Mort Walker

A Tribute to Mort Walker

“Old cartoonists never die. They just erase away…” It was one of Mort Walker’s favorite sayings, and until his final days, Walker lived by the word of his motto, engaging millions through his beloved comics. At the age of 94, Walker died peacefully at home on January 27, 2018.

Walker had the longest tenure of any cartoonist on his original creation in the history of comics. He produced Beetle Bailey for 67 years, 3 months and 12 days – that’s 24, 562 strips. He penciled his last week of daily and Sunday strips on December 16th, the day before his tragic fall.

Dubbed “The Dean of American Cartooning,” Walker was one of the most prolific cartoonists in the comics business, with the creation of nine different syndicated strips to his credit during his lifetime, including Beetle Bailey, the third-most widely syndicated strip in the world.

Addison Morton Walker was born in El Dorado, Kansas on Sept. 3, 1923 and had cartooning aspirations at a very young age. His first full-time art job was as a greeting card designer for Hallmark while he attended Kansas City Junior College. In 1942, he was drafted into the army and served in Italy during the war. When he returned home, he attended journalism school at the University of Missouri and was editor of the campus humor magazine, the Showme.

After graduation, Mort was working as a magazine cartoonist in New York when John Bailey, the cartoon editor of the Saturday Evening Post, encouraged Mort to do some cartoons based on his college experiences. One character, a goof-off with a hat over his eyes named “Spider,” emerged from these efforts. He sold a few college cartoons to the Post and then decided to submit a comic strip to King Features Syndicate starring Spider and his fraternity brothers. When King bought the strip, Mort changed Spider’s first name to “Beetle” and added “Bailey” in honor of John Bailey.

Beetle Bailey debuted inauspiciously in twelve newspapers on Sept. 4. 1950. After six months it had signed on only twenty-five clients. King Features considered dropping the strip after the first year’s contract was over. The Korean War was heating up at the time, so Mort decided to have Beetle enlist in the army. He quickly picked up a hundred papers. Mort redesigned the cast and a Sunday page was added in 1952. After the Korean War was over, the army brass wanted to tighten up discipline and felt that Beetle Bailey encouraged disrespect for officers. The strip was banned in the Tokyo Stars and Stripes and the sympathetic publicity rocketed circulation another hundred papers. When Mort won the National Cartoonist Society’s award as the best cartoonist of the year in 1954, Beetle Bailey had become a certified success, with licensed products and a growing list of clients.

From the 1954 to 1968, the circulation of Beetle Bailey grew from 200 newspapers to 1,100 and many new characters were added to the cast. “As I zoomed past the 500 paper mark,” Mort remembered, “I began to feel a tremendous responsibility to my readers, almost a stage fright. If I’ve done this good today I’ve got to do at least as good tomorrow, or better, if I can. If you’re not moving forward in this business, you are moving backwards.” Beetle Bailey was the second feature in comics history, after Blondie, to appear in over 1,000 newspapers when it passed that milestone in 1965.

Mort Walker’s creation remains one of the most popular features in newspapers today and will be continued by his sons Greg, Brian and Neal. “Someone said a diamond is just a piece of coal that stuck with the job,” Mort mused. “To me the strip is a diamond. I never knew where that first step would take me and there were many rocky times, but a certain amount of fame and fortune were my reward for keeping at it.” It is ironic that Beetle Bailey, the laziest character in the history of comics, was created by Mort Walker, one of the hardest working and most prolific cartoonists of all time.

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