A Career In Cartoons - A Personal Recollection by Brian Walker

 A Career In Cartoons - A Personal Recollection by Brian Walker

 (Updated from “Drawings on the Walls – Exhibitions at the Museum of Cartoon Art.” Published by

The Ohio State University Cartoon Library & Museum in 2009. 

A version of this appeared in print in IJOCA 27:1)

 

I am often asked what it was like growing up as the son of a famous cartoonist. During my younger years, my father, Mort Walker, worked on the third floor of our house. We weren’t supposed to disturb him while he was in his studio, but I often poked around after hours, playing with his pens, examining the partially finished strips on his drawing board and flipping through the cartoon books in his reference library. His assistant, Jerry Dumas, worked three or four days a week, and there were also frequent visits from Dik Browne, John Cullen Murphy, John Fischetti, and other local cartoonists. It all seemed pretty normal to me.

  

Fig.1. Family Christmas card from the year Brian Walker was born. 1952.

 

On the walls of our downstairs den were framed original drawings that my father had collected since he was an aspiring cartoonist in Kansas City. I was fascinated with the precise black-and-white lines and quirky characters in these cartoons. I remember a large panel by H. T. Webster of Caspar Milquetoast, still wearing his rubber boots in the bathroom, two weeks after he had broken a glass. A “Moon Mullins” strip from the 1930s was inscribed to my father: “Say Morton, those drawings you sent me were swell. I’ll bet you’ll be big shot cartoonist some day.-Willard.” I wanted to know more about these cartoons and the artists who had drawn them.

My friends and classmates assumed I had art talent so I was frequently asked to design posters and flyers for school events and drew cartoons for my high school and college newspapers. During my senior year at Tufts University, I wrote a research paper entitled, “The Comic Strip as a Communicative Art Form.” I interviewed my father, Dik Browne, Garry Trudeau, and Jack Murphy. I read about the rich history of American newspaper comics and the great cartoonists of the past. I developed a deeper appreciation for what my father and his contemporaries did in their studios. This was my background when I started working at the Museum of Cartoon Art in 1974.

Fig.2. Walker family Christmas card. 1956.

 

I had just graduated from college, where I designed my own major in East African Studies. I was painting houses, trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. My father asked me if I would like to come along with him and Joe D’Angelo, the president of King Features Syndicate, to look at a house around the corner from our family home in Greenwich, Connecticut. They were planning to rent the seventy-five-year-old Mead mansion for a proposed cartoon museum. After we walked through the vacant, neglected white elephant, Mort asked if I would be willing to round up a few friends to help clean the place up and paint the interior rooms. I had no idea that this was the beginning of a great adventure which would last more than five decades.

 

After we finished painting the first-floor rooms in the Mead mansion, my father announced, “Now we have to start putting up the exhibits.” I had never worked in a museum or a gallery and knew nothing about displaying artwork or curating shows. No other cartoon museums existed, so there weren’t any guidelines to follow. We came up with a system for mounting the original cartoon art on mat board with photo corners and protecting it with a layer of Plexiglas. We decided to leave the originals “as is” without removing or covering up margin notations, underlying pencil lines, erasures, paste-overs, copyright stickers and registration marks. We bought a used Photostat camera to make signs and captions.

 

There were collectors who pitched in. Mort took some of the cartoons off his den wall and gave them to the Museum. Rick Marschall showed up with a portfolio under his arm and asked, “How can I help?” A number of the cartoons we borrowed from him that day were on display at the Museum for eighteen years. Bill Crouch served as an unofficial guest curator on a few of the early exhibits. Mark Hanerfeld filled gaps in our comic book displays with original pages from his collection. Jack Tippit went to visit eighty-eight-year-old cartoonist Harry Hershfield at his Manhattan apartment and returned with original, hand-colored “Yellow Kid” and “Buster Brown” pages by Richard Outcault as gifts to the collection.

Fig.3. Brian Walker standing in front of the Mead mansion, first home of the Museum of

Cartoon Art. 1974.

 

Jack, the first director of the Museum, was an Air Force combat veteran, a former president of the National Cartoonists Society, and a working cartoonist (“Amy” and “Henry”). Chuck Green, an old high school friend of mine and a recent graduate of Haverford College, joined us and we became assistant curators. Chuck and I soon put the generational and political differences we had with Jack behind us and the three of us formed a close-knit team. During downtime, we tried to scare each other by jumping out of the closets in the spooky old house and amused ourselves with an endless cycle of practical jokes.

Fig.4. Assistant Curator Chuck Green behind the MCA gift counter. 1974.

 

The Museum of Cartoon Art opened its doors to the public on August 11, 1974. Press coverage, from local newspapers and the national media, helped spread the word. Although some visitors didn’t know what to expect when they came in, most left with a smile on their face and a promise to return. We soon had to expand the parking lot to accommodate the crowds.

 

In the first issue of the Museum’s newsletter, Inklings, Mort wrote, “We feel the Museum is a living, breathing, bustling entity. It isn’t a place where people walk in, look at drawings on the wall and walk out. There are slide shows, animated cartoons, life-sized sculptures and activities of all kinds.”¹

 

Permanent displays featured examples from the Museum’s growing collection, representing all of the major genres--comic strips, newspaper panels, comic books, editorial cartoons, magazine cartoons, sports cartoons, illustration, caricature, and animation. Three one-man shows, “A Retrospective of Walt Kelly and Pogo,” “The Hal Foster Exhibit,” and “Jack Kirby--Comic Book Pioneer” were featured in 1975. These temporary exhibits included artwork that was on loan from private family collections, as well as from public institutions, such as Syracuse University, which owned many of Hal Foster’s early “Prince Valiant” pages.

 

That same year, a jury of eleven distinguished experts in the field of cartooning elected the first fourteen cartoonists to the Hall of Fame. In subsequent years eighteen cartoonists were added to this distinguished group.

 

One of the more popular attractions at the Museum was the animated film program which offered continuous, rear-projection screenings in our modest theater. Among the cartoons in the rapidly-expanding collection were the debut appearances of Mickey Mouse, Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Superman, Woody Woodpecker, and Mighty Mouse. I still have the soundtracks from these 16mm films buried in my subconscious, after years of working with the music playing in the background. The Museum also sponsored animated film festivals at Greenwich Library and Yale University.

Fig.5. Pen-and-ink rendering of the Mead house by Superman cartoonist Curt Swan. 1976.

 

The Celebrity Cartoonist Program, which featured a guest lecturer on the first Sunday of each month, gave the public a chance to meet their heroes up close and personal. Milton Caniff, Will Eisner, Harvey Kurtzman, Jules Feiffer, Neal Adams, Chuck Jones, Bob Clampett, and Art Spiegelman were among the many cartoonists who made appearances in this program over the years. A mini-exhibit of each artist’s work was displayed during the month of their demonstration. After the lectures, a group of cartoonists would often retire to the kitchen and exchange shop talk over a bottle of Scotch.

 

During the Summer of 1976, the Museum offered its first cartoon course, which was accredited by Emerson College in Boston. The class had to be divided into two groups to accommodate all of the students that signed up. Among the guest lecturers were Dik Browne, John Cullen Murphy, and Curt Swan.

 

In addition to these programs, the Museum also hosted other popular activities. The first Children’s Cartoon Contest was held in the Spring of 1978 and became an annual tradition. Almost 1,000 submissions were received and the finalists in four age categories (eight, eleven, fourteen, and seventeen and under) were exhibited at the Museum. In 1987, one of our former contestants, Paul Taylor, of Norwich, Connecticut, wrote us this letter: “You probably don’t remember me but I placed in your annual cartooning contest several times. I’m happy to tell you that Yale University was as happy to hear that as I was. An admission officer sent me a note complimenting me on the samples I sent, and I think your museum fostered an ability of mine that was instrumental in my gaining admission to Yale. Thanks for establishing a museum that honors and encourages cartoonists.”²

Fig.6. Papier-maché sculpture of a typical cartoonist at work by Joni Johnson. 1976.

 

Many types of special events were held at the Museum. The Newspaper Comics Council had their Fall meeting at the Mead house in 1974, and the National Cartoonists Society installed its new officers at a gathering in May 1977. Private parties, such as weddings, birthdays, and corporate retirements also brought in much-needed income.

 

Fig.7. Photograph of Ward’s Castle by Phil Nelson.

