Carl Robert Fallberg (September 11, 1915 – May 9, 1996) was a writer/cartoonist for animated feature films and T.V. cartoons for Disney Studios,

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer t ...

, and Warner Brothers. He also wrote comic books for

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 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

Western Publishing Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and ...

, and

Gold Key Comics Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...

Early life

Carl Robert Fallberg was born in Cleveland, Tennessee on 11 September 1915 to Carl Fallberg (Sr.), and Gunhild Fallberg (née Sjöstedt), who both taught music at the Centenary College Conservatory in Cleveland, Tennessee from 1910 to 1917. Carl was the middle child of three, with an older sister Lisa Lina "Dixie" and younger sister Elinor Faith. The family moved to Chicago, and in 1930 his mother died, leaving Carl and his two sisters motherless for several years. Carl attended Nicholas Senn High School in Chicago, Illinois. In 1934, Carl sent a letter with samples of his gag ideas and artwork to Walt Disney asking for employment. On the third try, he was offered a job and started to work for Walt Disney Studios in 1935 (then located at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood, California.) Carl and his sister Elinor (1923-2014) lived in rooming house at 3021 Angus Street, just a few blocks from the Hyperion Studios. It was there he meet his future wife, Becky Dorner, the daughter of the family who owned the rooming house. During World War II, his sister Elinor and his future wife Becky worked at Disney Studios while Carl was serving in the U.S. Marines at Quantico, Virginia as part of the Marine Corps film unit. Becky and Carl were married at First Unitarian Church in Los Angeles, California on July 14, 1945 and had one child, Carla Larissa Fallberg, born in 1955. Becky continued to work for Disney Studios, eventually becoming the Manager of the Ink and Paint Department while Carl went on to work as a writer/cartoonist

freelancing ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance ...

for Disney, Hanna Barbera, and several other cartoon studios and

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

publishers Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Professional cartoonist

Carl had a lifelong passion for the "

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...

" railroad lines connecting the mountain mining towns of Colorado. This love of narrow gauge railroads in early mining communities was expressed through his cartoon drawings published in his Fiddletown & Copperopolis comic strip which appeared in ''Railroad'' Magazine. During the early 1980s, Carl compiled all his Fiddletown and Copperopolis cartoons into a book. The resulting ''"Fiddletown and Copperopolis - The life and times of an uncommon carrier"'' was published in 1985. From his early days at Disney, Carl shared his enthusiasm for Colorado's narrow gauge railroads with

Ward Kimball Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honored ...

and the Grizzly Flats Railroad, and brought the theme to numerous comic books he wrote, such as the Mickey Mouse stor
''"The Vanishing Railroad"''
Carl Fallberg was a member of th
Animation Guild I.A.T.S.E. Local 839

Disney

Carl started working at Disney Studios in 1935. During the beginning of his career at Disney he worked as an assistant director and storyman on the Disney animated features

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is a 19th-century German fairy tale that is today known widely across the Western world. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' and numbered as T ...

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

, and

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book '' Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Sal ...

. Carl moved to working on Disney comic books for Dell Publishing, and was noteworthy for scripting most of the Mickey Mouse serials illustrated by

Paul Murry Paul Murry (November 25, 1911 – August 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his Disney comics, which appeared in Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from 1946 to 1984, particularly the Mickey Mouse and Goof ...

that appeared in ''

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip ...

'' from the early 1950s to 1973. He also specialized in creating colorful characters inhabiting the various exotic locales that often reflected his love of railroads. This provided narrative interest that compensated for the generally bland personality Mickey Mouse had during this period. For almost a decade and up until 1962, it was Fallberg and Murry who produced almost all of those serials in Walt Disney Comics and Stories. Besides working with Murry, Fallberg also freelanced to write and illustrate Disney comic books of Li'l Bad Wolf,

Jiminy Cricket Jiminy Cricket is the The Walt Disney Company, Disney version of the "Talking Cricket" (Italian language, Italian: ''Il Grillo Parlante''), a fictional character created by Italian writer Carlo Collodi for his 1883 children's book ''The Adventu ...

, Professor Ludwig Von Drake,

Scrooge McDuck Scrooge McDuck is a cartoon character created in 1947 by Carl Barks for The Walt Disney Company. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-American anthropomorphic Pekin duck. Like his nephew Donald Duck, he has a yellow-orange bil ...

, Mickey Mouse,

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic American Pekin, white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shi ...

Gyro Gearloose Gyro Gearloose is a cartoon character created in 1952 by Carl Barks for Disney comics. An anthropomorphic chicken, he is part of the Donald Duck universe, appearing in comic book stories as a friend of Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, and anyone wh ...

Goofy Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a ...

Chip 'n' Dale Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip 'n' Dale) is a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company. Concept The characters were first drawn by Bill Justice and introduced in the 1943 Pluto short '' Private ...

, and many others. From 1963 to 1989, Carl also wrote scripts for the

Disney Studio Program Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge. The first Disney comics were newspaper strips appearing from 1930 on, starting with the ...

