Beetle Bailey
About Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey, which started as a college-themed strip in 1950, debuted inauspiciously in 12 newspapers. After six months, it had signed on only 25 clients, and King Features Syndicate considered dropping it. The Korean War was heating up at that time, so Mort Walker decided to have Beetle enlist in the Army. He quickly picked up 100 newspapers. Mort redesigned the cast and a Sunday page was added in 1952. After the Korean War was over, Army brass wanted to tighten up discipline and felt that Beetle Bailey encouraged disrespect for officers. The strip was banned in the Tokyo Stars and Stripes, and the sympathetic publicity rocketed Beetle’s circulation another 100 papers. When Mort won the National Cartoonist Society’s award as the best cartoonist of the year for 1953, Beetle Bailey had become a certified success, with licensed products and a growing list of clients. From 1954 to 1968, the circulation of Beetle Bailey grew from 200 newspapers to 1,100, and many new characters were added to the cast. Today, after more than six decades, Mort Walker’s creation is still one of the most popular comic strips in the world.
Awards and Distinctions:
1953: “Cartoonist of the Year,” National Cartoonists Society (“The Reuben”)
1955: Banshee Award, Silver Lady, “Outstanding Cartoonist”
1966: “Best Humor Strip,” National Cartoonists Society
1969: “Best Humor Strip,” National Cartoonists Society
1972: Il Secolo XIX Award, Italy
1975: Adamson Award, “Best International Cartoonist,” Sweden
1977: Power of Printing Award
Elzie Segar Award, “Lifetime Achievement”
1978: “Fourth Estate Award,” American Legion
1979: The Jester, Newspaper Features Council
Inkpot Award, San Diego Comic Convention
1980: Faculty Alumni Award, University of Missouri. Scholar in residence
1981: Doctor of Letters, William Penn College
1987: “Man of the Year,” Kappa Sigma Fraternity
1988: Adamson Award Platinum, Sweden
1990: U.S. Army Certificate of Appreciation for Patriotic Civilian Service
1999: Golden T-Square, National Cartoonists Society – 50 years of service, Only second ever to receive award.
1999: Order of Chevalier, French Minister of Culture and Communication
1999: Elzie Segar Award
2000: The Decoration For Distinguished Civilian Service
2010: The Sparky Award, The Cartoon Art Museum
Meet the Creators
Brian Walker
Brian Walker, who graduated from Tufts University, has a diverse background in professional cartooning and cartoon scholarship. He was one of the founders of the Museum of Cartoon Art and has served as the curator for more than 70 cartoon exhibitions. He taught cartoon history at the School of Visual Arts and was editor-in-chief of […]
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Greg Walker
Greg Walker studied liberal arts and journalism at Syracuse University and has worked in film, commercial photography, newspapers and graphic arts. He started his cartooning career writing and drawing comic books, including such well-known titles as Rocky and Bullwinkle, Barney and Betty Rubble, Underdog, Sarge Snorkel and Beetle Bailey. He began providing gags to his […]
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Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker was born in El Dorado, Kan., on Sept. 3, 1923, and had cartooning aspirations at a very young age. “If there is such a thing as being born into a profession, it happened to me,” claimed Mort in the introduction to his autobiography. “From my first breath, all I ever wanted to […]
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Characters
Beetle Bailey
Beetle Bailey was modeled after Mort Walker’s old high school and Army buddy, Dave Hornaday, who was tall, skinny and always getting into trouble in an innocent way. Beetle subscribes...
Bunny, Killer, Otto, Fuzz
Among the major characters who made their initial appearances in Beetle Bailey during the 1950s were: Bunny, who replaced Buzz, Beetle’s original college gir...
Chaplain Staneglass, Rocky, Pop, Julius
In the 1950s and ’60s, Mort tried to introduce a new character every year to stimulate interest in the strip and develop fresh material for gags. Some of the characters who firs...
Cosmo, Dr. Bonkus, Capt. Scabbard, Martha
Among the many minor characters who joined the Beetle Bailey cast in the 1950s and ’60s were: Cosmo, the camp wheeler-dealer, who was inspired by Willi...
Gen. Amos T. Halftrack & Cookie
Other major cast members who made their debut in the 1950s include: Gen. Amos T. Halftrack, the bumbling head of Camp Swampy, who, as time marches on, has become the ...
Lt. Flap & Plato
In the 1960s and ’70s, three new characters helped to keep Beetle Bailey in step with the times. Lt. Flap, the first black character in the strip, was ...
Miss Buxley
Miss Buxley, Gen. Halftrack’s sexy secretary, is still causing problems almost forty years after she was first hired as an office temp. Inspired by Marilyn Monroe, Miss Buxley has bee...
Private Blips, Sgt. Lugg, Corp. Yo, Chip Gizmo
Mort has continued to create new characters and redefine established players. Private Blips, Miss Buxley’s hard-working but less attractive counterpart, has been aro...
Sgt. Orville Snorkel
Sgt. Orville P. Snorkel is based on a sergeant Mort Walker had during World War II. Sgt. Octavious Savou yelled at his “boys” constantly in a booming voice, but one day he left a mime...
Zero
Zero is a naive farm boy with the innocent heart of a child. Although these characters look very different today, they still perform the same job – interacting with each other to prod...