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Craig (Chase) Collection
SC.CCC
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives
Title: Chase Craig Collection
Creator:
Craig, Chase, 1910-2002
Identifier/Call Number: SC.CCC
Physical Description:
17.147 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1924-2002
Abstract: W. Chase Craig (1910-2002) illustrated,
wrote and produced comic books from the mid-1930s until his retirement from Western Printing
and Lithography in 1975. Craig wrote and drew the first issues of Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes,
and Merrie Melodies for Western Printing and Lithography. Western's Los Angeles office
issued comics based on Walt Disney Studios, Walter Lantz, MGM, Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Hanna-Barbera characters, and popular TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s.
Language of Material:
English.
W. Chase Craig (1910-2002) illustrated, wrote, and produced comic books from the mid 1930s
until his retirement from Western Printing and Lithography in 1975. He graduated from the
Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1934, and soon started working for the
Christian Science Monitor, where he drew the Little Chauncey cartoon. The
following year he moved to Hollywood, California where he started as assistant animator on
Oswald Rabbit for Walter Lantz. In the mid to late 1930s, Craig worked for Tex Avery, then
moved to the
Los Angeles Daily News to help on the Charlie
McCarthy newspaper strip. He developed and sold the syndicated strip, Odd Bodkins, joining
Western Publishing soon after. In 1942, Craig enlisted in the US Navy. During the war he
worked at the Navy's "Vine Street Press" drawing illustrations for aviator training manuals.
In 1950, he became an editor at Western Printing and Lithography, rising to Managing Editor
and Executive Editor.
Western started a line of comic books that they would produce and print, and that Dell
Publishing would publish. Craig wrote and drew the first issues of Bugs Bunny, Looney Tunes,
and Merrie Melodies for the company. Western's Los Angeles office issued comics based on
Walt Disney Studios, Walter Lantz, MGM, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Hanna-Barbera characters,
and popular TV shows of the 1950s and 1960s. Dell split off from Western in 1962, and
Western became the parent company of Gold Key and Whitman comics. Gold Key comics licensed
many characters from Warner Bros., Disney, and Walter Lantz. The Whitman logo occasionally
appears on some issues of Gold Key titles. Western ceased publishing comics in 1984.
The
Chase Craig Collection documents the career of Chase
Craig, an illustrator, writer, editor, and producer of comic books. The bulk of the
collection consists of comic books produced while Craig worked for Western Publishing from
1939-1975. This includes comics published by the Dell Publishing Company's Dell Comics and
Western Publishing imprints, Gold Key Comics, and Whitman Comics. It also contains a small
number of Marvel Comics published in the late 1970s, as well as several aviation training
manuals Craig illustrated for the US Navy during World War II, and some personal items from
Craig's career. The collection includes comic books, large feature comics, premiums from
cold cereal boxes, correspondence, scrapbooks, sketches, newspaper clippings, window display
ads, training manuals, editorial cartoons, and comic strips, and is organized into four
major series:
Dell Comics (1939-1960),
Gold
Key and Marvel Comics,
(1944-2001),
Personal, (1924-2002)
and
Oversized Materials (1924-1941).
Series I,
Dell Comics, consists of premiums from cold cereal
boxes, one shots, large feature comics, four-color comics, bimonthlies, and quarterlies
issued primarily by the Dell Publishing Company, with a few issued by Famous Funnies and
Eastern Color. Included are several bound compilations such as "Walt Disney's Comics and
Stories," "New Funnies," and "Four Color Comics." This series contains issues featuring
Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Andy Panda, Woody Woodpecker, and The Cisco Kid,
among others. It also includes many issues from individual series such as Popeye, Looney
Toons and Merrie Melodies, Tom and Jerry, and the first twelve issues of Dell's original
"Felix the Cat" comics from 1948-1950. Materials are filed alphabetically by title.
Series II,
Gold Key and Marvel Comics, contains Gold Key and
Marvel comics published between 1944 and 1980, with the bulk of the material published in
the 1960s and 1970s. The series includes Gold Key and Whitman series titles such as The
Adventures of Mighty Mouse, Fat Albert, Flash Gordon, The Pink Panther, Star Trek, Tarzan of
the Apes, Tom and Jerry, Space Family Robinson, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the
Road Runner, among others. The series also contains several titles licensed from
Hanna-Barbera for Marvel Comics, including The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and Yogi Bear.
Materials are roughly grouped by publisher and filed in loose alphabetical order by
title.
Series III,
Personal, contains scrapbooks, comic strip art,
window display cartoons, production artwork, and correspondence from 1924-2002. This
includes newspaper clippings of comic strips that Craig created throughout his career such
as Little Chauncey, Hollywood Hams, and Odd Bodkins. The series also contains correspondence
concerning the rights to the name and ideas behind the science-fiction comic book series,
"Space Family Robinson," the television show, "Lost in Space," and several aviation training
manuals from the Vine Street Press featuring Craig's illustrations. Additionally, there are
some sketches and rough drafts of comics including several stories of The Pink Panther drawn
in pencil. Then, the retirement scrapbook contains farewell cartoons and drawings from
co-workers and fellow artists including Pete Alvarado, Dan Spiegle, Warren Tufts, Mark
Evanier, and many more. Materials are filed alphabetically by title.
Series IV,
Oversized Materials, consists of items that require
special storage because of their size. This includes scrapbooks of Odd Bodkins clippings and
some of Craig's first published drawings, artwork, comic strips, animation sheets, newspaper
clippings, and a 1978 Hanna-Barbera calendar. Materials are filed alphabetically by
title.
Series I: Dell Comics, 1939-1960
Series II: Gold Key and Marvel Comics, 1949-2001
Series III: Personal, 1939-2002
Series IV: Oversized Materials, 1924-1929, 1941, 1977
The collection is open for research use.
Copyright for unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of
this collection has not been transferred to California State University, Northridge.
Copyright status for other materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials
protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires
the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be
commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any
use rests exclusively with the user.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Chase Craig and Bruce Craig. 1984. 2002
For information about citing items in this collection consult the appropriate style manual,
or see the
Citing Archival Materials
guide.
Tony Gardner
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Documents
Scrapbooks