| Floyd Gottfredson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Arthur Floyd Gottfredson (1905-05-05)May 5, 1905[1] |
| Died | July 22, 1986(1986-07-22) (aged 81) Montrose,California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Artist, writer |
Notable works | Mickey Mouse comic strip |
| Awards | Inkpot Award (1983)[2] |
Arthur Floyd Gottfredson (May 5, 1905 – July 22, 1986) was an Americancartoonist best known for his defining work on theMickey Mouse comic strip, which he worked on from 1930 until his retirement in 1975. His contribution to Mickey Mouse comics is comparable toCarl Barks's on the Donald Duck comics. 17 years after his death, his memory was honored with theDisney Legends award in 2003[3] and induction into theComic Book Hall of Fame in 2006.[4]
Gottfredson was born into a large family inKaysville, Utah, in 1905, and raised in theChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[5] As a child, Floyd severely injured his arm in a hunting accident. Housebound during a long recovery, he became interested in cartooning and took several cartooningcorrespondence courses. Because of his injury, Gottfredson had to draw using his whole arm. In 1926, he took the Federal Schools of Illustrating and Cartooning's correspondence course, and by the late 1920s, he was drawing cartoons for trade magazines and theSalt Lake City Telegram newspaper.[5]
After achieving second place in a 1928 cartoon contest, the 23-year-old Gottfredson moved toSouthern California with his wife and family, just before Christmas. At the time, there were seven major newspapers in the area, but he was unable to find work with any. One job he had held inUtah, however, was as a movieprojectionist and he found employment in that field in California. A year later, the movie theater where he had been working was torn down, resulting in another job search. On a whim, Gottfredson inquired atDisney studios, which hired him the same day.[5]
Walt Disney Productions hired Gottfredson as an apprenticeanimator andin-betweener on December 19, 1929. In April 1930, he started working on the four-month-oldMickey Mouse daily comic strip.[6] It had originally been scripted byWalt Disney and drawn byUb Iwerks who was succeeded byWin Smith. Iwerks later left Disney and tried to hire Gottfredson, butRoy Disney refused to allow Gottfredson out of his contract.[7] In May, Win Smith refused to write the strip,[8] and Disney assigned Gottfredson to it, promising it would be only a temporary arrangement until someone else could be found to take over. Gottfredson continued to produce theMickey Mouse strips for the next 45 years.[5]
Gottfredson's first daily strip was published in newspapers on his 25th birthday, May 5, 1930.[5] In January 1932, he began work on the newly inauguratedMickey Mouse color Sunday strip which, in addition to the daily, he continued through mid-1938.[9] Gottfredson headed the comics department at Disney from 1930 to 1946,[3] and was replaced byFrank Reilly.[7]
Originally, Gottfredson wrote and drew theMickey Mouse strip alone, but in 1932, he pulled back to plotting the stories and doing thepenciling, while the dialogue was mostly done by other hands.[5] Scripts were written byWebb Smith (1932–33),Ted Osborne (1933–38),Merrill De Maris (1933–42),Dick Shaw (1942–43),Bill Walsh (1943–64),Roy Williams (1962-69) andDel Connell (1968–88).[10] Even so, Gottfredson always worked closely with his writers, and would often suggest changes in the scripts whenever he thought it would improve a story.[11] There were a variety ofinkers on the strip through the years; inkers for the Sunday strips includedAl Taliaferro and Ted Thwaites in the 1930s, andManuel Gonzales until 1981; Taliaferro also inked daily strips.[7] Gottfredson returned to inking daily strips himself in 1947.[10]
From the beginning, the strips were parts of long continuing stories. These introduced characters such as thePhantom Blot,Eega Beeva, andthe Bat Bandit, which Gottfredson created; Disney createdEli Squinch, Mickey's nephews,Morty and Ferdie Fieldmouse, andSylvester Shyster, who were also introduced in the comic.[7] Gottfredson plotted the continuities until Bill Walsh started writing the strip in 1943.[3] The stories were always untitled. Titles were usually assigned later, when the strips or pages were reprinted in picture-books or comic books, which the artists had no influence on.[7] Starting in the 1950s, Gottfredson and writer Bill Walsh were instructed to drop the storylines and do only daily gags.[12] Gottfredson continued illustrating the daily strip until he retired on October 1, 1975.[7]
Animation criticGeoffrey Blum said "Gottfredson'sMormon upbringing and his unflaggingly positive outlook made him the perfect keeper for this icon. Never complaining, chocking back his hurts... this is the ethic he brought to Mickey. Gottfredson's mouse combines the virtues of a good citizen and a good soldier."[6]: 47
Gottfredson's Mickey strips were often collected in the 1930s and 1940s.Western Publishing'sBig Little Book series based most of its Mickey volumes on the strip; Dell Publishing'sWalt Disney's Comics and Stories serialized stories from the strip through 1948.
