Del Connell- My "grandpa" passed away this morning.

[Halogrinder]

DEL CONNELL – Career chronology

 Disney storyman and artist.
 Western Publishing Company comic book writer and editor.
 Mickey Mouse newspaper strip writer.

• June 7, 1918 born at Sixteen Mile Stand, Cincinnati, Ohio
• 1919 – family moved to Los Angeles, CA. Grew up in Monterey Park with one brother and two sisters.
• Attended South Pasadena High School and then Pasadena Junior College as an art student.
• 1938 – won a poster contest promoting eyesight care. Grand prize: $15.
• 1939 – heard Walt Disney Studios on Hyperion Ave. was hiring artists. Passed their drawing test and was hired into the Character Model Dept., headed by Joe Grant (the beginning of a 66-year friendship).
• Immediately began creating characters and writing stories for the studio.
• Sculpted animation models for “Dumbo,” “Lady and the Tramp,” “Fantasia,” and “The Reluctant Dragon.”
• Created, wrote, and storyboarded the short “The Pelican and the Snipe,” later released as a short in 1944, narrated by Sterling Holloway.
• Was assigned by Walt Disney to adapt Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” (with storyman Bill Peet) for a feature film. They worked together on the project for one full year, making dozens of storyboard presentations to Walt, but before they were able to finish…
• March 1941 – Del received draft notice and in July went to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.
• Oct 23, 1941 – With other east coast Disney employee/soldiers, attended the premiere of “Dumbo” at the Broadway theater in New York City.
• 1941-1945 – stationed in Panama, where he went up in blimps to draw detailed aerial maps of the Panama Canal. Continued to create/write/draw all during the war. Corresponded with his brother Marvin Connell (who was also an excellent artist/cartoonist and was later an art director for MGM) while Marvin was a combat photographer for Patton’s U.S, Third Army in Europe.
• 1942 - Created the character and wrote the short “The Cold-Blooded Penguin” which he sent to Walt Disney from Panama. Walt purchased it for $500 and sent Del a signed “thank you” cel with the check. It eventually became the beginning of the Walt Disney Studios feature film “The Three Caballeros,” voiced by Sterling Holloway.








• Nov. 1945 – returned from WWII to a studio having financial difficulties. Worked under Joe Grant once again.
• Briefly worked on an un-produced feature based on “The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” which had previously been animated as a 1933 Silly Symphony short at the studio.
• Jan 1949 – Reassigned to “Alice and Wonderland” with Bill Peet and others.
• 1950-1954 – freelance writer for Western Publishing Company and Disney.
• 1951 – “Alice in Wonderland” released. Del credited as a writer with Bill Peet (as well as with several others who joined the project after the war).
• 1953 – Wrote story adaptation (with Winston Hibler and Ted Sears, and later story work by Bill Peet) for the short “Ben and Me,” voiced by Sterling Holloway.
• 1954 – As an assignment via Western Publishing Company, Del wrote and sketched the very earliest drafts of Disneyland’s first guest brochure (original drafts and copies available).
• 1954-1987 - For over 30 years at Western Publishing Company, wrote and/or edited thousands of stories for comic books for various studios including Disney, Warner Bros., Walter Lantz, Hanna-Barbera, and MGM. During that time, he originated dozens of original characters and stories for comic books.
• Created April, May, and June – Daisy Duck’s nieces (the complement of Donald’s and Mickey’s nephews).
• Created the characters “SuperGoof” and “Mighty Knight.” Del made the original Super Goof drawings, then Paul Murry took over the drawing of Del’s scripts.
• 1962 - Created the characters and story for the comic book “Space Family Robinson,” which was later licensed for television from Western Publishing Company by producer Irwin Allen and became the show “Lost in Space.” (See below for details.)
• Wrote “The Adventures of Peter Wheat” after Walt Kelly (“Pogo”) stopped.
• Originated “Wacky Witch” which became a comic book series.
• Originated “The Close Shaves of Pauline Peril” which became a comic book series.
• Was editor-in-chief of the west coast office of Western Publishing Company’s comic book division. Always felt he was working with the most talented artists and writers in the business: Vic Lockman, Carl Barks, Walt Kelly, John Stanley, Paul Murry, Chase Craig, Don Christensen, Dan Spiegle, and of course, Mark Evanier, whose first script that was sold to Western was based on one of Del’s characters: Supergoof.
• 1968-1989 - Following in the footsteps of Manuel “Gonzie” Gonzales and Floyd Gottfredson, wrote the Mickey Mouse daily and Sunday newspaper strip for 20+ years.
• 1986 – Del donated most of his original pencil drawings and proof sheets of his Mickey Mouse daily and Sunday comic newspaper strip, and other miscellaneous art, to the UCLA Special Collections at the Charles E. Young Research Library (collection 1518).
• 1988-2009 - Dedicated an immense amount of time to a new project called “The Historables” – a children’s property that teaches children about history. He designed over 20 characters and wrote dozens of stories for the property, which is now being developed by Base Camp Films as a children’s interactive internet property and television show.


