Kin Platt (December 8, 1911 – November 30, 2003) was an American writer, artist, painter, sculptor, caricaturist, and comics artist, best known for penning radio comedy and animated TV series, as well as children's mystery novels, one of which earned him the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the E ...

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America which is based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards hon ...

. He additionally wrote and drew

comic books A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

(creating an early talking animal

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

, Supermouse) and

comic strips A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

Biography

Early life and career

Kin Platt was born to Etta (née Hochberg) and Daniel Platt. In the mid-1930s he wrote radio comedy for George Burns, Jack Benny, the comedy team of Stoopnagle and Budd, and ''The National Biscuit Comedy Hour of 1936''. Later in the 1930s, he wrote for Disney and Walter Lantz theatrical cartoons, and he scripted the

Robert Benchley Robert Charles Benchley (September 15, 1889 – November 21, 1945) was an American humorist, newspaper columnist and actor. From his beginnings at ''The Harvard Lampoon'' while attending Harvard University, through his many years writing essays ...

film ''How to Read'' (1938).

Comic books

He broke into comic books with humor stories featuring the character "Happy" in the Better Comics omnibus ''Best Comics'' #1 (Nov. 1939). Platt went on to write and draw many features in the next few issues and to draw such features as "Captain Future" in Better's ''Startling Comics''; "The Mask" (no relation to the 1990s

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, manga and Artist's book, art book publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon, by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, O ...

character), featuring a

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

turned costumed crimefighter, in ''Exciting Comics''; and writer Richard Hughes'

Doc Savage Doc Savage is a fictional character of the competent man hero type, who first appeared in American pulp magazines during the 1930s and 1940s. Real name Clark Savage Jr., he is a polymathic scientist, explorer, detective, and warrior who "right ...

-like " Doc Strange" (no relation to

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

' Dr. Strange), in '' Thrilling Comics''. After doing WWII

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

with the U.S. Army Air Force's Air Transport Command from 1943–46, Platt began working for such comic-book companies as

Timely Comics Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...

(the 1940s predecessor of

), for which his features included "Widjet Witch" in ''Comedy Comics''); and Better/Nedor/Standard, where he created Supermouse in 1948. Additionally, Platt wrote for the

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

and

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...

comics at DC. For two years he drew the adventures of Pepsi and Pete for the advertising strip, ''Pepsi Cola Cops''. Al Jaffee, then an editor of Timely's humor comics, recalled in 2004, For the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate, Platt wrote and drew the comic strip ''Mr. and Mrs.''(originally by Clare Briggs) from 1947–1963, and ''The Duke and the Duchess'' from 1950–1954. Additionally, he drew

theatrical Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communic ...

caricature A caricature is a rendered image showing the features of its subject in a simplified or exaggerated way through sketching, pencil strokes, or other artistic drawings (compare to: cartoon). Caricatures can be either insulting or complimentary, ...

s for such newspapers and magazines as ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' and the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. In the 1960s, Platt scripted TV animation, including for the

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ; formerly known as H-B Enterprises, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. and H-B Production Co.), simply and commonly known as Hanna-Barbera, was an American animation studio and production company, which was acti ...

series '' The Jetsons'', ''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions, which takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighbors, the R ...

'', '' Yogi Bear'', ''

Top Cat ''Top Cat'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and originally broadcast in prime time on the ABC network. It aired in a weekly evening time slot from September 27, 1961, to April 18, 1962, for a single season ...

'' and '' Jonny Quest'' (for which at one point he held the title of "story director"), as well as for Hal Seeger Productions' '' Milton the Monster''.

Young-readers' literature

Plat began writing

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

and young-adult mysteries in 1961. He eventually published more than 30 books, including general-reader mysteries. His

pseudonyms A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's ow ...

included Guy West, Alan West, Wesley Simon York, Nick Tall, Nick West, Noah Zark and Kirby Carr. Platt wrote several novels in the "Hitman" series under the name Kirby Carr. Platt also returned to comics around this time, writing occasional stories for the

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

titles ''

G.I. Combat ''G.I. Combat'' is an American comics anthology featuring war comics, war stories. It was published from 1952 until 1956 by Quality Comics, followed by DC Comics until its final issue in 1987. In 2012 it was briefly revived. Publication histor ...

'', '' Our Army at War'' and '' Star Spangled War Stories'' in 1964. His final known comics credit is a 48-page adaptation of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's ''

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'' is an 1886 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novella by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It follows Gabriel John Utterson, a London-based legal practitioner who investigates a series ...

'' in '' Marvel Classics Comics'' #1 (1976).

Later career

The 1973 film '' Baxter!'', a psychological drama starring Patricia Neal, was based on a book by Platt, ''The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear''. He continued writing books throughout the 1980s, though some novels remained unpublished. This material, as well as unpublished caricatures submitted to magazines and newspapers, was donated to the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. ''Big Max and the Missing Giraffe'' was published posthumously by HarperTrophy in 2005.