Modern-day American reprints began with "The Bar None Ranch" (1940), which appeared inWalt Disney Comics Digest #40 (1973).[13] The following year "The Bat Bandit" (1934) appeared in a deluxe edition,The Best of Walt Disney Comics.[14]Abbeville Press' large sizeBest Comics anthologies in the late-1970s included two all-Gottfredson volumes (one headlined "Goofy"), though the stories were relettered and sometimes condensed. In 1980, Abbeville issued a small-sizeBest Comics series that included three all-Gottfredson volumes (again, one headlined "Goofy"), all of which reprinted stories from the earlier large-size editions. In 1986,Another Rainbow/Gladstone Publishing (and laterGemstone Publishing) began a tradition of serializing Gottfredson stories in regular Disney monthly comic books, which continued on and off until 2008, when they ceased publication. Gladstone also collected a number of Gottfredson's serials in the larger-size "comic albums" it issued during the 1980s;[15] in 1990,Disney Comics issued "Mickey Mouse Outwits the Phantom Blot" (1939) in the same format.[16]
In 2007,Gemstone Publishing announcedThe Floyd Gottfredson Library, a comprehensive edition of Gottfredson's serialized stories (Mickey 1930–1955, plus later non-Mickey material). The series was postponed, then canceled once Gemstone no longer had the Disney license. In 2011,Fantagraphics Books resumed production of the series with the same editorial team, now titledWalt Disney's Mickey Mouse. A total of 14 volumes were published between 2011 and 2018, collecting the entirety of Gottfredson's Sunday color work (two volumes) and all of his serialized daily strips (12 volumes).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, before his health deteriorated, Gottfredson gave interviews to many comics-oriented magazines as well as mainstream publications. The deluxe edition of the bookMickey Mouse in Color included a smallrecord containing an audio interview with Gottfredson and DisneyDonald Duck-comic book artistCarl Barks. During the 1970s, Gottfredson attended theOrlandoCon and in 1983 theSan Diego Comic Book convention and annual convention of The Mouse Club.[17]
Between 1978 and 1983, Gottfredson did a total of 24 paintings commissioned by collectorMalcolm Willits, inspired by the success of the paintings of the Disney ducks done by Carl Barks. The paintings depict various storylines from the classic period of the Mickey strip.[18]
Gottfredson's work had been printed in newspapers, magazines, and comic books worldwide for over 50 years, but as a Disney employee, he was never allowed to sign it. Gottfredson's identity was finally revealed in the mid-1960s by fan Malcolm Willits. Subsequently, reprints of hisMickey Mouse strips in the 1970s gave him credit.
Floyd Gottfredson died at his home in Southern California at the age of 81. In 2006, Gottfredson was inducted into theWill Eisner Comic Industry Awards' Hall of Fame.[19] He also was awarded anInkpot Award in 1983.[20]
Fellow Disney LegendFloyd Norman notes the drawing desk Gottfredson used today "occupies a corner in a special room at Disney's Publishing department in Burbank."[21]
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