Comics: Charles Paris, an Artist, Inker and Letterer

Charles Spurgeon Paris Jr. was born on September 25, 1911 in Greensboro, North Carolina according to the North Carolina Birth Index (at Ancestry.com) and his World War II draft card.

The 1920 United States Census counted Paris (line 89), his parents, Charles and Ida, and brothers, Henry and James, in Greensboro at 103 South Cedar Street. Paris’s self-employed father was a paper hanger.

The Greensboro Daily Record, July 26, 1921, reported Paris’s fall from a tree. The injury required removal of his right kidney.

Paris’s poster for “H. M. S. Pinafore” was reproduced in the Greensboro Daily Record, May 14, 1929.

The Greensboro Daily Record, January 25, 1930, listed the mid-term high school graduates. Paris was one of 49 students. The 1930 census said the Paris family (lines 4 through 8) was at the same address. Paris’s occupation was listed as “commercial advertiser” in the theater industry.

The 2007 book, Batman: The Sunday Classics 1943–1946, said “Paris also worked for a theater chain for eight years, designing poster displays.” In Alter Ego #19, November 2002, Ike Wilson interviewed Paris who said

My first job was in a movie house here on South Elm Street called The Alamo. It’s long, long gone but it was a part of a chain that Paramount bought out. There were the Alamo, the Imperial, the National, and the Carolina Theatres, all of which were included in the same company and were of importance in that order. I worked for them for about seven or eight years and worked my way up to where I was working at the Carolina.

The 1933 Greensboro city directory listed Paris as a commercial artist.

The Greensboro Daily News, July 8, 1945, said Paris moved to New York City in 1934.

Paris and Phoebe Tuulikki Ketonen obtained marriage license number 15696, in Manhattan, on July 10, 1937. They married on September 25, 1937 in Brooklyn. Their marriage reported in the News and Record, October 3, 1937.

Charles Paris, and Miss Ketonen Wed in New York
The marriage of Miss Phoebe Ketonen, of Brooklyn, N. Y. and Charles S. Paris, of New York city, formerly of Greensboro, was solemnized Saturday afternoon, September 25, in a 3 o’clock ceremony at 44th Street Lutheran church in Brooklyn. Just the immediate family attended. Rev. Mr. Joka officiated.

After the service there was an informal reception at the home of the bride’s mother, Mrs. H. M. Illka, in Brooklyn. The young couple are now at home in New York city at 29 East 11th street.

The bridegroom is eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. Paris, of 103 South Cedar street, Greensboro. After graduation from Greensboro high school he studied art in Washington and New York city and is now house artist for Wannamaker’s in New York. The bride’s parents were natives of Finland, her father, the late Rev, H. Jalmar Ketonen, having been sent from Finland as a missionary to the United States by the Finnish Methodist church. She is a graduate of Bayridge School for Girls and is a talented musician.

Batman: The Sunday Classics said Paris graduated from Pratt Institute’s School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1938. Paris was not in the 1938 Prattonia yearbook. He probably completed the courses in the evening school. The Greensboro Daily News, July 24, 1938, said

Now Charles Paris is studying at the Art Students league in New York, still at night, and working for Wannamaker’s [sic] in the day time. And he is not satisfied yet.

The 1940 census said Paris (line 69) and his wife were Manhattan residents at 29 East 11th Street. He was an artist at a department store and she a clerk at an aviation company.

Six months later Paris signed his draft card on October 16. His employer was the John Wanamaker Company. Paris was described as five feet, 125 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair.

According to Batman: The Sunday Classics, Paris studied at Harvey Dunn’s Grand Central School of Art where he met DC artists Stan Kaye, Cliff Young and Gene McDonald. In Spring 1941, Paris met John/Jack Lehti at Dunn’s student get-together. In Alter Ego #19, Paris explained how he got into comics.

I was going to the Grand Central School of Art, studying under Harvey Dunn, who was a very famous illustrator. Some of the fellows in that class were working for DC at that time, so I knew them there. Every year in the spring, after school was out, Dunn would have a cookout for the students and past students. It was at one of those that [comic artist] Jack Lehti asked me if I’d like to be his inker. I had to ask him what an inker was, because I was in the department store display at that time. He told me and advised me to keep my job while he taught me how to ink. I inked for him for about two or three months, when he told me I could quit my job. From then on, I was into comics; I just fell in the back door.

Lehti helped Paris get hired in DC’s bullpen. The Grand Comics Database said Paris inked and lettered Lehti’s Crimson Avenger in World’s Best Comics #1, Spring 1941; Detective Comics #51, May 1941; Detective Comics #52, June 1941; Detective Comics #53, July 1941; Detective Comics #54, August 1941; Detective Comics #55, September 1941; Detective Comics #57, November 1941; Detective Comics #58, December 1941; Detective Comics #59, January 1942; Detective Comics #60, February 1942; Detective Comics #61, March 1942; Detective Comics #62, April 1942; World’s Finest Comics #5, Spring 1942; Detective Comics #64, June 1942; Detective Comics #65, July 1942; Detective Comics #66, August 1942; Detective Comics #67, September 1942; Detective Comics #68, October 1942; Detective Comics #69, November 1942; Detective Comics #70, December 1942; Detective Comics #71, January 1943; Detective Comics #72, February 1943; Detective Comics #73, March 1943; Detective Comics #74, April 1943; Detective Comics #75, May 1943; Detective Comics #76, June 1943; Detective Comics #77, July 1943; and Detective Comics #78, August 1943.