 

The Museum’s first traveling exhibit was sponsored by the Greenwich Arts Council and was displayed in a large trailer at two locations during the Summer of 1975. In constant demand, it was subsequently shown in office lobbies, banks, shopping malls, art galleries, college art centers, and museums across the country. In 1983, the New York State Newspaper Foundation awarded the Museum $2,000 to refurbish the show. “Masters of Cartoon Art” was comprised of forty-seven works in forty-two oak frames and included artists ranging from Honoré Daumier and Thomas Nast to Garry Trudeau and Jim Davis. This exhibit appeared at numerous venues, including the Council for the Arts in Westchester’s “Night at the Comics” fundraiser in 1984 and the “Kings of Comics” tribute to Dean Young, Bil Keane, Hank Ketcham, and Mort Walker at the World Financial Center in 1990.

 

The bicentennial year featured the Museum’s most ambitious exhibit to date. “The Story of America in Cartoons” was funded by a grant from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and included eighty display panels, representing the work of more than one hundred cartoonists. I traveled to New Haven and Washington D.C. and searched through the collections of Yale University and the Library of Congress to find cartoons that powerfully illustrated the social history of our nation. More than one hundred seventy cartoons were selected, covering topics from “Settling the Land” to “Great American Pastimes.” These cartoons were reproduced in the 116-page booklet that accompanied the exhibit.

 

The collection was growing by leaps and bounds. King Features Syndicate and the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate sent truckloads of originals, which were recorded by volunteers and stacked on shelves in our third-floor archive room. Hal Foster bequeathed hundreds of “Prince Valiant” pages, as well as proofs, scrapbooks, and other personal items from his long, distinguished career. Milton Caniff donated two hundred eighty originals, many of which had been given to him by other artists, including Alex Raymond, Chester Gould, and Roy Crane. After two years, Jack Tippit estimated in his “State of the Museum” report that we had accumulated close to 30,000 originals, representing more than eight hundred artists.³

Fig.8. Pen-and-ink illustration of Ward’s Castle by “Prince Valiant” cartoonist John Cullen Murphy. 1977.

 

After this period of phenomenal growth and success, it was quite a shock when our landlord, John Mead, informed us that he had no intention of renewing our two-year lease on the building. He worried that the crowds were putting too much wear and tear on his family estate and he didn’t want to expand the parking lot again. We had worked tirelessly to tell the world where we were, and now, we had to find a new home. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

 

After a frustrating year of looking at private homes and public buildings in the area, we finally stumbled on an ideal location. The old Ward’s Castle, perched atop a steep hill straddling the New York/Connecticut border, was for sale. The real estate agent who took us on our first tour of the house told us to bring flashlights. When she opened the doors, my father and I were greeted with a cloud of dust and the smell of mold. There were collapsed ceilings, broken windows, piles of rubble, moth-eaten carpets, ice frozen on the floors, and dead animals in the basement. The heat and electricity had been turned off for years. Rotting mattresses and discarded papers littered the rooms. It was very discouraging. How could we ever come up with the money and manpower to fix this place up?

When I got home, the gears started to turn. What if we were able to buy this neglected home for next to nothing? Amidst the dust and rubble, I had seen beautiful woodwork, marble floors, and crystal chandeliers. Maybe we shouldn’t give up so easily. I picked up the phone and before I could dial my father’s number, I heard his voice. He had been thinking the same thing and was calling me. We agreed to take another look.

 

After a few months of negotiations, the Ward family finally accepted our offer of $70,000. Ward’s Castle, which was completed in 1876, is the first house in the world built of reinforced concrete. William E. Ward, who owned a nuts-and-bolts factory in nearby Port Chester, allegedly promised his mother, who was afraid of fire, that he would build her a house that was completely fireproof. It had been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in December 1976 and, because of this distinction, we eventually received a $30,000 acquisition grant from the National Parks Service.

Fig.9. Castle Warming Fundraiser, Nov. 12, 1977. Left to right: Curt Swan, Joe Kubert, Mort Walker, Bil Keane, Dik Browne, Stan Drake, and John Cullen Murphy. Photo by Greg Walker.

 

After the real estate closing in July 1977, we asked three building contractors to give us estimates on the renovation. Only one came back with a figure, which was almost double the purchase price. Instead, we hired independent electricians, plumbers, roofers, and pavers to do the jobs that required professional expertise. The rest was done by a dedicated and creatively-inspired crew of volunteers, college dropouts, starving artists, and old friends. My father informed me that he was planning a fundraising gala for opening night on November 12. We worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for thirteen weeks, to make the deadline.

 

On the day of the “castle warming,” my father stopped by the renovation site and saw painters on ladders and tarps covering the ceilings. “Are we going to make it?” he asked me. “Don’t worry, it’s under control,” I answered nervously. He went home, put on his tuxedo and when he drove up the driveway that evening, he saw yellow cartoon banners fluttering on the castle turret, which was lit with a powerful spotlight. Inside, caterers and bartenders, some of whom looked remarkably similar to the painters and plasterers he had seen earlier, were serving the guests. The gala was a huge success, raising $28,000, half the cost of the renovation, and it was featured in a photo spread in People magazine.

Fig.10. Al Andriola created a special “Kerry Drake” story, inspired by the MCA in 1978.

 

As soon as the party was over, the job of moving began. It took twenty truckloads and an army of volunteers to transport the Museum’s collection and furnishings the 3.3 miles to the new location. When the Museum opened to the public on December 11, 1977, the gift shop, front hall, theater room, and two exhibit rooms had been renovated. By the Spring of 1978, two more exhibit rooms, an office, and a library on the second floor were added. We now had more than double the space of the original location and were able to install permanent display fixtures on the walls, since we owned the building. In the main exhibit room on the first floor, the Historical Collection featured close to three hundred artists representing all of the major cartoon genres. We eventually doubled the number of artists by adding two heavy-duty flip rack displays. When the second floor Contemporary Collection opened, the total number of cartoons on view in the Museum was close to one thousand. The Hall of Fame, which was adjacent to the main exhibit room, included a superlative example of each member’s work and a handsome brass plaque engraved with a self-caricature and short biography. What was formerly the dining room served as our theater with a rear-projection film booth and a stage for live performances. Showcases were later added in the adjacent sun room for the Celebrity Cartoonist mini-exhibits and Sales Gallery. Cartoons were mounted on the staircase landing and the upstairs hallway, cartoon videos were shown on a television monitor in the second-floor library, and toys were displayed in antique glass bookcases.

 

Fig.11. Sergio Aragones drew this cartoon in the MCA guest book in 1978.

 

    Less than a year after we purchased Ward’s Castle, the Museum featured its first special exhibition, “TAD--A Collection of Cartoons by Thomas Aloysius Dorgan.” Chuck Green and I spent days reading and laughing at more than a thousand TAD panels from the 1920s which had been donated by King Features Syndicate. We compiled a “Dictionary of Dorganisms” that included such classic TAD slang terms as “ball and chain” (a wife), “cake eater” (a ladies’ man), and “sun dodger” (a lazy person). This list, which was part of the exhibit catalogue, has been reprinted in countless publications since.⁴

    The first of the Museum’s outdoor family events, “Marvel Day,” was held on September 30, 1978. Spider-Man, The Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Captain America made personal appearances and Marvel artists drew at easels on the front porch. Inside, there was an exhibit of original comic book pages, an animated film program, and comic books for sale in the gift shop. “Garfield vs. Heathcliff--The Heavyweight Cat Fight of the Century” was the main event at Community Awareness Day on May 15, 1982. The exhibit, “Great Comic Cats,” which was based on a book by Malcolm Whyte and Bill Blackbeard, also opened that day. United Feature Syndicate sent a trained actor to wear the Garfield costume, but McNaught Syndicate told us that we had to find someone to wear the Heathcliff suit. My wife, Abby, who had been a dance major at Sarah Lawrence College, volunteered. She took her role seriously and upstaged her opponent by sparring like a pro. The crowd loved it and she was the clear winner. A representative of United later told me that they never would have allowed their fat cat to appear if they knew that a competing syndicate’s feline was also on the bill.

Fig.12. Invitation to the opening reception for the “Doonesbury Retrospective.” 1983.

 

After five years of serving as director, Jack Tippit retired in June 1979 and Chuck Green and I became co-directors. The staff re-organized again in June 1983, when Chuck became executive director and I became exhibit director.

 

My personal life changed dramatically when I married Abby Gross on October 9, 1981. Dik Browne performed our wedding ceremony at Waveny Park in New Canaan, Connecticut. My daughter, Sarah, was born on November 24, 1986, and my son, David, arrived on November 9, 1989.

 

In 1984, my father came up with the idea of teaming up two classic animated stars, Betty Boop and Felix the Cat, in a new comic strip syndicated by King Features. He enlisted four of his sons, Greg, Morgan, Neal, and me, to do the writing and drawing. “Betty Boop and Felix” never took off like we hoped it would and ended in 1988.

