Frederick Whitney Ellsworth (November 27, 1908 – September 7, 1980) was an American comic book editor and sometime writer and artist for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

during the period known to historians and fans as the Golden Age of Comic Books. He was also DC's "movie studio contact", becoming both a producer and story editor on the TV series '' The Adventures of Superman''.Biography by Joe Desris, in ''Batman Archives'', Volume 3 (

, 1994), p. 222

Biography

Whitney "Whit" Ellsworth was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York.Whitney Ellsworth biography at IMDb
Accessed May 10, 2008 He took a cartooning course at the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

in Brooklyn and worked on the syndicated features ''

Dumb Dora ''Dumb Dora'' is a comic strip published from 1924 to 1936 distributed by King Features Syndicate. The term "dumb Dora" was a 1920s American slang term for a foolish woman; the strip helped popularize the term. Publication history ''Dumb Dora'' ...

'' (for Newspaper Feature Service), ''Embarrassing Moments'' (providing plots, pencils and inks for both) and ''Just Kids'' (assisting with pencils and inks, for the King Features Syndicate) between 1927 and 1929.Who's Who in American Comics: Whitney Ellsworth
Accessed May 10, 2008 In the early 1930s, he began working on another syndicated feature, ''

Tillie the Toiler ''Tillie the Toiler'' is a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover who initially worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled ''Rose of the Office''. With a title change, it sold to King Features Syndicate ...

'', for King, as well as writing gag cartoons, articles and features for the '' Newark Star-Eagle/Ledger'' newspaper (1931–1934), also finding time to work on a number of pulp magazine stories throughout the 1930s.

National Allied Publications (DC)

In late 1934, he became associated with Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's fledgling company

National Allied Publications National Comics Publications, Inc. (also known as NCP or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company, and the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics. History The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied P ...

, later known as

. Initially an assistant editor, before becoming associate editor (1936–38), Ellsworth worked on such titles as ''Billy the Kid'', ''Little Linda'' and ''

More Fun Comics ''More Fun Comics'', originally titled ''New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine'' a.k.a. ''New Fun Comics'',''N ...

'', as well as producing cover roughs for several years. Ellsworth left the company in c. 1937-38 for a brief hiatus in California before returning to DC a couple of years later. He subsequently served as editorial director until c. 1951–1953, in particular on such titles as the flagship titles ''

Action Comics ''Action Comics'' is an American comic book/ magazine series that introduced Superman, one of the first major superhero characters. The publisher was originally known as National Allied Publications, and later as National Comics Publications ...

'', '' Adventure Comics'', '' Batman'', '' Detective Comics'' and '' Superman'' between 1940 and 1951, and later on such diverse titles as '' The Adventures of Alan Ladd'', ''

All-Star Comics ''All Star Comics'' is an American comic book series from All-American Publications, one of three companies that merged with National Periodical Publications to form the modern-day DC Comics. While the series' cover-logo trademark reads ''All St ...

'', ''

Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

'', ''Mr. District Attorney'', '' Real Fact Comics'', '' Real Screen Comics'', '' Scribbly'', ''

Superboy Superboy is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in American comicbooks published by DC Comics. These characters have been featured in several eponymous comic series, in addition to ''Adventure Comics'' and other series featuring ...

'' and ''

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

'' (among others) between 1948 and 1951. In 1945, he licensed The Fox and the Crow and other animated characters from their distributor,

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

Pulps

Ellsworth also wrote short stories for the pulp titles ''Black Bat'', ''G-Man'' (including the ''Dan Fowler'' novel "Spotlight on Murder" in September 1942) and ''

The Phantom Detective ''The Phantom Detective'' was the second pulp hero magazine published, after ''The Shadow''. The first issue was released in February 1933, a month before ''Doc Savage'', which was released in March 1933. The title continued to be released unt ...

'' (for which title he certainly ghosted two pulps – #76 ''Murder at the World's Fair'' and #77 ''The Forty Thieves'' in June and July 1939), among others.