, and during 1974-1985 he wrote scripts for the comic strips ''

Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales ''Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales'' is an American Disney comic strip, which ran on Sundays in newspapers from July 13, 1952, until February 15, 1987. It was distributed by King Features Syndicate. Each story adapted a different Disney f ...

'' (Sunday) and the Disney Christmas Story daily strips that appeared each December. The last comic book story Carl wrote for Disney was ''"Goofy the Kid"'' in 1990. Carl's "special" Disney projects included writing the promotional comics ''Adventure in Disneyland'' (1955) for Richfield Oil and ''Mickey and Goofy Explore Energy'' (1976) for Exxon, which he later redesigned to promote the Epcot Universe of Energy attraction. He wrote the ''Sears Winnie the Pooh Coloring Book'' in 1975, contributed to ''The Wonderful World of Disney'' (1969–70)

Gulf Oil Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...

giveaway magazine and provided the text for two of Whitman's ''

Big Little Books The Big Little Books, first published during 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text. Other publishers, notably Saalfield, adopted t ...

'': ''Donald Duck and the Luck of the Ducks'' and ''Donald Duck and the Fabulous Diamond Fountain''.

Hanna-Barbera

From 1972 through 1981, Carl worked as a storyman and story director on the

cartoon television shows: Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space,

Scooby-Doo ''Scooby-Doo'' is an American animated media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are ...

, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids,

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch ''Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch'' is an American animated television series, produced by Hanna-Barbera, which originally aired for one season on NBC from September 7 to November 30, 1974. The show aired for 13 half-hour episodes. With an ensemb ...

, The All-New Popeye Hour, Laugh-a-Lympics,

The Three Robonic Stooges ''The Robonic Stooges'' is a Saturday morning animated series featuring the characters of The Three Stooges in new roles as clumsy crime-fighting cyborg superheroes. It was developed by Norman Maurer and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions f ...

and The Kwicky Koala Show. Carl also wrote for the Hanna-Barbera comic books of:

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their nex ...

Yogi Bear Yogi Bear is an anthropomorphic animal character who has appeared in numerous comic books, animated television shows and films. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. Yogi Bear was the first ...

Huckleberry Hound Huckleberry "Huck" Hound is a fictional cartoon character, a blue anthropomorphic coonhound that speaks with a North Carolina Southern drawl. He first appeared in the series '' The Huckleberry Hound Show''. The cartoon was one of six TV shows to ...

, and

The Jetsons ''The Jetsons'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. It originally aired in prime time from September 23, 1962, to March 17, 1963, on ABC, then later aired in reruns via syndication, with new episodes produced f ...

Warner Bros.

From 1953 through the early 1970s, Carl wrote for the Warner Bros. Animation characters of

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring roles in the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Mer ...

Daffy Duck Daffy Duck is an animated cartoon character created for Leon Schlesinger Productions by animators Tex Avery and Bob Clampett. Styled as an anthropomorphic black duck, he has appeared in cartoon series such as ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melo ...

, Mary Jane & Sniffles, and

Speedy Gonzales Speedy Gonzales is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of cartoons. He is portrayed as "The Fastest Mouse in all Mexico" with his major traits being the ability to run extremely fast ...

, and was story director for

Yosemite Sam Yosemite Sam ( /joʊˈsɛmɪti/ ''yoh-SEM-ih-tee'') is a cartoon character in the ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park. He is an adversary of Bu ...

, Daffy Duck and Speedy Gonzales. Also in this time period, Fallberg wandered back into animation working on the Warner Bros. Speedy and Daffy Show.

Other cartoon comic books

His work for MGM comic books included

The Addams Family ''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over a ...

Tom & Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series c ...

Droopy Droopy is an animated character from the golden age of American animation. He is an anthropomorphic white Basset Hound with a droopy face; hence his name. He was created in 1943 by Tex Avery for theatrical cartoon shorts produced by the Metr ...

, and Screwy Squirrel, and

Mr. Magoo Mr. Magoo (known by his full name: J. Quincy Magoo) is a fictional cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Mr. Magoo is an elderly, wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of comical ...

for UPA, and

The Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the classic film '' The Pi ...

and The Inspector for DePatie-Freleng. For

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lantz ...

, Carl wrote

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is an animated character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures, Universal Studios between 1940 and 1972. Woody, an anthropom ...

Andy Panda Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947, and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The title ...

Chilly Willy Chilly Willy is a cartoon character, a diminutive penguin. He was created by director Paul Smith for the Walter Lantz studio in 1953, and developed further by Tex Avery in the two subsequent films following Smith's debut entry. The character ...

, and Homer Pigeon comic books.