Detective Comics #59, January 1942

Complete story at Four-Color Shadows

In Comics: Between the Panels (1998), had this Paris anecdote about Lehti.

“Jack Lehti was a dogface,” Paris said. “He told me one time that he jumped into a foxhole in France and there was a copy of Detective Comics, with the Crimson Avenger. It gave him a funny damn feeling. Here he is lying out in the middle of nowhere, he might as well be on another planet with shells falling around and dead people and mud and dirt . . . and there’s a copy of a DC comic book. A whole other life flashed through his head.”

In 1943 Paris was called to serve and was classified 4F, not acceptable for service.

American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Paris was the inker on the Batman and Robin comic strip. He did the daily strip from October 25, 1943 to February 9, 1946, and March 25 to November 2, 1946; the Sunday strip from November 7, 1943 to April 21, 1946, and August 25 to October 27, 1946. In Alter Ego, Paris said

[Editor] Whit [Ellsworth] then offered me the dailies and Sundays to ink. The dailies were drawn by Kane and the Sundays by Jack Burnley. And if memory serves me correctly, I went to Jerry Robinson and asked him if it’d be all right with him if I took the job. He said, “Yes,” and I jumped at it because it immediately doubled my salary and got me out of the bullpen. I could work at home and work all night and sleep all day if I wanted to, as long as I made the deadlines. And that was one of the great advantages in freelancing for the comic books. … So I took this job and worked probably for three years or so before it was dropped. …

Freelance artist Paris (line 8) and Phoebe were at the same address in the 1950 census. At some point they divorced.

 

The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona), November 30, 1956, said Paris and Isabel McQueen Morris were issued a marriage license. Batman: The Sunday Classics said Paris moved to Tucson in 1958. DC mailed pages to Paris who continued inking to 1968.

Paris and Isabel’s divorce notice appeared in the Tucson Daily Citizen, October 31, 1959. Paris’s third divorce, from Anne Gerry Paris, appeared in the Tucson Daily Citizen, September 9, 1967.

Paris, as Chuck Paris, copyrighted his song “Blue Norther” in March 1961.

On August 1, 1973, Paris filed a claim for Social Security benefits.

On February 17, 1989, a fire destroyed Paris’s home. On November 3, 1989, Paris was one of the featured guests at Acmecon in Greensboro.

Greensboro News & Record, November 3, 1989

A 1989 photograph of Paris appeared in Entertaining Tucson Across the Decades, Volume 2: 1986–1989.

Paris passed away on March 19, 1994 in Tucson.

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Comics: Walter Palais, Letterer, Penciler and Inker

Walter Michael Palais was born on August 19, 1922 in New York, New York according to his World War II draft card and census records. His immigrant parents were Rudolph Palatzky and Emma Culek who obtained, in Manhattan on October 29, 1910, marriage license number 28210. They married the next day. The marriage certificate said Palais’ father, a “painter architect”, lived at 925 Jackson Avenue which was in Queens.

 

 

Rudolph Palatzky was also known as Rudolph Palace according to his Petition for Naturalization. The 1920 United States Census counted the “Palace” family—Rudolph (line 66), his wife, son and daughter, Rudolph and Emma—in Manhattan at 441 East 81st Street. 

 

 

On June 25, 1925, Rudolph Palatzky filed his naturalization petition application. He became a citizen on December 28, 1925.

The 1925 New York state census counted the “Palatsky” family (lines 44 to 49) at 441 East 81st Street in Manhattan.

In the 1930 census, the “Pulaski” family of seven (lines 51 to 57) were Brooklyn residents at 53 Stanwix Street. Palais’ father was a draftsman at an auto supply business. His brother, an artist, was employed in the moving pictures industry.

Apparently the first family member to use the Palais surname, which was French for palace, was Rudolph. The Standard Union (Brooklyn, New York), June 16, 1930, said

A pitcher who has heaved against the Brooklyn Robins in practice sessions would like to connect with a strong club. Write Rudolph Palais, 53 Stanwix street, Brooklyn.

Seven months after the census enumeration, Palais’ father passed away on November 10, 1930.

According to the 1940 census (enumerated April 6), the Palatzky household included seventeen-year-old Palais (line 50), his widow mother, sisters Josephine, Rita, and Emma and her husband and child, Leon and Ronald Lianides. They resided in Brooklyn at 22 Stuyvesant Avenue.

In Alter Ego #62, October 2006, Jim Amash interviewed Rudy Palais who explained how he and his brother, Walter, got into comics.

