Vernon Van Atta Greene (September 12, 1908 – June 5, 1965) was a prolific cartoonist and illustrator who worked on several comic strips and was best known for his artwork on ''
Bringing Up Father
''Bringing Up Father'' is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George McManus. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, it ran for 87 years, from January 2, 1913, to May 28, 2000.
The strip was later titled ''Jiggs and Maggie'' (or '' ...
''.
Born Vernon Van Atta Green in
Battle Ground, Washington
Battle Ground is a city in Clark County, Washington, United States. The population was 20,743 at the 2020 census. As of 2023, its population is 22,285.
History Name
Battle Ground got its name from a standoff between a group of the Klickitat p ...
, he later added an "e" to his last name so it would be more distinctive. One of seven children of Albert and Letha Green (née Van Atta), he grew up on a 650-acre ranch where he worked as a logger and blacksmith. He attended Toledo University in the 1930s.
Cartoon cavalcade
Greene started his cartoon career drawing sports cartoons for Oregon's ''Portland Telegram'' (1927–29), the ''Toledo Blade'' (1930–32) and the ''
New York Mirror
The ''New-York Mirror'' was a weekly newspaper published in New York City from ''1823 to 1842''. Founded by George Pope Morris and Samuel Woodworth, it was a prominent publication that focused on literature, the fine arts, and local news. It playe ...
'' (1934–37). He was working for
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...
in 1935.
During that time, Greene was an active freelancer, creating advertising cartoons and illustrations for books and magazines. He illustrated for several
Street & Smith
Street & Smith or Street & Smith Publications, Inc., was a New York City publisher specializing in inexpensive paperbacks and magazines referred to as dime novels and pulp magazine, pulp fiction. They also published comic books and sporting year ...
pulps, including ''
The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...
'', ''The Masked Lady'' and ''
Perry Mason
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a ...
''.
Comic strips
On June 17, 1940, Greene began drawing ''
The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...
'' daily
comic strip
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 ...
, distributed by
the Ledger
''The Ledger'' is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida, and the Polk County area.
History
The paper was founded on August 22, 1924, as the ''Lakeland Evening Ledger''. In 1927, it bought its main competitor, the morning ''Lakeland S ...
Syndicate. He continued to draw the ''Shadow'' daily until 1942 (June 13) when it and other strips were canceled due to the growing need to run more and more war news coming in from the European and Pacific fronts during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Greene served with the medical division of the Air Corps as a photographer at Kearns Air Base in Utah. For ''Pic'' magazine, he drew ''Mac the Medic'' and ''Charlie Conscript'' cartoons. After World War II, he attended Columbia University and was active in traveling with USO cartoonists tours.
For many years, he was the ghost artist on the daily version of
Cliff Sterrett
Clifford Sterrett (; December 12, 1883 – December 28, 1964) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Polly and Her Pals''.
Biography
Born in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, where his father was a druggist, Cliff Sterr ...
's ''
Polly and Her Pals
''Polly and Her Pals'' is an American comic strip, created by cartoonist Cliff Sterrett, which ran from December 4, 1912, until December 7, 1958. It is regarded as one of the most graphically innovative strips of the 20th century. It debuted as ...
'' strip. After the death of
George McManus
George McManus (January 23, 1884 – October 22, 1954) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the main characters of his syndicated comic strip, ''Bringing Up Father''.
Biography
B ...
in 1954, Greene took over ''Bringing Up Father''.
Comic books
He also did ''The Shadow''
comic book
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 ...
, beginning in 1940 as the sole artist for all issues until March 1942. For most of the remaining issues of Volume Two, he shared the artist credit with others, usually Jack Binder, until his last appearance in the issue of May 1943.
Awards
Greene was an active member of the
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
, serving two years as their vice president. In 1964, he was awarded their Silver T-Square Award.
Greene also served as host of WRVR's syndicated radio program, ''The Cartoonist's Art''. Greene was married to Barbara M. Bennett in 1948, and they had five children.
He lived in
Wyckoff, New Jersey
Wyckoff ( ) is an affluent township in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 16,585, a decrease of 111 (−0.7%) from the 2010 census count of 16,696, which in turn ...
Pelican Publishing Company
Pelican Publishing Company is a book publisher based in Elmwood, Louisiana, with a New Orleans postal address. - The address states "New Orleans, LA" but the physical location iin the Elmwood CDP