 

After getting my first gag writing experience working on this feature, Mort soon asked me to start contributing to “Beetle Bailey.” He was receiving criticism for Miss Buxley, General Halftrack’s sexy secretary, and thought I could bring a younger perspective to her personality. I discovered that she rarely spoke, so I started giving her punchlines. I also began submitting ideas for “Hi and Lois” and when my father’s assistant, Bob Gustafson, retired in 1988, I took over the editing on that strip. Chance Browne began illustrating “Hi and Lois” full-time when his father passed away in 1989, and my brother, Greg, and I continued to do the writing. By 1992, King Features was recognizing us as the “Next Generation” of creators. I am still working on both strips today.

 

Beginning in the late 1970s and continuing until the Museum moved out of Ward’s Castle in 1992, the special exhibitions became increasingly more ambitious, eventually utilizing most of the second-floor gallery space. We developed a seasonal strategy for scheduling shows that proved remarkably successful.

Fig.13. Michael Keaton’s “Batman” costume from the feature film. 1989.

 

During the Winter months, we offered exhibits that were historically and artistically important. Some of these were the first retrospectives ever mounted of major masters and pivotal periods in the history of the art form. “The Winsor McCay Exhibit” was done with the cooperation of Ray Moniz, the grandson of Winsor McCay, and included original “Little Nemo in Slumberland” pages and political cartoons from the family collection. “The Yellow Kid-America’s First Comic Star” told the story of the birth of the comics with thirty rare newspaper pages on loan from the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art and all five of the Yellow Kid originals known to exist at that time. “The Krazy Kat Retrospective” was the most comprehensive exhibit ever mounted of George Herriman’s work and included more than fifty original pages on loan from his granddaughter, Dee Cox. “Masters of Pen and Ink” explored the fine line between comics and illustration and included masterpieces by over sixty artists ranging from Heinrich Kley to David Levine, on loan from The Society of Illustrators and Illustration House.

Fig.14. Mort and Mickey at the opening of “The Art of Walt Disney Studio.” 1987.

 

In the Summer, we would feature family-friendly crowd-pleasers, many of which also provided a theme for outdoor events. “The Art of Marvel Comics” had original comic book pages by Silver Age greats, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and emerging talents, Walt Simonson, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Mary Wilshire. “Archie--America’s Favorite Teenager” was done with the cooperation of Peg Bertholet, the widow of Archie’s creator, and included many of Bob Montana’s early sketches, comic book pages, and comic strips. “Bugs Bunny--A Fifty Year Retrospective” was the most popular show ever presented at the Museum, and incorporated animation drawings by Tex Avery, Bob Clampett, and Chuck Jones, as well as cels, backgrounds, and storyboards from the Warner Bros. Studio.

The Fall exhibitions usually tied in with sponsorship for the Museum’s annual fundraiser. “Popeye’s 50^th Anniversary” was celebrated with an exhibit that included illustrations from the book, Popeye: The First Fifty Years, by Bud Sagendorf, as well as original strips by Popeye’s creator, E. C. Segar. “Little Orphan Annie” was timed to capitalize on the success of the stage and movie adaptations of Harold Gray’s creation and featured historic episodes borrowed from Boston University. “The Superman Exhibit” was sponsored by DC Comics and included two rare covers from 1941 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster on loan from Jerry Robinson. “The Cartoons of Playboy” showcased seventy-five original color cartoons from the magazine’s vaults in Chicago and added a touch of glamour to the annual gala dinner. “Milton Caniff--Rembrandt of the Comics” was organized with the cooperation of Lucy Shelton Caswell, curator of the Cartoon Research Library at The Ohio State University (“OSU”) and marked the fiftieth anniversary of the debut of “Terry and the Pirates.” Among the many highlights of “The Art of Walt Disney Studios” were concept sketches, animation drawings, and backgrounds from the Walt Disney Archives and cel set-ups from the Mike and Jeanne Glad Collection. Two of Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, were guests at the fundraiser that year. “The Fleischer Studio Retrospective” provided the backdrop for Mae Questel, the voice of Betty Boop, who sang at the annual dinner. “Batman--Fifty Years of the Dark Knight” opened in conjunction with the “Batman” feature film and included the costume worn by Michael Keaton in the movie. “The Dick Tracy Exhibit” combined life-size replicas of the villains in Warren Beatty’s adaptation with fifty original strips from the collection of Matt Masterson.

The challenge with presenting blockbuster exhibitions like these was to go beyond the current pop culture tie-in by offering a scholarly presentation, which demonstrated how these cartoon characters were created in their original form. The “Batman” exhibit, for instance, revealed the many varied interpretations of the Caped Crusader with two hundred original pages by fifty different artists, ranging from Jerry Robinson’s 1940s covers to Frank Miller’s 1980s Dark Knight stories. The Museum benefited from the increased media coverage and crowds that came to see these exhibits. The visitors, in turn, were able to enhance their appreciation for the characters they had seen in the live-action movies.

In some cases, the availability of artwork determined the theme for an exhibition. “That’s Not All Folks--The History of the Warner Bros. Studio” showcased drawings, storyboards, character designs, model sheets, and cels from the animation archives of Steven Schneider. “The History of Uncle Sam” told the story of this legendary character with sixty comic strips and political cartoons on loan from Murray Harris. “The Peanuts Retrospective,” which celebrated thirty-five years of Charles Schulz’s creation, and “Artists of The New Yorker” both featured artwork from the James Heineman Collection. “The Art of Fantasia,” the last major exhibition at the Museum, was comprised entirely of pieces from the Mike and Jeanne Glad Collection. The Glads contributed artwork to eight exhibitions at the Museum from 1987 to 2000. Many of the one-man shows were made possible by the cooperation of the artist’s families. Public and private institutions, such as Syracuse University, Boston University, The Ohio State University, and the San Francisco Academy of Comic Art, were also valuable resources.

Fig.15. Mort Walker gives a tour of the Museum in this poster produced in Sweden. 1980s.

 

Fig.16. The Flagstons visit the Museum in a special Sunday page. 1989.

 

Although the Museum never had the funds to hire outside consultants, on a few occasions qualified individuals generously offered their services. “Women and the Comics” was based on the book by Trina Robbins, who was also the guest curator. This historically important exhibit featured artwork by more than fifty notable women cartoonists, including pioneers Rose O’Neill, Nell Brinkley, and Dale Messick. “The Art of Will Eisner,” a tribute to one of the legendary innovators of the art form, was organized with the help of Cat Yronwode. Kendra Krienke volunteered to serve as curator for “Childhood Enchantments--Illustrations for Children’s Literature--1880 to 1940,” which included works by Johnny Gruelle, Palmer Cox, and Jessie Wilcox Smith.

 

Timing was a key element in other shows. “The Doonesbury Retrospective” filled the gap when Garry Trudeau went on sabbatical in 1983. “The Art of Tron” explored early computer animation and “Comics Next Generation--European Graphic Novels” provided a glimpse into the future of the art form. “The Cartoon History of Presidential Elections” looked at a century of political contests through the eyes of American cartoonists and was on view in the months leading up to Election Day 1984. “Comic Relief” came to the Museum on February 22, 1986, when fifty cartoonists attended the opening of an exhibit of artwork from the 1985 Thanksgiving Hunger Project in which one hundred seventy-five cartoonists coordinated their strips to focus attention on world hunger. In a four-hour session that night, these artists drew their characters holding hands on a fifty-foot mural to help promote “Hands Across America,” a nationwide fundraising event scheduled for May 25, 1986. More than one hundred other cartoonists from around the country also sent in drawings to add to this chain, which was reproduced in the June 1986 issue of Life magazine.

Fig.17. Dik Browne gave Brian Walker this watercolor as a present after he performed his wedding ceremony in 1981.

 

Some exhibits happened spontaneously. Shortly after delivering an entertaining lecture to a capacity crowd at the Museum in 1979, Chuck Jones came out of the men’s room with a mischievous grin on his face. We soon discovered that he had left behind a drawing of the Road Runner dashing across the bathroom wall, which he signed and dated. At a subsequent gathering, Dik Browne decided to leave his mark with a drawing of Hagar the Horrible contemplating the toilet bowl. Other contributors were Bill Gallo, Curt Swan, Johnny Hart, and Will Eisner. We eventually had to put up a sign requesting that graffiti be added by “professionals only.” In 1984, Trina Robbins, Wendy Pini, and Mary Wilshire started a competing exhibit on the walls of the women’s room.