Footnote: Discovered years later from a coworker that instead of letting Western Publishing Company throw away old comic books, he would drive them to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles every Friday.



SPACE FAMILY ROBINSON
Up until 1961, Western Publishing Company had mostly published comic books based on characters from the studios, and Dell Comics distributed. They asked their writers to start coming up with original ideas that Western could own outright and could produce and distribute through their own label, Gold Key Comics. In March of 1962, Del was sitting in the backyard of his Woodland Hills home watching his son Kelly and daughter Casey play in the backyard. When he saw a rocket from Rockedyne take off from the Santa Susana Field Test location in Simi Valley, he came up with the idea for a comic book telling the stories of “the first family in space.” After Del finished the first issue, colleague Chase Craig helped Del out with the title: “Space Family Robinson,” and the Robinson family in space was born. The great Dan Spiegle illustrated. One of the first issues of the comic book was subtitled “Lost in Space.”




When producer Irwin Allen acquired the television rights to the Space Family Robinson series from Western, he was able to do so for a flat fee and with no contractual obligation to the originators (unfortunately, it was a time when writers and artists were often not credited for their work in comics). Irwin Allen was credited as creator and producer of the “Lost in Space” television series (84 episodes) from January 1965 to March 1968. Del continued to work on the Space Family Robinson comics as the show was produced over a three year period – ultimately the comic book series outlasted the television show by almost 10 years.


Interview with Dan Spiegle in Graphic Story World July 1972, re how he came to draw “Space Family Robinson”:
“At that time, Del Connell, a Western editor, was writing the original issue for the new magazine, and they asked me to draw up the cast of characters. Western liked them so much that they assigned me to the strip. It was a success right from the beginning, running about four years, for a while one of their most popular. In fact, it was so popular that CBS stole our idea and refused to pay us any royalties! We were going to sue, but our lawyers cautioned against it, since we were doing so many comic books on their characters, and in the long run we would lose from the loss of business from them.”

Another interview with Dan Spiegle from The Front Page: Last Minute Bits about the Community of Comic Book Artists, Writers, and Editors. Oct. 2002: CBA: “How do you recall the creation of Space Family Robinson?” Dan: “That was Del Connell’s idea.” CBA: “Was it created in connection to the TV series, Lost in Space?” Don: No, the book came out way before and, in fact, went on way after the CBS broadcast series. Gold Key was thinking about suing the production company but our corporate lawyers said it wasn’t wise because we were already doing other work of them – Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Daktari, etc. – and we’d be cutting off our nose to spite our face.”

Interview with Don Glut from The Front Page: Last Minute Bits about the Community of Comic Book Artists, Writers, and Editors. Oct. 2002. Don: “Space Family Robinson was coming out of California, Dan Spiegle was drawing it.” CBA: “Del Connell was writing it wasn’t he?” Don: “He created that and it was a big heartbreak for him when Lost in Space came out on television. Western refused to take any legal action because they wanted to do the comic book.” CBA: “Well they were publishing the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea comic book, as well as a bunch of Irwin Allen stuff: Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants…” Don: “Del was such a good man, like an older brother, almost a father figure when I was working with him.”



a link about him a few weeks ago when he received a fantastic award. unfortunately he was too sick to receive it, so his son (my uncle) brady took it for him.

http://www.bakersfield.com/entertain...omic-Con-honor





he passed this morning. its been pretty difficult for me. it was REALLY hard when my mom called me about 20 minutes ago. i hate listening to my mom cry he was such a good figure to look up to, and i hope the time i was able to spend with him when i was younger, was sufficient to say that he showed me morals and integrity for which i stand for now. watching him draw when i was younger, watching pre production cartoons and productions that were never released to the public with him (with that annoying editing bar at the bottom of the screen ), wrecking on the mini bike with me in front of him as we smashed into a ditch...... memories go on and on, and his pictures, drawings and sketches of me, and the whole walt disney gang drawn around my parents house will honor how talented and unselfish he was.