Awards

* 1967 Edgar Award for juvenile mystery, for ''Sinbad and Me'' * 1970 Edgar Award nomination, for ''The Mystery of the Witch Who Wouldn't''

Bibliography

Children's books

*''Big Max'', illustrated by Robert Lopshire (1965) *''Walt Disney's Snow White and Donald Duck'' (Whitman, 1967; as Nick Tall) *''Walt Disney's Donald Duck Buried Treasure'', illustrated by Anthony Strobl (Whitman, 1968; as Nick Tall) *''Woody Woodpecker and the Busy Beavers'' (Whitman, 1968; as Nick Tall) *''Mystery of the Coughing Dragon'' (

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

and the Three Investigators series, Book 14) (1970; as Nick West) *''Mystery of the Nervous Lion'' (Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series, Book 16) (1971; as Nick West) * ''The Call of the Wild'' (comic book adaptation by Platt, illustrated by Fred Carrillo (

Pendulum Press Pendulum Press was a publishing company based in West Haven, Connecticut, that operated from 1970 to 1994, producing the bulk of their material in the 1970s. The company is most well known for their comic book adaptations of literary classics. The ...

, 1973) * ''Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (comic book adaptation by Platt, illustrated by Nestor Redondo) (Pendulum Press, 1973) *''Robert Louis Stevenson: Kidnapped'' (comic book adaptation as Nick Tall, illustrated by Frank Redondo) (Pendulum Press, 1974) *''Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: The Great Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'' (comic book adaptation as Nick Tall, illustrated by Nestor Redondo) (Pendulum Press, 1974) *''Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Moose'' (HarperCollins, 1977) *''Darwin and the Great Beasts'' (Self-illustrated) (Greenwillow, 1992) *''Big Max and the Mystery of the Missing Giraffe'', illustrated by Lynne Cravath (HarperCollins, 2005)

Young adult books

*''The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear'' (Chilton, 1968) *''Hey, Dummy'' (Chilton, 1971) *''Chloris and the Creeps'' (Chilton, 1973) *''Chloris and the Freaks'' (Bradbury, 1975) *''Headman'' (Greenwillow, 1975) *''The Terrible Love Life of Dudley Cornflower'' (Bradbury, 1976) *''Run for Your Life'' (F. Watts, 1977) *''Chloris and the Weirdos'' (Bradbury, 1978) *''The Doomsday Gang'' (Greenwillow, 1978) *''Dracula, Go Home'' (F. Watts, 1979) *''The Ape Inside Me'' (Crowell, 1980) *''Flames Going Out'' (Methuen, 1980) *''Brogg's Brain'' (Crowell, 1981) *''Frank and Stein and Me'' (F. Watts, 1982) *''Crocker'' (Lippincott, 1983) *''A Mystery for Thoreau'' (

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer P ...

, 2008)''A Mystery for Thoreau''
at

"Steve Forrester" young-adult mysteries

*'' The Blue Man'' (Harper, 1961) *''Sinbad and Me'' (Chilton, 1966) *''The Mystery of the Witch Who Wouldn't'' (Chilton, 1969) *''The Ghost of Hellsfire Street'' (Delacorte, 1980)

Mysteries

*''Dead as They Come'' (

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, 1972) *''A Pride of Women'' (Robert Hale, 1974) *''Murder in Rosslare'' (Walker, 1986)

"Max Roper" mysteries

*''The Pushbutton Butterfly'' (Random House, 1970) *''The Kissing Gourami'' (Random House, 1970) *''The Princess Stakes Murder'' (Random House, 1973) *''The Giant Kill'' (Random House, 1974) *''Match Point for Murder'' (Random House, 1975) *''The Body Beautiful Murder'' (Random House, 1976) *''The Screwball King Murder'' (Random House, 1978)

"Hitman" Series (as Kirby Carr)

*''Who Killed You, Cindy Castle'' (Canyon Books, 1974) *''Let Me Kill You, Sweetheart'' (Canyon Books, 1974) *''The Girls Who Came To Murder'' (Canyon Books, 1974) *''They're Coming to Kill You, Jane'' (Canyon Books, 1975) *''You Die Next, Jill Baby'' (Major Books, 1975) *''You're Hired, You're Dead'' (Major Books, 1975) *''Don't Bet on Living Alice'' (Major Books, 1975) *''The Impossible Spy'' (Major Books, 1976)

Adult books (various pseudonyms)

*''Sex Heel'' as Guy West *''Group Grope'' as Alan West *''Pandora'' as Guy York *''Lovers & Exorcists'' as Wesley Simon York

Footnotes

References

Three Investigators Books
(publishing-company site with Platt bio)

*Al Jaffee interview, ''Alter Ego'' Vol. 3, #35 (April 2004)

*

External links

*

Reprint of seven-page story "The Mask" from ''Exciting Comics'' #20 (July 1942), art by Kin Platt

Compilation of "Broad Views" cartoons by Kin Platt from the World War II soldier newspape

{{DEFAULTSORT:Platt, Kin 1911 births 2003 deaths American children's writers American radio writers American comics artists American television writers American caricaturists American humorists 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American painters Edgar Award winners Golden Age comics creators American male writers The Village Voice people Los Angeles Times people 20th-century American screenwriters