple for decades, dies at 94|publisher=Stars and Stripes|date=January 27, 2018|author=Bahrampour, Ali}}</ref> After a couple of years, his family moved to [[Amarillo, Texas]],{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=3}} and later to [[Kansas City, Missouri]], in late 1927,{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=3}}<ref name="Adv">{{cite web|url=https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/Beetle-Bailey-cartoonist-Mort-Walker-dies-12530668.php|title='Beetle Bailey' Cartoonist Mort Walker Dies at 94|newspaper=Stamford Advocate|access-date=January 27, 2018|date=January 27, 2018}}</ref> where his father, Robin Adair Walker (d. 1950),{{sfn|Whiton|2005|p=xv}}{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}}<ref name="NDTV">{{cite web|url=https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mort-walker-who-drew-beetle-bailey-for-68-years-dies-at-94-1805407|title=Mort Walker, Whose 'Beetle Bailey' Was A Comic-Page Staple For Decades, Dies at 94|publisher=NDTV|date=January 28, 2018}}</ref> was an architect, while his mother, Carolyn Richards Walker (d. 1970),{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}}<ref name="NDTV"/>{{sfn|Whiton|2005|p=xvi}} worked as a newspaper staff illustrator.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/27/obituaries/mort-walker-dead-beetle-bailey-cartoonist.html|title=Mort Walker, Creator of 'Beetle Bailey' Comic Strip, Dies at 94|work=The New York Times|date=January 27, 2018|author=Goldstein, Richard}}</ref> He was of Scottish, Irish, and English descent. One of his ancestors was a doctor aboard the ''[[Mayflower]]''.{{sfn|Walker|2000|p=2}}

During his elementary school years, he drew for a student newspaper.<ref name="NYT"/> He attended [[Northeast High School (Missouri)|Northeast High School]], where he was a cheerleader, school newspaper editor, yearbook art editor, stage actor in a radio show and ran neighborhood teen center that belonged to several organizations.{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}} He had his first comic published at age 11 and sold his first cartoon at 12.<ref name="WPobit"/> At age 14, he regularly sold gag cartoons to ''Child's Life'', ''Flying Aces'', and ''Inside Detective'' magazines.<ref name="Adv"/> When he was 15, he drew a comic strip, ''The Lime Juicers'', for the weekly ''Kansas City Journal'', and worked as a staff artist at the same time for an industrial publisher.{{sfn|Reynolds|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=IWqjaXc_4QUC&dq=mort+walker+born+father&pg=PA157 157]}} At age 18, he was the chief editorial designer for Hallmark Brothers (later [[Hallmark Cards]]) and was instrumental in changing the company's cards from cuddly bears to gag cartoons, which were more suitable for soldiers.<ref name="SS"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lospaziobianco.it/addio-mort-walker-papa-beetle-bailey/|title=Addio a Mort Walker, il papà di Beetle Bailey|publisher=Los Paziobianco|access-date=January 27, 2018|date=January 27, 2018}}</ref>

Graduating from [[Northeast High School (Missouri)|Northeast High School]], he attended one year at [[Metropolitan Community College (Missouri)|Kansas City Junior College]] in 1942–43<ref name="missouri.edu">{{cite web|url=https://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-three.html|title=Mort Walker on the MU Campus|website=muarchives.missouri.edu}}</ref> before going to the [[University of Missouri]]. Walker's physical presence in [[Columbia, Missouri|Columbia]] is noted by The Shack, which was a rambling burger joint behind [[Jesse Hall]] on Conley Avenue. Images resembling the interior of the shack appeared in ''Beetle Bailey'' cartoons and is mentioned by name in the September 14, 1950 ''Beetle Bailey'' strip.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://beetlebailey.com/2015/04/23/the-shack/|title=The Shack}}</ref> Walker visited the Shack on return trips to Columbia with the last being to the original structure in 1978. The Shack was destroyed in a fire in 1988 and Walker returned in 2010 for dedication of a replica of the building in the student center with the dining area now formally called "Mort's".<ref name="missouri.edu"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.columbiatribune.com/7e8fde8e-fe2e-5dd4-a29c-c6296f60a9ea.html|title=The Shack is gone but lives on|first=Warren|last=Dalton}}</ref> A life-sized bronze statue of Beetle Bailey stands in front of the alumni center which is near The Shack's original location.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-two.html|title=Beetle Bailey statue|publisher=Muarchives|access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref>