Rest in peace Grandpa. ill see you on the flip side.
lex

[PONY_DRIVER]

R.I.P.


Sorry for your loss.

[82FB]

Sounds like a super talented guy. Sorry for your loss.

[bigun]

Vaya Con Dios
He brought much joy into the world

[AthlonAJ]

Very talented man. It's always enjoyable to read about the relatively "unknown" people who in my mind are the backbone of creativity. I'm sorry for your loss.

[smurfblue40]

Sorry for your loss


The man had one hell of a career

[DJ404564X4]

Sorry man...

On a side note. Walt lived in Smoke Tree in Palm Springs. There are some old timer that still live there that REALLY regret makin fun of his "PARK" idea....

[RDUB29]

From one cartoonist to another.

[Ben Segrest]

[willness33]

I was holding it together til I saw this.

Originally Posted by RDUB29

From one cartoonist to another.

I've lost most of my close family in the last 5 years so I know how it feels. Cherish the memories.

Edit: the attachment didn't quote, so figger it out.

[Rat~Man]

rip

[Screwzer2]

What a cool gramps! His story, aside from the talent part, sounds a lot like my dad's story of growing up in the early days of L.A. (he was born in 1927 there). Amazing what talent we have in our own family.

Do you draw like grandpa did?

[ky scrambled]

R.I.P Mr. Connell

Originally Posted by RDUB29

From one cartoonist to another.

That is very cool man.

[Halogrinder]

Originally Posted by Screwzer2

What a cool gramps! His story, aside from the talent part, sounds a lot like my dad's story of growing up in the early days of L.A. (he was born in 1927 there). Amazing what talent we have in our own family.

Do you draw like grandpa did?

no, unfortunately i dont have his talent. believe me i tried a LOT with him


having him try to teach me how to draw mickey mouse was entertaining.

not the fact that mickey is hard to draw, but how he could literally make a perfect circle freehand.

like seriously- i could take a compass and it would almost mirror image his freehand circles.

[TEX]

So sorry for your loss, but thank you for sharing his story. I enjoyed every bit of it. RDUB29, you kicked my allergies into gear

[Screwzer2]

Originally Posted by Halogrinder

no, unfortunately i dont have his talent. believe me i tried a LOT with him


having him try to teach me how to draw mickey mouse was entertaining.

not the fact that mickey is hard to draw, but how he could literally make a perfect circle freehand.

like seriously- i could take a compass and it would almost mirror image his freehand circles.

That's some hours at the board that does that. Practice, practice, practice, hopefully on the boss's dime. Sounds like a really good gramps. I wonder if I ever met him when I worked in the L.A. graphic studios. I worked with 2-3 old timers that had been Disney and WB artists.

Some of those guys did amazing brush lettering and airbrush work.

I bet you have some GREAT momentos.

[Bondage]

Originally Posted by RDUB29

From one cartoonist to another.

Wow, just wow.

Originally Posted by willness33

I was holding it together til I saw this.

Having just lost my father last week...This Damn allergies.

[toymoto]

Sounds like he was a great figure to have in your life. Sorry for the loss Alex.

Originally Posted by RDUB29

From one cartoonist to another.

Damn allergies.

[Lil Uzi]

You have my sympathy. Been there, it's tough. Thank you for sharing.

[bremen242]

Sorry for your loss. He sounds like a great man with a awesome life.

[broncogearhead]

Sorry to hear about the loss you and your family are going through.

[Nightshade]

RIP Del

Sorry for your loss, his contributions and good works extend far beyond his business accomplishments. His family was obviously his biggest and knowing how you turned out I would say he did a great job.

Sorry for your loss.

Fucking allergies today.

[rockcrawler304]

R.I.P

Looks like he lived a really great life. Thanks for sharing!

[RedX]

RIP.

Quite a legacy there.

[purevil71]

Sorry to hear of your family's loss...