Fig.18. A promotional photo for the launch of “Betty Boop and Felix.” 1984. Left to right: Brian, Morgan, Neal, Greg, Betty Boop, Mort Walker, and Felix the Cat.

 

Media coverage of the Museum’s exhibits and programs was extensive and most of the reviews were positive. A reporter for The New York Times, writing about “The New Yorker Art of Peter Arno,” described the Museum as “an upstart institution that is trying to broaden the definition of art suitable for collection, display and criticism.”⁵ We took that as a compliment. Colorful feature articles about the Museum appeared in national magazines including Museum, Smithsonian, Diversion, Town and Country, National Geographic Traveler, and American Way. Our galleries served as the backdrop for numerous television documentaries, including “Camera Three (CBS),” Lee Mendelson’s “The Fantastic Funnies (CBS),” “Funny Business--The Art in Cartooning (PBS),” “Humor in Sports” hosted by Bob Costas (ABC), and “The Adult Cartoon Show (Campus Cable Network),” starring Chuck Green. High above the central staircase of Ward’s Castle was a skylight. The window below this had been broken when the house was vacant andthe opening was covered with a piece of plywood. In 1980, “Muppet” cartoonists, Guy and Brad Gilchrist, made a stained-glass window to fit this space that featured seventeen characters created by Hall of Fame cartoonists, including Little Nemo, Krazy Kat, the Yellow Kid, and Pogo. This unique piece of handicraft was unveiled at a party held to celebrate Beetle Bailey’s 30^th Anniversary on September 6, 1980 and became a permanent fixture at the Museum.

Fig.19. This photo of the extended Walker/Browne family was used to promote the “Next

Generation” of “Hi and Lois” creators in 1993.

 

There had always been a widespread misperception that, since the Museum was founded by Mort Walker and initially funded by the Hearst Foundation, it was primarily devoted to newspaper comics. We tried to disprove this false assumption by presenting exhibits which featured comic book, magazine, illustration, animation, and political cartoon art, but the idea still persisted that we were not equally dedicated to all genres of cartooning. In 1987, I decided to organize an exhibition that highlighted outstanding contemporary work being done in a wide range of fields and, at the same time, acquire examples of these for our permanent collection. I made up a list that included cartoonists, such as Garry Trudeau in comic strips, John Byrne in comic books, Tony Auth in editorial cartooning, Don Bluth in animation, B. Kliban in magazines, Robert Crumb in underground comix, and Art Spiegelman in graphic novels. I wrote letters to seventy-five cartoonists asking them to contribute a piece to the exhibition, “Cartoons: The State of the Art,” and offered them the option of donating their submission to the Museum’s collection. All, but a few, agreed to do so. The acquisition of this new artwork strengthened the quality and diversity of the Museum’s archives, as many of the pieces were from artists who had never been represented. I repeated this successful formula two more times with “The New Breed--An Exhibit of Contemporary Cartoonists” in 1989 and “Cartoons: The State of the Art 2” in 1992.

Fig.20. Joe D’Angelo, shown here with his wife, Marcia, and Mort and Cathy Walker, was the president of the Museum’s board of directors for many years.

 

The collection was augmented in other significant ways. “Dick Tracy--The Art of Chester Gould,” the first major retrospective at the Ward’s Castle in 1978, inspired Gould to bequeath more than 7,000 “Dick Tracy” strips to the Museum, which arrived seven years later, after his death. In 1982, Mildred Berndt donated her husband, Walter’s, Reuben Award, as well as 103 of his “Smitty” strips. Al Andriola left all of his “Kerry Drake” originals when he passed away in 1983. The Smithsonian Institution transferred 576 editorial cartoons by 113 artists and the National Cartoonists Society gave 2,310 originals which had been used in their Reuben Award displays for more than thirty-five years.

 

A second phase of renovations on the castle began in December 1979. The New York State Office of Parks and Recreation approved a $90,000-plan to repair the exterior roofs and gutters to stop the leaking, which was causing damage to the ornate plaster ceilings on the interior. Paul Giampetro, a master sheet metal worker, came out of retirement to supervise the process of lining all the gutters and seams with lead-coated copper. In 1987, a third stage of repairs was completed to stabilize the deterioration of the Castle’s main tower at a cost of $30,000.

 

After thirteen years of dedicated service, Chuck Green left the Museum to pursue a career in advertising and marketing. In his retirement announcement, he wrote, “I was grateful for the opportunity to work with a group of professionals who became virtually like a family to me.”⁶ He was succeeded as executive director by Robert Kinsman in 1987 and Barbara Hammond in 1989. Peter Ciccone, Ellen Armstrong, Benjy Rubin, Lorraine Schilling, Ashley Hunt, Carolyn Mayo, Ona Ziegler, and Skip Alsdorf were among the many staff members who made significant contributions to the Museum’s success during the Ward’s Castle years. Many family members and friends also helped out, including my brothers, Greg and Neal.

 

In 1989, Sherman Krisher, an employee of the Museum since 1982, confessed to stealing more than a hundred original cartoons from the collection and selling them to two local comic shop dealers. About half of this artwork was later recovered after a successful sting operation orchestrated by Westchester County Assistant District Attorney Tony Berk. A second theft occurred on March 3, 1991 when five pieces of animation art were taken from a third-floor workroom while the installation of “The Art of Fantasia” was underway. These were devastating blows. During the 1980s, prices for original cartoon art soared and major auction houses, such as Sotheby’s and Christies, reported new records after almost every sale. At the same time, the Museum presented more ambitious exhibitions, featuring rare and valuable artwork from private collections. When the “Fantasia” show was over, I decided not to borrow any more artwork until the Museum’s security was upgraded. The “Fantasia” pieces were found and returned to the lenders many years later.

 

After more than a decade in Ward’s Castle, we were becoming increasingly aware of its limitations. The building continued to deteriorate, and we did not have the funds for ongoing restorations. The neighbors, who had built new homes on the 6.5 acres surrounding the castle, which was originally part of the Ward estate, were complaining about the crowds that were flocking to the Museum. Although we were in the New York metropolitan area, we knew we could get even more traffic and press coverage if we were in an urban location. On January 4, 1989, the nearby city of Stamford, Connecticut announced that they were planning to create a museum in the Old Town Hall, which had been vacant for many years. My father thought we should consider moving there.

 

We looked at the building, which needed extensive repairs, and started talking to town officials. Other groups, including the Stamford Historical Society, also expressed interest in using this space. Word leaked out about our negotiations and we were soon approached by the city of Norwalk, Connecticut. They were seeking a public institution to take over an old warehouse next to the Maritime Center in South Norwalk, which was struggling to attract visitors. They thought the Museum might be the answer to their problems. Not long after meetings were held to investigate the possibility of moving to Norwalk, one of the Museum’s members called from Florida. He told us that Palm Beach County was anxious to attract cultural institutions to the area. A contingent of Museum representatives took a trip to Florida to look at sites in Palm Beach Gardens and Boca Raton.

Fig.21. Mort and Jim Davis break ground for the new IMCA. 1994.

 

Mort officially announced the board of directors’ decision to move the Museum to Florida in January 1991. The site that was chosen, Mizner Park in Boca Raton, was a multi-use development that included upscale shops, restaurants, a movie theater, a bookstore, offices, and condominiums. An acre of land at the south end of the palm-lined esplanade was leased to the Museum for $1 a year. The new building, which would be built in the style of architect, Addison Mizner, with pink stucco walls and a red tile roof, would be 30,000 square feet with room for a 10,000-foot expansion, at an estimated cost of $3 million.

 

The doors to Ward’s Castle closed to the public on June 30, 1992. Rich Kreiner, a writer for The Comics Journal, had visited the Museum that Spring. In his article, “Estates of the Art,” which was published in November 1992, he wrote: “One frets about the fate of the Museum of Cartoon Art and the inevitable upheaval caused by its move. Already it is known that several of the Museum personnel and staff, including Brian Walker, did not accompany the Museum south. From a practical standpoint, the industry has lost an impressive showcase so close to New York City. Still, given the track record of the Museum and Mort Walker, one has hope that the institution will survive and prosper down in Attractionland.”⁷

 

After the Museum closed, Mort and Catherine Walker and her daughters, Cathy and Priscilla Prentice, packed the collection for the move to Florida. More than 100,000 drawings, books, tapes, and films had to be labeled and boxed. It took six weeks of work before North American Van Lines finally carried the precious cargo away. Several months later, the Castle was sold to a family from Scotland.

Fig.22. The completed IMCA building in Boca Raton, Florida. 1996.