==Military service==
In 1943, Walker was drafted into the [[United States Army]] and served in Italy, where he was an intelligence and investigating officer and was also in charge of an [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] camp for 10,000 German [[Prisoner of war|POWs]].<ref name="NDTV"/><ref name="WPobit"/> After the war he was posted to Italy where he was in charge of an Italian guard company.<ref name="War">Anderson, Captain John D. &  Walker, Mort ''Mort Walker: Conversations'' Univ. Press of Mississippi, January 28, 2005, p. 35</ref> He was discharged as a [[first lieutenant]] in 1947.<ref name="War"/>

==Comic strips==
Walker graduated in 1948 from the [[University of Missouri]], where he was the editor and art director of the college's humor magazine, ''Showme'', and was president of the local [[Kappa Sigma]] chapter.<ref name="Adv"/> After graduation, Walker went to New York to pursue a career in cartooning. He began doing ''Spider'', a one-panel series for ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'', about a lazy, laid-back college student.<ref name="Kansas">{{cite web|url=http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article197046299.html|title='Beetle Bailey' Creator Mort Walker Dies|publisher=Wichita Eagle|access-date=January 27, 2018|date=January 27, 2018}}</ref> When he decided he could make more money doing a multi-panel comic strip, ''Spider'' morphed into ''Beetle Bailey'', eventually distributed by [[King Features Syndicate]] to 1,800 newspapers in more than 50 countries for a combined readership of 200 million daily.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20111013014832/http://www.checkerbpg.com/books/bb1_03.php ''Spider'']}}</ref>

In 1954, Walker and [[Dik Browne]] teamed to launch ''[[Hi and Lois]]'', a spin-off of ''Beetle Bailey'' (Lois was Beetle's sister).<ref name="Kansas"/> Under the pseudonym "Addison", Walker began ''[[Boner's Ark]]'' in 1968.<ref name="Kansas"/> Other comic strips created by Walker include ''Gamin and Patches'',<ref>[http://toonopedia.com/gamin.htm ''Gamin and Patches''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20240527221953/https://www.webcitation.org/6jRyLcpVc?url=http://toonopedia.com/gamin.htm Archived] from the original on August 1, 2016.</ref> ''Mrs. Fitz's Flats'', ''The Evermores'' (with Johnny Sajem),<ref>"Newswatch: ''Evermores'' Debut," ''The Comics Journal'' #73 (July 1982).</ref> ''[[Sam's Strip]]'', and ''[[Sam and Silo]]'' (the last two with [[Jerry Dumas]]).<ref name="Adv"/> In 2008 the collection was moved to the [[Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum]] at [[Ohio State University]].

In 1974, Walker opened the [[National Cartoon Museum|Museum of Cartoon Art]], the first museum devoted to the art of comics.<ref name="IMC"/> It was initially located in [[Greenwich, Connecticut]], and [[Rye Brook, New York]], before moving to [[Boca Raton, Florida]], in 1992.<ref name="IMC">{{Cite web|url=http://www.awn.com/mag/issue2.11/2.11pages/2.11charlacartoon.html|title=The International Museum of Cartoon Art|last=Charla|first=Steve|website=www.awn.com|access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref>

During his life he drew special drawings for individuals, in particular for those who were ill.<ref name="IMC"/>

From previous marriages, Walker and his wife, Catherine, had ten children between them.<ref name="WPobit"/> Walker's sons Brian and Greg Walker produce the ''Hi and Lois'' strip with [[Chance Browne]].<ref>" On today's comics page in ''The Advocate'' and ''Greenwich Time'', Beetle Bailey offers a salute along with the likes of ''Hi and Lois''...which is produced by Walker's sons Brian and Greg Walker and Chance Browne, the son of the late comics legend Dik Browne".  Mort Walker and Jason Whiton  ''Mort Walker : conversations'', Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2005. {{ISBN|1578066999}} (p. 193)</ref>