... He started his career as a letterer at the Iger shop and was soon drawing features. Walter was the one who got me into comics. He was studying for the priesthood in Princeton, New Jersey, and used to visit me at Columbia Pictures where I was doing movie posters. He told me he wanted something to do for the summertime. I told him to take his artwork and show it around.

A week later, he came back to me and said he couldn’t find a job. I thought about it for a minute and asked, “In your rounds, were there some people who showed more interest in your work than others?” He said there were and I said, “Go back to those people and see what takes place.” The next day, he got a job at Iger’s.

Walter told them about me, and they asked him to tell me to drop in sometime. Which I did. I became so interested in the work these young men were doing that I decided to jump into the comics game. ...

An overview of Palais’ career is at Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. A checklist of his credits is at the Grand Comics Database.

Rudy Palais married Ann DeBonis in Manhattan on May 5, 1935. When he signed his draft card on October 16, 1940, the couple lived with his mother and siblings in Brooklyn.

On June 30, 1942, Palais signed his draft card which had the same address in the 1940 census. He was described as six feet three inches, 170 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. Palais was employed at the Simon and Kirby studio.

Palais enlisted in the Army on April 8, 1943. He served in the Army Air Corps.

After the war, Palais and Elizabeth I. Simchak obtained, in Queens on April 22, 1946, marriage license number 3696.

In the 1950 census, the couple and their son, Robert, were residents in Huntington, New York. Palais (line 30) was a commercial artist in the publishing industry.

Newsday (Hempstead, New York), June 25, 1952, reported the traffic accident involving Palais, a taxi driver, and a waitress.

Hold Waitress on Tipsy Driving, Hit-Run

South Huntington—A 46-year-old waitress was arrested here early yesterday for drunken driving and leaving the scene of an accident after her car was in collision with a taxi on Jericho Turnpike at West Hills Road. Agnes M. Jones, of 66 Jackson Huntington, who said she is employed by a Cold Spring Harbor restaurant, appeared in court yesterday morning after spending several hours in jail and was released in the custody of her attorney for three weeks pending trial.

She was arrested by Ptl. Voyle Anderson and John Coppins after they were called to the scene of the accident about 1:30 AM. They found Mrs. Jones car on New York Ave. and took her to the offices of a doctor who pronounced her intoxicated, they said. The driver of the taxi, Walter Palais of Hillwood Drive, Huntington Station, pressed the complaint of leaving the scene of the accident.

He said he was turning into Jericho Turnpike at West Hills Road when he saw Miss Jones car bearing down on him and swung to the right. He was hit anyway, Palais said, and the other car kept on going. But he got its description. The woman told the court she was on her way to report the crash at headquarters when the radio car stopped her.

Palais’ second marriage was to Lucy C. Fusaro on February 15, 1953.

In 1980 Palais was employed at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Photo & Graphic Arts Department. 

 

Palais passed away on November 28, 2007 and was laid to rest at Calverton National Cemetery.

Further Reading

The Ten-Cent Plague: The Great Comic-Book Scare and How It Changed America

Classics Illustrated: A Cultural History, Third Edition

Lambiek Comiclopedia

 

 

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Comics: Larry Mayer, Artist, Inker, Art Director and Letterer

Lawrence Henry “Larry” Mayer was born on August 15, 1921, in Dutzow, Missouri, according to his World War II draft card which also had his full name. 

The 1930 United States Census said Mayer was the only child of Fred, a farmer, and Wanda (Hellwig). They lived in Lyon, Missouri. 

In the 1940 census, Mayer, his parents and six-year-old brother, Russell, were residents of Boeuf, Missouri. Mayer’s highest level of education was the eighth grade. 

On February 14, 1942, Mayer signed his World War II draft card. His home was at 3 1/2 South New Haven in Lyon, Missouri. Mayer was unemployed. His description was five feet eight inches, 160 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. During the war Mayer served in the Marine Corps. An April 1945 muster roll said he was stationed with “C” Battery, 11th 155mm Gun Battalion, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. A handwritten note on the draft card said he was honorably discharged on March 22, 1946.

Just over six weeks later on May 7, Mayer and Ethel Marie Cain, a member of the Women’s Auxiliary Corps, were married in Florida according to the Florida County Marriage Record at Ancestry.com.

The obituary in the Los Angeles Times (California), November 20, 2002, said Mayer went to an art school. 

The 1950 census recorded the couple in Los Angeles, California. Mayer had one year of college and was an instructor in the cartoons industry. In 1949 he earned $4,248. 

In Walt’s People: Talking Disney with the Artists Who Knew Him, Volume 12 (2012), Didier Ghez said 

Larry Mayer was an art director for coloring books, Golden Books, etc., but he also drew a lot of covers and quite a few stories for the Gold Key and later Whitman Comics, as well as designing their logos. He was an excellent letterer, too.

Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999 has an overview of Mayer’s career. The Grand Comics Database has a checklist of Mayer’s work. 

Mayer passed away on November 17, 2002, in Los Angeles. He was laid to rest at Holy Cross Cemetery. 

Further Reading

Lambiek Comiclopedia

News From ME, What was the relationship between Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics?

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