Oskar Lebeck
Encyclopedia
Oskar Lebeck was a stage designer
and an illustrator
, writer
and editor
(mostly of children's literature
) who is best known for his role in the establishment of the very successful line of Dell comic books
during the Golden Age
.
. Moving to the United States in 1930 he did similar work for the Broadway productions of Florenz Ziegfeld
and Earl Carroll
. By the mid 1930s he was working as an industrial design
er of textiles and furniture while also writing (and sometimes illustrating) children's books, mostly for Grosset & Dunlap
. Titles included The Diary of Terwilliger Jellico (1935); The Story of the Automobile City (1936) and Clementina the Flying Pig (1939); in addition he illustrated an abridgement of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
published in 1939.
hired him as an art director/managing editor to help launch its line of comic books, financed and distributed by Dell. Lebeck oversaw Western's New York editorial office. Notably he hired Walt Kelly
who became one of the star creators of the line, best known for originating Pogo while there. Lebeck also selected John Stanley
to bring panel cartoon character Little Lulu
to comic books.
Writer Gaylord Dubois
described Lebeck as "a man of immense drive [who] had a way of developing the best ability and the fervent loyalty of the artists and writers who worked under him." Dubois co-authored with Lebeck three adventure novels for children in 1941: Stratosphere Jim and His Flying Fortress; Rex, King of the Deep; and The Hurricane Kids on the Lost Islands. Although the latter at the end mentions a sequel (The Hurricane Kids in the Canyon of Cliff Dwellers) it was never published.
Artist/Writer Dan Noonan in a 1968 interview reminisced about his time working for Lebeck at Western Publishing in the 1940s: "Lebeck was a wonderful man to work for, and he was really the only comic book impresario that, in my opinion, ever deserved the name.... Lebeck had quite a flair for design; the Bauhaus
was still not so distant in people's minds that it wasn't acceptable, and I think that's where his work might have been influenced. He had a wide open mind for ideas; he initiated Animal Comics, a fairy story comic book, and these Raggedy Ann comics at the end of the war. And many other titles that were one-shots. Just about everything he did turned out rather well."
Comic book historian Michael Barrier
has commented that the aforementioned fairy tale, nursery rhyme and similarly themed titles "represented an effort by Lebeck, who had written and drawn children's books in the 1930s, to bring to comic books some of the qualities of traditional children's books, especially through rich and rather old-fashioned illustrations." Similar high aspirations inform Lebeck's introduction for the short-lived Famous Stories series with his hopes that its adaptation of classic novels “told through a new and vivid medium, will recommend itself to parents and teachers everywhere, as well as to the boys and girls for whom it was created.”
One interesting sidelight is that in many cases Lebeck held the copyright of the non-licensed titles Dell published in that era, an unusual practice in the comic book industry. When asked about this Noonan stated, "I'd imagine that it was some understanding they had -- Oskar was responsible for bringing up the sales of their comic book division, and I think this might have been part of his reward; he held these copyrights. And if there was any re-use of the material, he'd receive royalties."
Twin Earths
(with a Sunday
version added March 1, 1953). It made use of the duplicate earth concept and tapped into the growing interest in flying saucer
s during that period. In 1957 Lebeck retired fully and McWilliams assumed scripting duties for the strip. That same year Dell published a comic book adaptation of Clementina as the ninth issue of Dell Junior Treasury Lebeck died in 1966 at his home in La Jolla, California
. Some of Lebeck's correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez is included in the Toni Mendez Collection at Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
Scenic design
Scenic design is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers have traditionally come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but nowadays, generally speaking, they are trained professionals, often with M.F.A...
and an illustrator
Illustrator
An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...
, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
and editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
(mostly of children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...
) who is best known for his role in the establishment of the very successful line of Dell comic books
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...
during the Golden Age
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s...
.
Early career
Lebeck was born in Germany where he did stage design for Max ReinhardtMax Reinhardt
----Max Reinhardt was an Austrian theater and film director and actor.-Biography:...
. Moving to the United States in 1930 he did similar work for the Broadway productions of Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
and Earl Carroll
Earl Carroll
Earl Carroll was an American theatrical producer, director, songwriter and composer born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.-Career:...
. By the mid 1930s he was working as an industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
er of textiles and furniture while also writing (and sometimes illustrating) children's books, mostly for Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....
. Titles included The Diary of Terwilliger Jellico (1935); The Story of the Automobile City (1936) and Clementina the Flying Pig (1939); in addition he illustrated an abridgement of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...
published in 1939.
