'Toddy Bear' (Giggle Comics #71, May 1950).
Don R. Christensen was an American animation scriptwriter, who worked for almost every classic US animation studio. For the Sangor Shop, DC Comics and Western Publishing, he drew various comics based on popular animated series, alongside funny animal comics. He was also active as a Disney comics writer. Christensen additionally penned stories for Hanna-Barbera's 'Yogi Bear' and 'The Flintstones' newspaper comics, the 'Star Wars' newspaper comic and Howard Post's 'Wally the Wizard' (1985-1986). Don R. Christensen should not be confused with Don L. Christensen, a former Disney employee who eventually went to work for Filmation in the mid-1960s.
Early life
Donald Ragnvald Christensen was born in 1916 in Minneapolis, Minnesota and studied at the local Minnesota School of Art. In 1936, he worked at the art department of the Minneapolis Journal.
Disney
In 1937, Christensen found employment at the Walt Disney Studios as an animator (in-betweener) and scriptwriter. He contributed to classic animated features such as 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937), 'Pinocchio' (1940) and 'Dumbo' (1941). In 1941, the studio went on strike, which caused many employees, including Christensen, to leave Disney and try their luck at other cartoon studios.
Looney Tunes
In 1941, Christensen joined Warner Brothers' animation studio where he worked as a storyboard artist for Norm McCabe and Bob Clampett. He wrote the scripts for five Looney Tunes shorts, namely 'Daffy's Southern Exposure' (1942), 'Gopher Goofy' (1942), 'The Impatient Patient' (1942) and the World War II propaganda cartoons 'Confusions of a Nutzy Spy' (1943), 'Tokio Jokio' (1943) and 'Scrap Happy Daffy' (1943).
Funny animal comics
In the mid-1940s, Christensen started an additional career as a comic book artist through the Sangor Shop. From 1944 throughout the rest of the decade, he drew funny animal features for comic books published by Ned Pines, often signing with "Don Arr". These included features like 'Bruno Bear', 'Kippie', 'Marco Poodle', 'Ole Mole', 'Oompah', 'Bobo Burro', 'Robin Hood Robin' and 'Toddy Bear' for titles like Happy Comics, Barnyard Comics, Startling Comics and Goofy Comics. He did similar work with characters like 'Potsy' for Giggle Comics at the American Comics Group, and with 'Puss 'n Pooch' for Leading Comics by National Periodicals. Around 1948 he left Sangor Comics, but kept freelancing for DC. From the 1950s through the 1970s, he was writing scripts for the Dell and Gold Key comic books of Western Publishing in Los Angeles. As such he wrote numerous stories with cartoon characters by Disney ('Mickey Mouse', 'Uncle Scrooge'), Warner Brothers ('Bugs Bunny'), Walter Lantz ('Woody Woodpecker') and Hanna-Barbera.
Together with penciller Tony Strobl and inker Steve Steere, Christensen made a comic book adaptation of the Donald Duck animated short 'Donald in Mathmagic Land' (1959), and is credited with drawing the 'Mickey Mouse' story 'The Disappearing Island' (1950) for a Wheaties premium give-away comic. Up until the 1970s, Christensen wrote many Disney comics for these promotional give-away books for companies like Cheerios, Apsco, Wilson Sun Glasses, Admiral and Robin Hood Flour. Christensen also penned the scripts for three space-themed comic books by Disney named 'Walt Disney's Man In Space' (1955), 'Walt Disney's Mars and Beyond' (1956) and 'Walt Disney's Man In Space: Satellites' (1959). The first two issues received a Thomas Edison Science Foundation Award for their accomplishments in explaining space technology in an entertaining fashion. In the 1960s, he also wrote stories directly for The Walt Disney Company's "studio program", aimed at the European market.
'Robin Hood Robin' (Barnyard Comics #18, 1948)
Later career
For Dell and Gold Key Comics, Christensen wrote scripts for Russ Manning's 'Magnus, Robot Fighter'. Along with Willie Ito and Jack Bradbury he also made comic book adaptations of Bob Clampett's cartoon/puppet series 'Time for Beany'. He also scripted advertising features for companies like Knott's Berry Farm, Mooseheart, the Richfield Oil Company, American Dairy, General Electric, Occidental Life, Johnson Motors, Hamm's Bear and many more. Between 1963 and 1964, Christensen is credited with writing the newspaper comics of Hanna-Barbera's 'Yogi Bear' and 'The Flintstones' for the McNaught Syndicate. In 1980, he also wrote for the 'Star Wars' newspaper comic strip for a couple of months, serialized in the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. He also wrote for 'Wally the Wizard' (1985-1986), a short-lived Marvel Comics series, drawn by Howie Post. Apart from writing comics Christensen also designed puzzle pages in comic books as well as greeting cards for Buzza-Cardozo, Gartner & Bender and Sangamon. The creative centipede also penned short stories for magazines like Argosy, Detective Tales and Family Circle, while writing for radio dramas like 'Stars Over Hollywood' and 'The Man Called X'.
TV scriptwriting
In the 1960s and 1970s, Christensen wrote and directed scripts for animated TV series like DePatie-Freleng's 'Super President' (1967) and 'The Houndcats' (1972), Filmation's 'Journey to the Center of the Earth' (1967) and Hanna-Barbera's 'Scooby-Doo Where Are You?' (1969), 'Yogi's Gang' (1973), 'Jeannie' (1973), 'Wait 'Till Your Father Gets Home' (1973-1974), 'The New Shmoo' (1979) - which was based on the popular character from Al Capp's 'Li'l' Abner' -, 'Casper and the Angels' (1979) and 'The Kwicky Koala Show' (1981).
Final years and death
Christensen was a member of the Southern California Comic Artist Professionals Society and President of the Comic Art Professional Society. He passed away in 2006 from heart failure, at age 90.
'Fixer Fox' (Happy Comics #22, 1947).