 

By the Spring of 1993, a team had been assembled to launch the planning phase of the new International Museum of Cartoon Art. Fritz Jellinghaus, director of development, Mary Csar, office administrator, Patti Berman, administrative assistant, and Debra Hyman, collections manager, operated out of an office/campaign headquarters and a trailer decorated with cartoon characters situated on the property at Mizner Park.

 

Architect Ron Schwab, with guidance from Mort, had almost completed the initial plan for the building, which would occupy 52,000 square-feet on two levels. The main hall on the first-floor would be divided into twenty-five galleries devoted to permanent displays and rotating exhibits, as well as the Hall of Fame. A 250-seat theater, a research library, offices, a conference room, archives, workrooms, a gift shop, a café, classrooms, an outdoor sculpture garden, a Glockenspiel tower, and an exterior façade decorated with cartoon silhouettes were also on the drawing board.

 

To acquaint local residents with cartoon art, the Museum mounted a number of temporary exhibitions. “The Story of America in Cartoons,” “A Cartoon History of U.S. Foreign Policy,” “Glasnost in Cartoons,” and “Masters of Cartoon Art” were shown at bookstores, galleries, and schools in Palm Beach County during 1992. “Art Spiegelman: The Road to Maus,” a selection of drawings from Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel which had been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, was showcased at the Fort Lauderdale Museum of Art in partnership with the Museum from February 5, 1993 to April 1, 1993.

 

By the end of 1992, more than $2 million had been raised for the Building Fund towards a goal of $8.8 million. The first leadership gifts were provided by Charles and Jean Schulz, the Hearst Foundation, Scripps Howard Foundation, King Features Syndicate, Browne Enterprises, John and Bobby Hart, Sullivan Graphics, Jim and Carolyn Davis, Norma and Bill Horvitz, Mort and Catherine Walker, the Knight Foundation, Hallmark Cards, SunBank, and the McCormick Tribune Foundation. Government grants were received from the Palm Beach County Tourist Development Council and the Florida Arts Council.

 

In a groundbreaking ceremony held on December 8, 1994, Snoopy helped Mort and Cathy shovel the first spade of earth to start the construction. Jim Davis, the co-chairman of the fundraising campaign, reported that more than four hundred individuals and corporations had now contributed $4.7 million to the Building Fund. Less than six months later, when the National Cartoonists Society held their annual Reuben Awards convention in Boca Raton, the exterior shell of the building was almost completed.

 

On May 4, 1995, after more than three years of lobbying by a committee headed by Catherine Walker, with assistance from Bill Janocha, the U.S. Postal Service unveiled twenty comic strip commemorative stamps. “We finally got our stamp of approval,” said Museum Chairman Mort Walker at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. where the ceremony took place.⁸ “Featuring the Funnies--One Hundred Years of the Comic Strip” opened the next day at the Library of Congress. Included in this historic exhibit were twenty-three original cartoons on loan from the Museum.

 

The collection, which was in a secure storage facility, continued to grow. On February 24, 1994, Chance and Sally Browne delivered a truckload of “Hagar the Horrible” and “Hi and Lois” strips to the Museum. Stan Drake sent sixteen of his “World Famous Cartoonists” portraits, including Elzie Segar, Al Capp, and Milton Caniff. Bil Keane donated 3,000 original “Family Circus” and “Channel Chuckles” panels in 1995. More than three hundred pieces of animation art from the collection of Mike and Jeanne Glad, including examples from “Pinocchio,” “Peter Pan,” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” were added to the collection in 1997.

 

Finally, the opening weekend arrived. At 3 p.m. on Friday, March 8, 1996, an invitation-only dedication ceremony was held. Among the four hundred guests in attendance were Jim Davis, Mike Peters, Will Eisner, Fred Lasswell, Dean Young, and Stan Lee, as well as thirty-five members of the Walker clan. “Then we opened the doors and everyone came in,” Mort remembered. “I got ticket number one. My wife started crying, she was so happy. God what a glorious moment that was. I was so proud of the Museum and what we’d done. I really thought we were on our way.”⁹

Fig.23. Mort and Cathy Walker at the IMCA opening on March 8, 1996.

 

The “Shazam! Wow! Pop!” gala fundraiser was held the following night, with costumed characters and live music. On Sunday, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the International Museum of Cartoon Art opened to the public. Visitors spread throughout the 26,000 square feet of the Museum’s ground floor, viewing the newly-installed permanent exhibits, as well as two special shows. “The Art of Dumbo” included more than one hundred twenty concept drawings and storyboards from this classic 1941 Disney film and “Ze’ev--Eyewitness with a Smile” was a retrospective of Israel’s leading political cartoonist. After the Museum closed at 6 p.m., there was a concert of cartoon music by the Palm Beach County Youth Symphony Orchestra in Mizner Park.

 

In the first year of operation, more than 75,000 visitors came to the Museum. Curator Garry Hood, who had started working at the Museum in 1995, was joined by the first full-time director, Christopher “Kip” Eagen. “Remembering the Magic--Disney at 25” and “Line of Fire--Jim Morin at the Herald” were the next special exhibitions. These were followed by “24 Frames a Second: The Story of Animation” and “Dogs, Cats, and Other Talking Animals.” Five new members were added to the Hall of Fame in 1997 and a Winner’s Gallery and an International Gallery were added as permanent displays. Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee and New Yorker cartoonist Lee Lorenz kicked off the “Masters of Cartooning” Lecture Series.

 

Jerry Robinson, who had served on the board of directors since the Museum’s inception in 1974, stepped up his efforts to expand the scope of the collection. As chairman of the International Advisory Board, Jerry traveled around the world visiting cartoonists and cartoon museums in Japan, China, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, France, Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Poland, and Slovenia, urging them to support the Museum and donate artwork.

Fig.24. A virtual rendering by Ralph Appelbaum Associates of what the National Cartoon Museum would have looked like in the Empire State Building. 2007.

 

Among the many programs offered by the Museum in Boca Raton were annual children’s cartoon contests, special family day events, and a summer camp run by cartoonist, Jose Delbo, and his wife, Mabelle. Ongoing mini-exhibits included a “Hot Topics Gallery,” which featured editorial cartoons on contemporary events, a working animation studio set up in the galleries for public viewing, and a “Create-a-Toon Center” for kids. The Museum’s volunteer program, the Cartoon Art Supporters (CARTS), was very active in organizing events, training docents, and giving tours.

 

During this period of planning, fundraising, and building, I was pursuing other opportunities, several of which involved the Museum’s collections. I traveled to France with a group of American cartoonists and saw “The World of According to Robert Crumb” exhibit at the National Center for Comics and Image in Angoulême. I taught a cartoon writing workshop at Fairfield University and a course in cartoon history at the School of Visual Arts. I put together a book on Billy DeBeck and Fred Lasswell for an exhibition commemorating the 75^th anniversary of “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith” at the O.S.U. Cartoon Research Library. I was the editor-in-chief of Collectors’ Showcase magazine for three years.

 

I also served as the curator for two major exhibitions that celebrated the centennial anniversary of the comics. “The Sunday Funnies--100 Years of Comics in American Life,” which was on view at the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from December 1, 1994 to April 30, 1995, was the most ambitious project I had ever worked on. The centerpiece of the show was a thirty-foot long, custom-built display cabinet with a timeline of artwork, photographs, and objects, tracing a century of comics history. I reconfigured this exhibition into a spin-off show, “100 Years of American Comics,” which was at the Belgian Center for Comic Arts in Brussels from January 15, 1996 to April 15, 1996. These projects provided me with new experiences and insights that I would use in organizing later exhibitions.

Fig.25. Mort and Lucy Caswell at the opening of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. November 16, 2013.

 

In the Summer of 1997, my father asked me if I would help out with an exhibit at the International Museum of Cartoon Art. I was pleased to have an opportunity to renew my association with the Museum, but it was a challenge to put together “Cartoons Go to War” in the few months before the scheduled opening on Veterans Day 1997. I arranged to borrow examples of Milton Caniff’s “Male Call,” starring Miss Lace, as well as “Terry and the Pirates” and “Steve Canyon” strips from the O.S.U. Cartoon Research Library. The Words and Pictures Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts, provided an EC Comics war story by Harvey Kurtzman. Mike Glad loaned animation art from World War II propaganda films. An art dealer sent a selection of recruiting posters from World War I. The authors of “Home Front America” contributed items from their personal collection of World War II memorabilia. When I arrived in Florida a few days before the opening, I was surprised at how much work remained to be done. A local collector offered an authentic army jeep to the cause, which the Museum’s facilities manager, Joe Bickar, drove through the front doors. After a few late nights, we managed to open the show on time.