Comics, including ''Batman''

Acting as DC's major creative guide and editor during the company's early years, Ellsworth oversaw editorially both scripts ''and'' art for several diverse comics (including ''Batman,'' ''World's Best Comics,'' ''

World's Finest Comics ''World's Finest Comics'' was an American comic book series published by DC Comics from 1941 to 1986. The series was initially titled ''World's Best Comics'' for its first issue; issue #2 (Summer 1941) switched to the more familiar name. Michael ...

,'' et al.), developed a number of projects (including creating

Congo Bill Congorilla, originally a human character known as Congo Bill, is a superhero appearing in comic books published by DC Comics and Vertigo Comics. Originally co-created by writer Whitney Ellsworth and artist George Papp, he was later transformed i ...

in 1941) and wrote several more, including ''Hollywood Screen Shots'' (1936) (which, like some others, he also pencilled and inked), ''

Slam Bradley Samuel Emerson "Slam" Bradley is a fictional character that has appeared in various comic book series published by DC Comics. He is a private detective who exists in DC's main shared universe. The character concept was created by DC Comics founde ...

'', ''Genius Jones'', ''Laughing at Life'', '' Speed Saunders'' and '' Starman'', among many other characters and comics. He also sketched "rough cover layouts for DC's top titles," including notably some for "'' Batman'' and '' Detective Comics'' until about 1946."

Newspaper strip

Ellsworth was also the first writer on the '' Batman & Robin''

newspaper strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often 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 ter ...

, which appeared first on Sundays and later on weekdays. Featuring artwork primarily from

Sheldon Moldoff Sheldon Moldoff (; April 14, 1920 – February 29, 2012) was an American comics artist best known for his early work on the DC Comics characters Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and as one of Bob Kane's primary "ghost artists" (uncredited collaborator ...

and

Joe Giella Joe Giella (born June 27, 1928)
at the Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved February 11, 2012
E. Nelson Bridwell took over for a couple of years.

TV and film

In addition to his extensive comics work, Ellsworth "was DC's movie studio contact" on a number of projects, keeping his "editorial director" title, but working mainly on "DC properties in Hollywood" between c. 1951–1959.

The ''Superman'' serials

Ellsworth was the representative from National Comics during the production of the 1948 serial '' Superman'', a position which gave him absolute control of the script and production. He initially objected to casting of

Kirk Alyn Kirk Alyn (born John Feggo Jr.; October 8, 1910 – March 14, 1999) was an American actor, best known for being the first actor to play the DC Comics character Superman in live-action for the 1948 movie serial ''Superman'' and its 1950 sequel '' A ...

as the lead, whom producer

Sam Katzman Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. E ...

had found by looking through studio photographs. This was made even worse when Alyn came in for a screen test, during filming on a historical film, with a goatee and moustache. These initial reservations were eventually overcome and Alyn got the part. Columbia's advertising claimed that they could not get an actor to fill the role so they had hired Superman himself. Kirk Alyn was merely playing Clark Kent.

''The Adventures of Superman''

Most notably, Ellsworth was a consultant on the serial sequel ''

Atom Man Vs. Superman ''Atom Man vs. Superman'' is a 1950 American film serial and the second Superman movie serial featuring Kirk Alyn, credited (as with the previous serial) only by his character name, Superman. When Lex Luthor blackmails the city of Metropolis by ...

'' (1950) (also with Kirk Alyn), and co-wrote the feature film ''

Superman and the Mole Men ''Superman and the Mole Men'' is a 1951 American independent black-and-white superhero film released by Lippert Pictures. Produced by Barney A. Sarecky and directed by Lee Sholem, it stars George Reeves as Superman and Phyllis Coates as Lois Lane ...

'' (1951) before becoming a producer, episode writer, and script editor on the subsequent live-action TV series '' The Adventures of Superman'' (both starring

George Reeves George Reeves (born George Keefer Brewer; January 5, 1914 – June 16, 1959) was an American actor. He is best known for portraying Superman in the television series '' Adventures of Superman'' (1952–1958). His death at age 45 from a g ...

as the Man of Steel). In 1958, he created a pilot titled '' Superpup'', which attempted to capitalise on that series' success by recasting the Superman mythos in a fictional universe populated by dogs instead of people. Three years later, Ellsworth helped produce another, ultimately aborted pilot for another spin-off series called '' The Adventures of Superboy''.