Filmography

Feature films and television:

Feature films

*1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (assistant director - uncredited) *1942, Bambi (story development) *1940 and 1999, Fantasia (story development for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment) *World War II, USMCR: Writer/cartoonist of training and propaganda films

Television

*1971, The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show (TV series) (story director - 1 episode) *1972, The New Scooby-Doo Movies (TV series) (story director - 16 episodes) *1972, Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space (TV series) (story director - 16 episodes) *1972, The Flintstone Comedy Hour (TV series) (story director) *1972, The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (TV series) (story director - 1 episode) *1973, The Roman Holidays (TV series) (story director - 2 episodes) *1973, The Addams Family (1973 TV series) (story director - 5 episodes) *1973, Butch Cassidy (TV series) (story director) *1974, Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch (TV series) (storyboard editor) *1977, The Skatebirds (TV series) (story director) *1978, Dinky Dog (TV series) (story director) *1978, Yogi's Space Race (TV series) (story director) *1978, Galaxy Goof-Ups (TV series) (story director) *1978-79, The All-New Popeye Hour (TV series) (story director) *1980, The Flintstone Comedy Show (TV series) (story director and writer - 1 episode) *1981, The Kwicky Koala Show (TV series) (story director and writer - 16 episodes) *1984, Flintstone Funnies (writer)

Publications

Carl Robert Fallberg publications: *1949, Carl Fallberg. p. 108, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis Ry. (No. 5)," Railroad magazine, Vol. 47, no. 4. New York, Frank A. Munsey Co. *1950, Carl Fallberg. p. 114, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis Ry. (No. 20)," Railroad magazine, Vol. 51, no. 3. New York, Frank A. Munsey Co. *1950, Carl Fallberg. p. 116, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis Ry. (No. 27),".Railroad magazine, Vol. 53, no. 2. New York, Frank A. Munsey Co. *1952, Carl Fallberg. p. 94, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis (No. 42)," Railroad magazine, Vol. 57, no. 1. Kokomo, IN, Popular Publications. *1952, Carl Fallberg. p. 112, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis (No. 44)," Railroad magazine, Vol. 57, no. 3. Kokomo, IN, Popular Publications *1952, Carl Fallberg. p. 119, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis (No. 46)," Railroad magazine, Vol. 58, no. 1. Kokomo, IN, Popular Publications *1953, Carl Fallberg. p. 100, "Fiddletown & Copperopolis (No. 56)," Railroad magazine., Vol. 60, no. 3. Kokomo, IN, Popular Publications *1955, Carl Fallberg, Paul Murry. Mickey Mouse in Walkie Doggie, Dell/Western. *1956, Carl Fallberg, Paul Murry. Mickey Mouse in the Vanishing Railroad, Dell/Western. *1957, Carl Fallberg, Paul Murry. Mickey Mouse in The Legend of Loon Lake, Dell/Western. *1957, Carl Fallberg, Paul Murry. Mickey Mouse The Phantom Fires, Dell/Western. *1967, Carl Fallberg. Walt Disney's Donald Duck - The fabulous diamond fountain. Racine, WI,: Western Publishing Co. *1967, Carl Fallberg. Tom and Jerry meet Mr. Fingers. Racine, WI, Whitman Pub. Co. *1967, Carl Fallberg. Mickey Mouse the super sword. Racine, WI, Western Pub. Co., , *1968, Carl Fallberg. Beep beep the road runner - The super beep-catcher. Racine, WI, Western *1968, Carl Fallberg. Hanna-Barbera's Frankenstein, Jr. - The menace of the heartless monster. Racine, WI, Whitman Pub. Co. *1974, Carl Fallberg. Beep beep the Road Runner - The lost road runner mine. Racine, WI, Western Pub. Co. *1984, Carl Fallberg, Paul Murry. Mickey Mouse - The super sword, New York, Western Pub., , *1985, Carl Fallberg. Fiddletown & Copperopolis - The life and times of an uncommon carrier. Rev. 2nd ed. River Forest, IL, Heimburger House Pub. Co. (pbk.) (pbk.) *1990, Carl Fallberg, Al Hubbard, Rudyard Kipling,

Jane Werner Watson Jane Werner Watson, born Elsa Jane Werner (July 11, 1915 – 2004) was an American children's author. She also wrote under the names Elsa Jane Werner Watson, Jane Werner, Annie North Bedford, Monica Hill, Elsa Ruth Nast, W. K. Jasner, and A. N. B ...

. Walt Disney's classic the Jungle book. Burbank, CA Walt Disney Publications, , *1991, Carl Fallberg. Walt Disney's classic 101 Dalmatians. Burbank, CA : W.D. Publications, *2008, Carl Fallberg, Robert Klein, Pat McGreal, Carol McGreal. Walt Disney's Comics 691. Paw Prints, , *2010, Aaron Sparrow, Chris Meyer, Christopher Burns comic book editor, Jason Long comic book editor, Carl Fallberg ("Yesterday Ranch"), Paul Murry, Erika Terriquez, Floyd Gottfredson, Earl Duvall, Dick Moores, George Waiss, Bill Walsh, Manuel Gonzales. Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse classics - Mouse mayhem. Los Angeles, Boom Kids!, .

References

External links

* *The Art Bin
Here's the classic Mickey Mouse of Paul Murry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallberg, Carl 1915 births 1996 deaths American cartoonists Disney comics writers Disney comics artists Hanna-Barbera people American people of Swedish descent Walt Disney Animation Studios people