==Books==
In addition to books about comics and children's books, Walker collected his strips into 92 "Beetle Bailey" paperbacks and 35 "Hi and Lois" paperbacks, plus writing his autobiography, ''Mort Walker's Scrapbook: Celebrating a Life of Love and Laughter''.<ref name="Adv"/>

In his book ''[[The Lexicon of Comicana]]'' (1980), written as a [[Satire|satirical]] look at the devices cartoonists use, Walker popularized{{efn|Although Walker is often credited with having created this terminology, in 2013, comics scholar [[Maggie Thompson]] discovered that Walker was using terms invented by Charles D. Rice, in an article published in ''[[This Week (magazine)|This Week]]'' and subsequently reprinted in ''What's Funny About That'' (1954). Thompson also observed that, although Walker credited these symbols to "Charlie Rice of ''This Week'' magazine" in his book ''Backstage at the Strips'' (1975), "many of us [including Thompson herself] had assumed [that this] was Mort's joke about an imaginary scholarly attribution".<ref name=Thompson>[https://www.comic-con.org/toucan/maggies-world-009-research-obsession-and-obsessive-research Maggie's World 009: Research, Obsession, and Obsessive Research], by [[Maggie Thompson]], at the ''[[San Diego Comic-Con]]''; published September 3, 2013; retrieved May 22, 2023</ref>}} a vocabulary called ''[[The Lexicon of Comicana|Symbolia]]'',<ref name="Kansas"/> including the term "squeans" to describe the starbusts and little circles that appear around a cartoon's head to indicate intoxication,<ref name="WPobit"/> and [[grawlixes]] to indicate the typographical symbols that stand for [[profanity|profanities]], which appear in dialogue balloons in the place of actual dialogue.<ref name="WPobit"/>

In 2006, he launched a 24-page magazine, ''The Best of Times'', distributed free throughout Connecticut and available online.<ref name="Adv"/> It features artwork, puzzles, editorial cartoons, ads, and a selection of articles, comics and columns syndicated by King Features.<ref name="Kansas"/> His son, Neal Walker, was the editor and publisher. Between 2006 and 2010, they published 27 issues.<ref>[http://www.thebestoftimes.us/ ''The Best of Times''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406050721/http://www.thebestoftimes.us/ |date=April 6, 2012 }}</ref>

==Exhibitions==
In September 2000, the University of Missouri staged a ''Beetle Bailey'' 50th-anniversary exhibition in the grand concourse of the Elmer Ellis Library, displaying original [[Daily comic strip|daily]] and [[Sunday comics|Sunday strips]], published reprints and poster-size [[Lithography|lithographs]] of selected strips.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://muarchives.missouri.edu/beetle-three.html|title=Mort Walker on the MU Campus|publisher=[[University of Missouri]]|date=January 27, 2018|access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref>

==Awards==
In 1974, Walker founded the [[National Cartoon Museum]], and in 1989 was inducted into its [[National Cartoon Museum#Hall of Fame|Museum of Cartoon Art Hall of Fame]].<ref name="Adv"/> He received the Reuben Award of 1953 for ''Beetle Bailey'', the [[National Cartoonists Society]]'s Humor Strip Award for 1966 and 1969, the Gold T-Square Award in 1999, the [[E. C. Segar|Elzie Segar]] Award for 1977 and 1999, and numerous other awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reuben.org/divisions.html#illustration|title=National Cartoonists Society Awards|publisher=Reuben|access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref> In 1978, Walker received the [[American Legion]]'s Fourth Estate Award, and in 2000, he was given the Decoration for Distinguished Civilian Service by the United States Army.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/w/walker_m.htm|title=Syracuse University: Mort Walker Papers|access-date=September 1, 2010|date=September 1, 2010|publisher=[[Syracuse University]]}}</ref> He was awarded the [[Inkpot Award]] in 1979.<ref>[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]</ref>