Other

According to noted comics historian

Jerry Bails Jerry Gwin Bails (June 26, 1933 – November 23, 2006) was an American popular culturist. Known as the "Father of Comic Book Fandom," he was one of the first to approach the comic book field as a subject worthy of academic study, and was a primar ...

, Ellsworth was also a consultant on the two ''Batman'' serials in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 ...

and 1949; the Superman serial starring Kirk Alyn that was a precursor to the later live-action Superman features, and the ''

'' serial (1949). He is listed as having been – for "one week only" – a consultant on the 1966 '' Batman'' TV series (with Adam West), and a writer for the Superman radio show during the war years. In addition, he wrote the Off-Broadway production ''Maiden Voyage'' (1935), for the TV series ''The Millionaire
¹
(1955) between c. 1954–56 and produced another pilot in 1961, this time for a "comedy-detective series starring

Sheree North Sheree North (born Dawn Shirley Crang; January 17, 1932 – November 5, 2005) was an American actress, dancer, and singer, known for being one of 20th Century-Fox's intended successors to Marilyn Monroe. Early life North was born Dawn Shirley ...

" to be called ''Here's O'Hare'' (

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

did not pursue the show). Ellsworth is also said by Bails to have helped co-write ''

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling 1969 novel of the same title. The film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caa ...

''.

Later life

Ellsworth left DC (shortly after leaving the Batman newspaper strip) in 1970/1971. He died on September 7, 1980, in North Hollywood. In 1985, he was posthumously named as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th anniversary publication ''

Fifty Who Made DC Great ''Fifty Who Made DC Great'' is a one shot published by DC Comics to commemorate the company's 50th anniversary in 1985. It was published in comic book format but contained text articles with photographs and background caricatures. Publication h ...

''.

References in popular culture

*The actor/film historian

Jim Beaver James Norman Beaver Jr. (born August 12, 1950) is an American actor, writer, and film historian. He is most familiar to worldwide audiences as Bobby Singer in ''Supernatural''. He also played Whitney Ellsworth on the HBO Western drama series ...

, preparing a biography of ''Adventures of Superman'' star

, played a character called "Ellsworth" in the TV series '' Deadwood'' (2004). At his request, producer

David Milch David Sanford Milch (born March 23, 1945) is an American writer and producer of television series. He has created several television shows, including ABC's ''NYPD Blue'' (1993-2005), co-created with Steven Bochco, and HBO's '' Deadwood'' (2004 ...

okayed the character being given the first name "Whitney" in homage to Reeves's ''Adventures of Superman'' producer.Comic Book Legends Revealed #206

Comic Book Resources ''Comic Book Resources'', also known by the initialism CBR, is a website dedicated to the coverage of comic book–related news and discussion. History Comic Book Resources was founded by Jonah Weiland in 1995 as a development of the Kingdom Co ...

, May 7, 2009 *The actor

Eric Johnson Eric Johnson may refer to: Music *Eric Johnson (guitarist) (born 1954) an American guitarist and recording artist * Eric D. Johnson (born 1976), member of multiple indie-rock bands including Fruit Bats, The Shins and Califone Politics * Eric Joh ...

played the character

Whitney Fordman ''Smallville'' is an American television series developed by writer/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, and was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network, The WB. After its fifth season, the WB and UPN merged to form The CW, which wa ...

in the Superman TV series '' Smallville'' (2001–2011). The name Whitney was a clear homage to Ellsworth, the producer (after Robert Maxwell) of the original ''Superman'' TV series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellsworth, Whitney 1908 births 1980 deaths Comic book editors American comics writers American comics artists People from Brooklyn DC Comics people Golden Age comics creators Television producers from New York City Silver Age comics creators 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American screenwriters