Dell Comics
In 1938 Western PublishingWestern Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company was a Racine, Wisconsin firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Western Publishing also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products as Golden Books Family Entertainment...
hired him as an art director/managing editor to help launch its line of comic books, financed and distributed by Dell. Lebeck oversaw Western's New York editorial office. Notably he hired Walt Kelly
Walt Kelly
Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. , or Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip, Pogo. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio and Fantasia. Kelly resigned in 1941 at the age of 28 to work at Post-Hall Syndicate,...
who became one of the star creators of the line, best known for originating Pogo while there. Lebeck also selected John Stanley
John Stanley (comics)
John Stanley was a comic book creator, best known for writing Little Lulu from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also was an accomplished artist who drew many of his stories, including the earliest Little Lulu issues. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed...
to bring panel cartoon character Little Lulu
Little Lulu
"Little Lulu" is the nickname for Lulu Moppett, a comic strip character created in the mid-1930s by Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character debuted in The Saturday Evening Post on February 23, 1935 in a single panel, appearing as a flower girl at a wedding and strewing the aisle with banana peels...
to comic books.
Writer Gaylord Dubois
Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois , or DuBois In his lifetime he wrote well over 3000 comic book stories and comic strips as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure...
described Lebeck as "a man of immense drive [who] had a way of developing the best ability and the fervent loyalty of the artists and writers who worked under him." Dubois co-authored with Lebeck three adventure novels for children in 1941: Stratosphere Jim and His Flying Fortress; Rex, King of the Deep; and The Hurricane Kids on the Lost Islands. Although the latter at the end mentions a sequel (The Hurricane Kids in the Canyon of Cliff Dwellers) it was never published.
Artist/Writer Dan Noonan in a 1968 interview reminisced about his time working for Lebeck at Western Publishing in the 1940s: "Lebeck was a wonderful man to work for, and he was really the only comic book impresario that, in my opinion, ever deserved the name.... Lebeck had quite a flair for design; the Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
was still not so distant in people's minds that it wasn't acceptable, and I think that's where his work might have been influenced. He had a wide open mind for ideas; he initiated Animal Comics, a fairy story comic book, and these Raggedy Ann comics at the end of the war. And many other titles that were one-shots. Just about everything he did turned out rather well."
Comic book historian Michael Barrier
Michael Barrier (historian)
Michael Barrier is an American animation historian. Barrier was the founder and editor of Funnyworld, the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha amateur press association...
has commented that the aforementioned fairy tale, nursery rhyme and similarly themed titles "represented an effort by Lebeck, who had written and drawn children's books in the 1930s, to bring to comic books some of the qualities of traditional children's books, especially through rich and rather old-fashioned illustrations." Similar high aspirations inform Lebeck's introduction for the short-lived Famous Stories series with his hopes that its adaptation of classic novels “told through a new and vivid medium, will recommend itself to parents and teachers everywhere, as well as to the boys and girls for whom it was created.”
One interesting sidelight is that in many cases Lebeck held the copyright of the non-licensed titles Dell published in that era, an unusual practice in the comic book industry. When asked about this Noonan stated, "I'd imagine that it was some understanding they had -- Oskar was responsible for bringing up the sales of their comic book division, and I think this might have been part of his reward; he held these copyrights. And if there was any re-use of the material, he'd receive royalties."
Later life
Lebeck left Western in 1949, although he continued to work for the company as a consultant. While semi-retired he teamed with artist Alden McWilliams (who had illustrated some of Lebeck's past books and had done work for him at Dell) to launch on June 16, 1952 the science fiction daily comic stripComic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
Twin Earths
Twin Earths (comic strip)
Twin Earths was an American science fiction comic strip that ran in Sunday and daily newspapers from 1952 until the early 1960s, written by Oskar Lebeck and drawn by Alden McWilliams. The daily strip began on 16 June 1952, the Sunday on 1 March 1953...
(with a Sunday
Sunday comics
Sunday comics is the commonly accepted term for the full-color comic strip section carried in most American newspapers. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies....
version added March 1, 1953). It made use of the duplicate earth concept and tapped into the growing interest in flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
s during that period. In 1957 Lebeck retired fully and McWilliams assumed scripting duties for the strip. That same year Dell published a comic book adaptation of Clementina as the ninth issue of Dell Junior Treasury Lebeck died in 1966 at his home in La Jolla, California
La Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla is an affluent, hilly seaside resort community, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California within the northern city limits of San Diego. La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009; the average price of a standardized...
. Some of Lebeck's correspondence with his agent Toni Mendez is included in the Toni Mendez Collection at Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum
External links
- Photo of Lebeck (seated) during his years at Western Publishing with (from left to right) Mel Crawford, Dan Noonan, John Stanley and Dan Gromley standing behind him
- inside front cover of Fairy Tale Parade #1 (1942) with Lebeck's copyright notated in the indicia
- "Billy Dollar" from Our Gang Comics #6 (1943) by Oskar Lebeck and Walt Kelly
- Behind the Li'l Eight Ball (includes reproduction of May 10, 1947 Amsterdam News article with excerpts of Lebeck's letter on acceding to protest of African-Americans to cease use of Li'l Eight Ball character in Dell Comics)