Walker received the Sparky Award for lifetime achievement from the [[Cartoon Art Museum]] at the 2010 [[New York Comic Con]].<ref name="Kansas"/> On September 29, 2017, Walker was honored at [[Yankee Stadium]], during the 7th-[[inning]] stretch, for his service in [[World War II]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newsfromme.com/2017/09/29/morton-of-the-military/|title=Morton of the Military|publisher=News From me|date=September 29, 2017|access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Walker was married in 1949 to his first wife, Jean Suffill, whom he had met during his time at the University of Missouri. They had seven children: Greg, Brian, Polly, Morgan, Marjorie, Neal, and Roger.<ref name="NDTV"/><ref name="NYT"/>{{sfn|Whiton|2005|p=xiv}} The marriage later ended in a divorce in 1985. His second wife was Catherine Prentice, whom he married on August 24, 1985. Walker had three stepchildren via Cathy and her previous marriage<ref name="NDTV"/>{{sfn|Whiton|2005|p=xvii}} to cartoonist [[John Prentice (cartoonist)|John Prentice]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Walker |first1=Brian |editor1-last=Mullaney |editor1-first=Dean |title=Rip Kirby Volume Six (1959–1962) |date=2013 |publisher=IDW Publishing |pages=5–11 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

Walker died from complications of [[pneumonia]] on January 27, 2018, at his home in [[Stamford, Connecticut|Stamford]], [[Connecticut]]. He was 94 years old.<ref name="NYT"/><ref name="WPobit">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/mort-walker-whose-beetle-bailey-was-a-comic-page-staple-for-decades-dies-at-94/2018/01/27/bcd374ec-039e-11e8-bb03-722769454f82_story.html|title=Mort Walker, whose 'Beetle Bailey' was a comic-page staple for decades, dies at 94|last=Bahrampour|first=Ali|date=January 27, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=January 27, 2018}}</ref> He was interred at [[Willowbrook Cemetery]] in [[Westport, Connecticut]].<ref>[http://willowbrookcemetery.com/tribute/details/85/Mort-Walker/memories.html Memories of Mort Walker]</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

== Citations ==
{{Reflist}}

== General references ==
* {{cite book|last=Reynolds|first=Moria Davison|year=2003|title=Comic Strip Artists in American Newspapers, 1945–1980|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-786-48150-7|edition=Illustrated}}
* {{cite book|last=Walker|first=Mort|year=2000|title=Mort Walker's Private Scrapbook: Celebrating a Life of Love and Laughter|publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing|isbn=978-0-740-71126-8|edition=Illustrated|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/mortwalkerspriva00walk}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Whiton |editor-first=Jason |year= 2005|title=Mort Walker: Conversations |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=978-1-578-06700-8 |edition=Illustrated}}
* {{cite book|last=Whiton|first=Jason|year= 2018|title=Talking Mort Walker: A Life in Comics|publisher=Amazon|isbn=978-1718029248|edition=Illustrated}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website|www.mortwalker.com}}
* [http://www.toonsmag.com/2018/02/beetle-bailey-cartoonist-mort-walker.html 'Beetle Bailey' cartoonist Mort Walker dies at 94] from [[Toons Mag]]
* [http://www.reuben.org/ncs/members/biogs/walkerm.asp National Cartoonists Society: Mort Walker]
* [http://library.syr.edu/digital/guides/w/walker_m.htm Mort Walker Papers 1950–1968] at Syracuse University (primary source material)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110719052645/http://mulibraries.missouri.edu/specialcollections/walker.htm Mort Walker Collection] at University of Missouri (primary source material)
* {{cite web | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927212433/http://www.chs.org/comics/creators.htm | title = Connecticut Talent | publisher = [[Connecticut Historical Society]] | url = http://www.chs.org/comics/creators.htm | archive-date = September 27, 2007 | url-status = dead }}
* {{cite news | url = http://tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1021&Itemid=48 | title = The Mort Walker Interview | publisher= Online excerpts from print interview | work = [[The Comics Journal]] | issue = 297 | date = April 13, 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090818075620/http://tcj.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1021&Itemid=48 | archive-date = August 18, 2009}}

{{Inkpot Award 1970s}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Mort}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2018 deaths]]
[[Category:People from El Dorado, Kansas]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:American people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Kansas]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Missouri]]
[[Category:American comic strip cartoonists]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:American comics artists]]
[[Category:American humorists]]
[[Category:Artists from Kansas City, Missouri]]
[[Category:Writers from Stamford, Connecticut]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:University of Missouri alumni]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:Reuben Award winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Kansas]]
[[Category:Writers from Kansas City, Missouri]]
[[Category:Deaths from pneumonia in Connecticut]]