 

Between 1997 and 2001, I served as guest curator for five more exhibitions at the International Museum of Cartoon Art. Collection coordinator Stephen Charla was essential to this collaboration. He did all of the shipping, framing, and exhibit preparation in advance of my arrival in Florida, which was usually about four days before the openings. I enjoyed working with this eager and intelligent young man, as well as other members of the dedicated staff, including Abby Roeloffs,  who succeeded Kip as director in 1998, Mary Abbot, Jeanne Greever, Joe Bickar ,and Alexis Faro.

 

Among the unique displays in the “Holiday Cartoon Celebration,” which opened during the 1998 holiday season, were “The Story of Santa Claus” by Thomas Nast, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Chuck Jones, “Curtis Celebrates Kwanza” by Ray Billingsley, “Deck Us All with Boston Charlie” by Walt Kelly, “The Christmas Spirit” by Will Eisner, “A Distant Christmas” by Milton Caniff, and a “Holiday Film Festival” of vintage animation.

 

“Tarzan--From Burroughs to Disney” was timed to capitalize on the anticipation for Disney’s animated “Tarzan” which opened on June 11, 1999. Included in the displays were illustrations, comic strips, and paintings by Hal Foster, Burne Hogarth, Frank Frazetta, and Neal Adams, as well as “Tarzan” movie posters from 1918 to 1999, concept art and maquettes from the Disney film, and first editions of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ books. At the opening, visitors passed through a bamboo archway, flanked with palm trees, to discover a bronzed actor dressed in a loincloth, posing for pictures.

 

Tragically, “50 Years of Peanuts--The Art of Charles Schulz,” was on view when the legendary cartoonist announced his retirement in December 1999 and then passed away two months later. The exhibit, which included a timeline of “Peanuts” artifacts and memorabilia from the collection of “Snoopy Lady,” Freddi Margolin, provided a backdrop for the many news crews who showed up to produce tributes to Schulz. Among the highlights of this historic show were rare strips from the collection of Robert Casterline and Joe Bickar’s custom-built model of Snoopy as the World War I Flying Ace circling on his doghouse above the exhibits.

 

The Summer before “The Legacy of Mort Walker--50 Years of Beetle Bailey” opened, I spent weeks rummaging through old clippings, photographs, college humor magazines, war sketchbooks, family letters, gag cartoons, and original comic strips in the attic of my father’s garage. The result was a life-spanning retrospective that included strip ideas that Mort had submitted to syndicates when he was a teenager, his lieutenant’s uniform and helmet from World War II, the “sex issue” of Showme magazine that he edited while he was a student at the University of Missouri, and hundreds of classic “Beetle Bailey” strips. At the opening, my father quipped, “Brian knows more about me than I do.” This exhibition got a second life when it was displayed at the Stamford Museum and Nature Center the following year.

Fig.26. The Comics--The Complete Collection published by Abrams in 2008.

The last exhibition I did at the International Museum of Cartoon Art was “Dennis the Menace--The Boy Next Door.” Boston University, where the majority of Hank Ketcham’s early work resides, was a major contributor, and his team in California, especially Dottie Roberson, helped to make this a truly comprehensive one-man show. It opened during the second National Cartoonists Society Reuben convention to be held in Boca Raton, so Ketcham’s peers were able to appreciate the many examples of his artistic genius and multifaceted career on display.

 

The Museum featured other important exhibits during this same period. “40 Years of B.C.--The Art and Humor of Johnny Hart” was a retrospective of artwork from Hart’s personal archives. “Garfield: 20 Years and Still Kicking” was a spectacular presentation produced by Jim Davis’ PAWS Studio. “Superheroes: Superman and Other Comic Book Legends” included comic book pages on loan from the Words and Pictures Museum in Northampton, Massachusetts. David Leopold served as guest curator for “In Line with Al Hirschfeld” and the ninety-five-year-old caricaturist attended the opening reception. “Oscars and Animation” was the last exhibit to showcase artwork from the Mike and Jeanne Glad Collection.

 

Fundraising continued to be a challenge for the Museum during the Florida years. “Boca Raton philanthropy has not done its part for the Museum,” claimed Will Ray, president of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council in 1998.¹⁰ The largest single gift was $1 million from Charles and Jean Schulz and the most significant donation from local residents was $250,000 from Mort and Catherine Walker. “We’re a little disappointed that we haven’t had more local support,” claimed Joe D’Angelo, president of the Museum’s board and its most dedicated fundraiser.¹¹

Fig.27. Doonesbury and the Art of G.B. Trudeau published by Yale University Press in 2010.

     To compound these financial problems, donors who had promised money to the Museum had not paid the full amount of their pledges. In December 1996, Marvel Enterprises, which gave the Museum $100,000 as the first payment towards a pledge of $1 million, filed for bankruptcy. Great American Candy signed a deal to put cartoon characters on their products, which could have potentially earned the Museum $500,000 a year, but it went out of business in September 1997.

    A plan to merge with Florida Atlantic University (“FAU”) was scuttled by Boca Raton officials in the Summer of 2000. FAU was going to buy the building, pay off the Museum’s debts, retain its board of directors, rent the first floor for exhibits and use the second floor for classroom space. The Boca Raton Community Redevelopment Agency wanted to place limitations on FAU to ensure that the space would only be used for cultural purposes. FAU backed out of the deal on June 30, 2000. Other organizations, including a human rights museum, a miniatures museum, a health club, and a school for hotel management also expressed interest in the building, but all of these offers were withdrawn after negotiations with the town continued to bog down.

    In July 2000, local newspapers reported that the Museum was behind in its mortgage payments to SunTrust Bank. The Museum had put up the original storyboards for Mickey Mouse’s first film, “Plane Crazy,” as collateral for the loan. SunTrust planned to take possession of these drawings, but was prevented from doing so by Palm Beach County Circuit Court Judge Walter Colbath at a hearing on July 20. Eventually, the Museum paid SunTrust and refinanced the loan with another bank.

    On May 19, 2001, Guernsey’s, an auction house in New York City, held a sale of cartoon art to benefit the Museum. Among the three hundred fifty lots were the “Plane Crazy” storyboards, which had been donated by Stephen Geppi and valued at $3.75 million. The reserve was not met, so the Mickey Mouse drawings remained in the Museum’s collection. In terms of the revenue raised, the auction was a disappointment.

    The South Florida Sun-Sentinel ran a guest editorial by local resident, George Schwartz, on October 22, 2001, in which he warned the community that if some action wasn’t taken “this treasure will leave Florida and we’ll all be the poorer.”¹² Schwartz recounted how Mort and Catherine Walker had brought the Museum to Boca Raton in 1992: “They invested countless hours of effort and huge sums of personal money and they called in favors from many friends in support of the Museum. Once the Museum opened, they attracted several conventions of cartoonists to Boca Raton, made the Museum a tourist destination of international importance, educated and delighted many of us and our children, organized many scholarly exhibits and built a much-needed anchor for the community.”¹³

    But it was too late. Joe Bickar and Stephen Charla had already started packing the collection for a trip back north. They carefully labeled hundreds of cardboard shipping containers filled with artwork, books, toys, sculptures, files, furniture, and display fixtures. Joe and Jeanne Greever traveled to Stamford, Connecticut, a few weeks before the moving vans arrived on January 30, 2002, to build custom shelves in a secure storage facility. As required by its lease, the Museum in Florida continued to stay open, with a small exhibit maintained by a skeleton staff. It finally closed at the end of 2002, but the sale of the building, to a local development group, would not be finalized for another three years. The remainder of the collection was moved to the warehouse/office space which was set up as a research and educational center.

    In the meantime, news of the Museum’s difficulties encouraged other organizations to come forward and offer solutions. In March 2002, a meeting was held with officials from Yale University to discuss a possible gift of the collection to their library, but no permanent exhibit space was offered, so the search for a new home continued. Another site under consideration was a warehouse building owned by Circle Lines on the west side of Manhattan. A proposed redevelopment of the area put that idea on indefinite hold.

    One day, Mort was introduced to Peter Malkin, who said he was an avid fan of “Beetle Bailey.” He was also chairman of the investment group that owned the Empire State Building. Malkin told Mort that there was vacant space on the ground floor of the building and both agreed that it would be an ideal location for a cartoon museum. An estimated 3.5 million visitors ride the elevator to the observation deck at the top of the Empire State Building every year. A deal was worked out to sell a combined ticket to the observation deck and the Museum, which could potentially earn millions.

 

 

Fig.28. “The Nancy Show” at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. 2024.

