‘Beetle Bailey’ cartoonist Mort Walker dies at 94

“Beetle Bailey” Mort Walker in his Stamford, Connecticut, home. Walker died Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018 at age 94. “Beetle Bailey” Mort Walker in his Stamford, Connecticut, home. Walker died Saturday, Jan. 27, 2018 at age 94. Photo: Christopher Setter / For Hearst Connecticut Media Photo: Christopher Setter / For Hearst Connecticut Media Image 1 of / 21 Caption Close ‘Beetle Bailey’ cartoonist Mort Walker dies at 94 1 / 21 Back to Gallery

STAMFORD — “Beetle Bailey” creator Mort Walker, who chronicled the mishaps of the world’s laziest U.S. Army private since 1950 while maintaining an unrivaled run of work in the comics industry, died in his Stamford home Saturday at 94.

Walker’s work ethic was defined by “Beetle Bailey,” the longest-running comic strip drawn by its original creator, but he published eight other strips at various points of his career. Among those was “Hi and Lois,” a “Beetle” spinoff he launched in 1954 with Dik Browne, future creator of “Hagar the Horrible.”

Walker’s sons, Brian and Greg, now handle “Hi and Lois,” and collaborated with their father on “Beetle Bailey,” which they will continue to produce. The early “Hi and Lois” strips were Mort Walker’s interpretation of family life in Greenwich. His youngest son, Greenwich resident Neal Walker, has also contributed to “Beetle Bailey” for decades and will take on added duties with “Hi and Lois.”

Brian Walker, who has written several books on the history of the medium, said his father was part of a post-World War II generation of cartoonists that created lasting strips, including Charles Schulz (“Peanuts”), Bil Keane (“The Family Circus”) and Hank Ketcham (“Dennis the Menace”).

“They led a movement from serial strips to gags; they changed the comics,” Brian Walker said Saturday. “These are strips that are all still running. Mort was at the head of that.”

Walker died in his studio, surrounded by scores of cartoon troops represented in toys, comics, books and strips, according to family members.

“Working ahead, months of his work exists and will be appearing throughout 2018,” said Bill Janocha, who has worked as Walker’s assistant for more than 30 years. “Thousands of hand-drawn gag sketches have been saved, so Mort’s writings and layouts can potentially continue to help steer ‘Beetle Bailey’ for years to come.”

Walker kept pedals under the desk to squeeze in an occasional workout while he drew. He kept his foot locker nearby from his days as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II, where he served in Italy.

While “Beetle” was born in that locker, comics already filled Addison Morton Walker’s home surroundings during his childhood in Kansas City, Mo., following his birth in El Dorado, Kan., on Sept. 3, 1923. His earliest memories included reading “Moon Mullins” on his father’s lap in the 1920s. He cherished a handwritten response he received from “Moon Mullins” cartoonist Frank Willard, who deemed Walker’s boyhood illustrations “swell.”

“I’ll bet you’ll be a big-shot cartoonist someday,” Willard wrote.

As a teenager, Walker was already drawing cards for Hallmark. After a brief career in New York as a cartoonist for Dell Publishing Co., Walker’s childhood dream came true. He liked to boast that “Beetle” was the final comic strip approved by newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.

‘Beetle’s’ beginnings

“Beetle Bailey” was initially based on Walker’s years as a University of Missouri undergraduate, and specifically on a school pal, the late David Hornaday. A statue of “Beetle” now lounges on the campus.

Beetle was drafted during the Korean War, but Walker feared the long-term appeal of an Army strip and sent Beetle back home. Readers demanded Beetle re-enlist and he remains a private 60 years later.

The Camp Swampy ranks included Sarge, who was based on Walker’s own sergeant; Gen. Halftrack, inspired by a corrupt major; and Plato, an ink version of Browne. Walker was Lt. Fuzz, a young officer who takes himself too seriously.

The only occasional combat they saw was with offended readers. Walker wrote books addressing accusations of sexism (regarding the character of Miss Buxley, who was based on Marilyn Monroe); and racism (concerning Cpl. Yo and Lt. Flap). He even drew friendly fire, as “Stars and Stripes” once suspended publication of the strip, perceiving it as not supporting the American soldier.

He lived in a home that had once been the studio of Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor of Mount Rushmore, converting it into a virtual cartoon museum. A bas-relief carved into a bar depicts Beetle alongside the other faces on the monument.

He installed an elevator to his self-described “man-cave.” As it rose, a window flashed panels of Beetle floating skyward via balloon. His sanctuary housed countless items featuring his family of characters, from boxer shorts and neckties to shot glasses and U.S. postage stamps.

The strip started slowly, but King Features Syndicate saw circulation expand from 200 to 1,100 between 1954 and 1968. “Beetle” would eventually ship overseas as “Recruta Zero” (Brazil), “Flippi Flink” (Germany) and “Billy” (Norway). At its peak, the strip appeared in 1,800 papers. Some bawdier gags were published in European publications.

Beetle also served briefly on television in a 1963 cartoon and on the Candlewood Playhouse stage in New Fairfield for a limited run in a musical.

Cartoon collection

Walker launched the Museum of Cartoon Art, which opened in Greenwich in 1974 before a longer stay in a castle in Rye Brook, N.Y. In 1992, it moved to Boca Raton, Fla. Walker poured his own money into sustaining the enterprise. After a failed attempt to find a permanent home in the Empire State Building, much of the collection was sent to a museum at Ohio State University.

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Walker and his wife, Cathy, flew over the World Trade Center. By the time they landed in Florida, the airport was on high alert in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Two months later, Walker rallied fellow cartoonists to salute the nation with patriotic strips on Thanksgiving.

Walker’s daily mail inevitably included requests for an original piece of art.

“They all want a drawing,” he said in 2015. “And they get a drawing.”

Walker was still playing golf in his 90s, and said he found inspiration for gags everywhere. Norwalk artist John Newcomb, who co-wrote a book with Walker named “Mind Control: Think Your Way to Better Health and Happiness,” said his “best friend” cherished teasing strangers.

“A car salesman explaining that the automobile Mort wanted only came in vanilla got the quick response, ‘Oh. I had my heart set on butter brickle,’” Newcomb said Saturday.

His well of gags seemed bottomless, spilling over into other strips he contributed to, such as “Boner’s Ark,” “Sam’s Strip,” “The Evermores” and “Gamin and Patches.”

Walker wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Stamford Advocate earlier this month about a photo he kept on his desk of peers gathered around him on his 40th birthday and a doctor’s subsequent warning about his excessive drinking.

“I quit immediately. I’m 94 now and haven’t had a drop or a puff for more than 40 years, but all but three of my buddies in this photo are now dead,” Walker wrote. “I think of all the comic strips I’ve drawn, the books I’ve written, and all the other things I’ve accomplished in those 54 years and the mass of things those friends could have contributed.”

In addition to his second wife, Catherine, and sons Greg, Brian and Neal, Walker is survived by a son, Roger Walker; daughters Polly Blackstock and Margie Walker Hauer; stepchildren Whitney Prentice and Priscilla Prentice Campbell; 15 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.

Funeral arrangements are private, though family members said they expect to hold a memorial service at a later date. The family has requested donations to The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University.

jbreunig@stamford

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