A visual concept study was produced by Ralph Appelbaum Associates, the firm that designed the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. and the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. The new museum would occupy 14,000 square feet on three floors with interactive, state-of-the-art exhibits at an estimated cost of $8 million. An interim director, Stephen Kiviat, was hired. A board of directors and advisory boards for the newly-named National Cartoon Museum (NCM) were set up. The Museum formally announced in August 2005 that it had signed a lease for the space and would begin seeking support and planning exhibitions.

 

Unfortunately, the first signs of the coming economic collapse were beginning to have an effect on fundraising. Corporations were cutting back on their philanthropic activities and money was tight everywhere. The Hearst Foundation, which made the initial grant to help start the Museum in 1974, and had donated over a million dollars since that time, turned down a request to provide the lead gift for the NCM project. After a year of frustration, the Museum had not raised sufficient funds to begin renovating the galleries. Malkin claimed that he had been saving the space, rent-free, for a year and had no choice but to put it back on the market in September 2006. Mort claimed that Malkin’s group had changed the agreement for the combined ticket and now wanted $650,000 in rent. It was a discouraging blow. After thirty-two years of perseverance, Mort was running out of options.

 

In 2007, Lucy Shelton Caswell, a former member of the Museum’s board, approached Mort and Catherine with a proposal to merge the collection with the Cartoon Research Library at The Ohio State University. Mort explained that the Museum had already declined a similar offer from Yale, because there was no provision for permanent exhibits. The central focus of his dream had always been to provide the public with an opportunity to see cartoon art in a museum setting on a regular basis. Lucy said that there were plans to move the Cartoon Research Library to another building on the campus which would include permanent galleries.

 

Mort and I were invited to be guest speakers at the Festival of Cartoon Art at OSU in October 2007. After the event was over, Lucy took us and Catherine to see an elegant old building on the edge of the campus that was occupied by the Dance Department, the Music/Dance Library and, temporarily, the undergraduate library because of the renovation of the campus’s main library. Although Sullivant Hall would require extensive renovation, we could envision a combined cartoon museum and library in this space. Lucy explained that the University still had to approve the final plan, but she seemed confident that it would happen and had a good source of funding to pay for it.

 

Mort announced in May 2008 that the Museum had signed an agreement with The Ohio State University to transfer its collection to the Cartoon Research Library, which was later renamed the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum. In the press release, Lucy said, “We are honored that the IMCA’s board has placed its treasures in our care.”¹⁴ She added that, “It is critical that we have state-of-the-art gallery space to display IMCA’s collection appropriately.” That Summer, all the boxes were again packed in moving vans and transported to Columbus. It was a bittersweet day for all of us who had been involved in this challenging endeavor for more than three decades.

Fig.29. The National Cartoonists Society presented Brian Walker with the Silver T-Square in 2023. Left to right: David Walker, Abby Walker, Brian Walker, and Sarah Pacifico Walker.

 

        Looking back at my long association with the Museum, I am very proud of what we accomplished. In spite of mistakes that were made and some heart-breaking disappointments, we succeeded in advancing the appreciation of cartoon art. Many cartoonists look at their work differently now as a result of viewing our exhibitions, and the general public is more aware of the accomplishments of the great masters of the art form. A few of our young volunteers, including Kevin Kallaugher, Bruce Beattie, and Mark Tonra, were so inspired that they went on to pursue successful careers as professional cartoonists. In the twenty-four years that the Museum was open to the public, more than a million visitors came through its doors. I am always meeting people who share nostalgic memories of their pilgrimages to the various sites. The exhibits and programs were made possible by the tireless efforts of all the dedicated staff members who worked at the Museum over the years, as well as artists, volunteers, and contributors who generously gave to the cause. We also pioneered methods of displaying cartoon art that have been adapted by museums around the world. In more than seventy exhibitions, we covered a wide range of topics, paid tribute to an impressive roster of artists, and displayed thousands of cartoon masterpieces. Many of these shows incorporated a variety of visual elements that appealed to our predominantly family audience. Although we could never afford Disney-style animatronics, we did feature humorous life-size sculptures, animation screenings, slide shows, toys, collectibles, and memorabilia displayed in showcases.

My career got a big boost when I was hired by Harry N. Abrams in 2001 to put together a history of modern comics entiled, The Comics Since 1945. A second volume, The Comics Before 1945, came out in 2004 and both were combined into a single volume, The Comics--The Complete Collection in 2008. This book is now considered to be one of the definitive surveys of American newspaper comics.

Fig.30. Mort Walker’s Beetle Bailey--75 Years of Smiles published by Fantagraphics Books in 2025.

 

Between 2005 and 2007, I served as co-curator for a major exhibition, “Masters of American Comics,” which included works from the Museum’s collections. It opened at the Hammer Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and traveled to the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Newark Museum, and the Jewish Museum in New York. Working in these fine art museums introduced me to a more traditional approach to exhibiting artwork. Original comic strips and comic book pages were framed and displayed on the walls. Printed artifacts were shown in glass vitrines. The design was subdued and elegant. There were no splashy graphics, three-dimensional objects or hands-on activities for children. The artwork could be appreciated without any distractions.

 

In the Summer of 2005, I consulted with the talented team at Ralph Appelbaum Associates on the design for the proposed National Cartoon Museum in the Empire State Building. Although it was understood that the displays would have to incorporate state-of-the-art technology to entertain the crowds that were anticipated at this location, I felt strongly that the Museum’s exhibits needed to retain their integrity. We could spend millions of dollars on a multimedia welcome wall, a magic inkwell, a digital archive, and a cartoon cave, but without legitimate exhibits, we would never be taken seriously in the sophisticated New York City art world. Fortunately, Appelbaum’s designers agreed and we came up with a proposal that could serve as a blueprint for any future cartoon museum.

 

Between 2008 and 2010, I was hired by the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California to curate a trilogy of exhibits entitled “The Language of Lines.” I was also the curator for the opening exhibit, “Substance and Shadow,” at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at OSU in 2013 and have done four more shows there. “George Herriman--Krazy Kat Is Krazy Kat Is Krazy Kat” at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid in 2017 was a highlight of my curatorial career.

Over the years, I have written, edited, and contributed to fifty-five books on cartoon art, including Doonesbury and the Art of G.B. Trudeau for Yale University Press in 2010 and Beetle Bailey--75 Years of Smiles for Fantagraphics in 2025.

 

After all of these experiences, I realize that I have come full circle in my appreciation for cartoon art. As a child, I first became fascinated with the pen-and-ink cartoons I saw on the walls of my family home. The artwork in the Museum’s collection still has that power over me. When I look at an original drawing, I can imagine a cartoonist toiling at his or her drawing board, trying to meet another deadline. An original cartoon is a one-of-a-kind creation made by the hand of this unseen artist, and there are thousands and thousands of these priceless artifacts in the Museum’s vast collection. I get great satisfaction when these pieces are on public display and museum visitors can share the same joy that I have had looking at them over the years. The Museum was never about the buildings that housed its collection. It has always been about the drawings on the walls. These masterpieces are now being preserved for posterity by the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum at The Ohio State University.

 

Endnotes

¹ Mort Walker. “News.” Inklings. Issue #1, Fall 1975, page 3. The Museum of Cartoon Art published twelve issues of Inklings between Fall 1975 and Summer 1978. They were edited by Greg Walker, who majored in journalism at Syracuse University.

² “Museum of Cartoon Art News.” Cartoonist PROfiles. Issue #76, December 1987, page 52. The Museum’s newsletter was published as part of Cartoonist PROfiles beginning with Issue #40, December 1978, and continuing until Issue #93, March 1992.

³ Jack Tippit. “Curator’s Corner.” Inklings. Issue #4, Summer 1976, page 1.

⁴ “A Dictionary of Dorganisms.” A Collection of Cartoons by Thomas Aloysius Dorgan 1877--1929, published by the Museum of Cartoon Art, June 1978.

⁵ Matthew L. Wald. “Cartoon Museum Salutes Peter Arno.” The New York Times. September 19, 1980, page C1.

⁶ Charles Green. “Museum of Cartoon Art Announcement.” Cartoonist

PROfiles. Issue #76, December 1987, page 50.

⁷ Rich Kreiner. “Estates of the Art,” The Comics Journal. Issue #154, November 1992, page 118.

⁸ Inklings. Issue #8, Summer 1995, page 1. The International Museum of Cartoon Art published twenty issues of Inklings, Issues #1 through #20, from Spring 1993 to Winter 1999.

⁹ Wyatt Olsen. “Out of ‘Toon.” Broward Palm Beach New Times. July 5, 2001, page 2.

¹⁰ Gary Schwan. “Toon Museum Looks for Punch Line to Attract Tourists.” The Oklahoma City Journal Record. Cox News Service. July 24, 1998, page 2.

¹¹ Quoted in Schwan, page 2.

¹² George Schwartz. “Cartoon Art Museum--We Are in Danger of Losing a Cultural Asset.” South Florida Sun-Sentinel. October 22, 2001.

¹³ Ibid.

¹⁴ “International Museum of Cartoon Art.” The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library press release. May 14, 2008. http://cartoons.osu.edu/?q=press/international-museum-cartoon-art 

 

 

© 2025 Brian Walker

 

Cartoon Art Exhibitions

Brian Walker -- Curator

Recent exhibitions (1994 to present):

 

    Title                                                                                         Dates

Cartoon County--The State of Cartooning                                Sept. 7, 2024 to Dec. 10, 2024

The Nancy Show--Bushmiller and Beyond                              May 24, 2024 to Nov. 3, 2024

Mort Walker--A Centennial Celebration                                  Aug. 2, 2023 to Nov. 4, 2023 

The Dog Show--Two Centuries of Canine Cartoons               June 19, 2021 to Oct. 31, 2021 

Masterpieces from the Museum of Cartoon Art                      Jan. 26, 2019 to April 20, 2019 

Artistically MAD--Seven Decades of Satire                            May 5, 2018 to Oct. 21, 2018 

George Herriman--Krazy Kat Is Krazy Kat Is Krazy Kat       Oct. 18, 2017 to Feb. 26, 2018 

King of the Comics                                                                  Dec. 13, 2014 to March 15, 2015 

Substance and Shadow--The Art of The Cartoon                     Nov. 16, 2013 to March 2, 2014 

“Flash Gordon” and the Heroes of the Universe                      Sept. 22, 2012 to Nov. 4, 2012 

60 Years of “Beetle Bailey”--A Tribute to Mort Walker          May 8, 2010 to Sept. 19, 2010 

The Language of Lines--Imaginary Places in the Comics       April 24, 2010 to Aug. 23, 2010 

The Language of Lines--How Cartoonists Create Characters July 25, 2009 to Nov. 30, 2009

The Language of Lines--How Cartoonists Communicate        Feb. 2, 2008 to Aug. 11, 2008 

A Cartoon Legacy--The Walker/Browne Family Collaboration   Sept. 23, 2007 to Jan. 4, 2008

Masters of American Comics                                                    Nov. 20, 2005 to Jan. 7, 2007

“Dennis the Menace”--The Boy Next Door                              May 26, 2001 to Aug. 26, 2001

50 Years of “Beetle Bailey”--The Legacy of Mort Walker        Nov. 11, 2000 to Feb. 25, 2001

50 Years of “Peanuts”--The Art of Charles Schulz                    Oct. 2, 1999 to Jan. 30, 2000

“Tarzan”: From Burroughs to Disney                                        May 22, 1999 to Sept. 19, 1999

Holiday Cartoon Celebration                                                     Nov. 13, 1998 to Jan. 17, 1999

Cartoons Go To War                                                                    Nov. 7, 1997 to Jan. 18, 1998

100 Years of American Comics                                                  Jan. 15, 1996 to April 15, 1996 

The Sunday Funnies: 100 Years of Comics in American Life    Dec. 1, 1994 to April 30, 1995

 

 

Museum of Cartoon Art exhibitions (1975 to 1992):

        Title                                                                                             Dates

A Retrospective of Walt Kelly and “Pogo”                               March 2, 1975 to April 30, 1975

Reuben Award Nominees                                                           April 15, 1975 to June 7, 1975

The Hal Foster Exhibit                                                             June 8, 1975 to Aug. 31, 1975

Jack Kirby--Comic Book Pioneer                                            Sept. 15, 1975 to Dec. 31, 1975

The Story of America in Cartoons                                           Jan. 24, 1976 to July 30, 1976 

Thomas Nast--The Father of American Political Cartooning Aug. 22, 1976 to Nov. 30, 1976 

A Cartoon Christmas                                                                  Dec. 1, 1976 to Jan. 10, 1977 

TAD--A Collection of Cartoons by Thomas Aloysius Dorgan June 11, 1978 to Sept. 30, 1978 

The Sunday Funnies                                                                   Sept. 8, 1978 to Sept. 30, 1978

“Dick Tracy”--The Art of Chester Gould                                  Oct. 4, 1978 to Dec. 30, 1978

The Jeff MacNelly Exhibit                                                        Jan. 14, 1979 to March 11, 1979

Cartoons in Advertising                                                             March 25, 1979 to April 29, 1979

The Best Editorial Cartoons of 1978                                         May 13, 1979 to July 15, 1979

“Popeye”’s 50^th Birthday                                                           July 29, 1979 to Nov. 30, 1979

Exhibit of English Cartoons                                                      Oct. 16, 1979 to Nov. 30, 1979 

That’s Not All Folks--The History of the Warner Bros. Studio     Dec. 2, 1979 to Jan. 11, 1980 Limited Edition Comics Art                                                      Jan. 27, 1980 to March 31, 1980

Dogpatch U.S.A.--The Art of Al Capp                                      April 8, 1980 to July 31, 1980

The New Yorker Art of Peter Arno                                             Sept. 21, 1980 to Nov. 30, 1980

“Little Orphan Annie”                                                               Nov. 8, 1980 to Jan. 31, 1981

The Artists of MAD Magazine                                                   March 1, 1981 to May 31, 1981

Willard Mullin--The Dean of Sports Cartoonists                       June 7, 1981 to Sept. 15, 1981

The Art of the “Muppets”                                                           Sept. 27, 1981 to Dec. 30, 1981

Winsor McCay Retrospective                                                     Jan. 24, 1982 to April 30, 1982

Great Comic Cats                                                                       May 16, 1982 to Aug. 30, 1982

The “Superman” Exhibit                                                            Sept. 19, 1982 to Dec. 30, 1982

“The Yellow Kid”--America’s First Comic Star                        Jan. 23, 1983 to March 27, 1983

The Art of “Tron”--Computer Graphics                                   Feb. 1, 1983 to April 24, 1983

The “Doonesbury” Retrospective                                            March 30, 1983 to July 3, 1983

Comics Next Generation--European Graphic Novels             Aug. 13, 1983 to Oct. 25, 1983

The Cartoons of Playboy                                                        Nov. 12, 1983 to Jan. 31, 1984

The Cartoon Game Exhibit                                                     Dec. 1, 1983 to Dec. 31, 1983

“Krazy Kat” Retrospective                                                     Feb. 14, 1984 to April 30, 1984

Women and the Comics                                                          May 19, 1984 to Aug. 12, 1984

The Cartoon History of Presidential Elections                          Aug. 26, 1984 to Nov. 6, 1984

Milton Caniff--Rembrandt of the Comic Strips                        Nov. 3, 1984 to Feb. 10, 1985 Masters of Pen and Ink                                                              March 17, 1985 to June 16, 1985

The Art of Marvel Comics                                                         July 7, 1985 to Oct. 13, 1985

The “Peanuts” Retrospective                                                      Nov. 16, 1985 to Feb. 16, 1986

Comic Relief Exhibit                                                                  Feb. 22, 1986 to March 15, 1986

The History of Uncle Sam                                                          March 23, 1986 to July 13, 1986

Defenders of the Earth                                                                July 27, 1986 to Oct. 26, 1986

The Art of Walt Disney Studio                                                    Nov. 15, 1986 to Feb. 15, 1987

Cartoons: The State of the Art                                                    March 15, 1987 to Oct. 30, 1987

The Fleischer Studio Retrospective                                             Nov. 14, 1987 to Feb. 28, 1988

The Art of Will Eisner                                                                 March 27, 1988 to June 28, 1988

“Archie”--America’s Favorite Teenager                                      July 10, 1988 to Oct. 30, 1988

Artists of The New Yorker                                                           Nov. 12, 1988 to Feb. 26, 1989

Childhood Enchantments--Illustrations for Children                 April 2, 1989 to June 25, 1989 

The New Breed--An Exhibit of Contemporary Cartoonists July 15, 1989 to Oct. 15, 1989 “Batman”--Fifty Years of the Dark Knight                                 Nov. 4, 1989 to Feb. 25, 1990

The Art of Ernie Bushmiller’s “Nancy”                                      April 1, 1990 to June 24, 1990

“Bugs Bunny”--A Fifty Year Retrospective                                 July 15, 1990 to Oct. 14, 1990

The “Dick Tracy” Exhibit                                                           Nov. 10, 1990 to Feb. 24, 1991

The Art of “Fantasia”                                                                  March 10, 1991 to June 16, 1991

Cartoons: The State of the Art 2                                                 Sept. 8, 1991 to June 1, 1992