Debut of The Flintstones' newspaper comic, 2 October 1961.
Walter Clinton, also known as Walt Clinton, was an American animator who worked at the classic animation studios Walt Disney, MGM and later Hanna-Barbera. He was also active as a newspaper cartoonist, but many of his series never found a publisher, except his assistant work on Harry Tuthill's 'The Bungle Family' and Gene Hazelton's 'The Flintstones'.
Early life and career
Walter Frank Clinton was born in 1906 in St. Louis, Missouri, as the son of a shoe factory salesman. He studied at the Night School of Commerce at St. Louis University and later at Washington University. After graduation in 1928, he became a sign writer for Merchants Sign Service and Sears Roebuck.
Disney, MGM and Five Star Productions/Kling Studios
In the late 1930s, Walt Clinton became an animator, character designer and lay-out artist at the Walt Disney Studios. He worked on their feature films 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' (1937) and 'Pinocchio' (1940), as well as several 1940s shorts starring Donald Duck, among them classics like 'Donald's Camera' (1941) and 'Donald's Snow Fight' (1942). In 1941, when a huge strike broke out at Disney, Clinton was one of many animators who left the studio. He joined MGM, where he was stationed in Tex Avery's unit. He worked on several classic 'Droopy' shorts and one-shot cartoons like 'King-Size Canary' 1947), 'Lucky Ducky' (1948), 'Bad Luck Blackie' (1949), 'Ventriloquist Cat' (1950), 'Symphony in Slang' (1951) and 'Magical Maestro' (1952). One of his most famous scenes is the animation of the lion roaring himself inside out in Avery's 'Slap Happy Lion' (1947). Between 1953 and 1957. Clinton also worked on several animated TV commercials produced by Five Star Productions and Kling Studios.
Hanna-Barbera
When MGM closed down its cartoon studio in 1957, many of their former animators were rehired by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for their TV cartoon production company Hanna-Barbera. Clinton contributed lay-outs and character designs to many of their series, including 'The Ruff & Reddy Show' (1957-1960), 'The Huckleberry Hound Show' (1958-1961), 'Quick Draw McGraw' (1959-1961), 'The Flintstones' (1960-1966), 'Yogi Bear' (1961), 'Top Cat' (1961-1962), 'Jonny Quest' (1964-1965) and 'Space Ghost' (1966). On his blog, John Kricfalusi noted that Clinton's style is easily recognizable due to the fact that he drew the male characters as dumpy and oafish people. He also had a tendency to draw low ears (often touching the collar at the back of the head) and triangular heads and noses.
'Calvin'.
Assisting comics
In 1961, a newspaper comic series starring 'The Flintstones' was created under supervision of lead artist Gene Hazelton. Walter Clinton was one of his many assistants, presumably on the very first strips. Animation historian John Province discovered that Clinton had also assisted on Harry Tuthill's newspaper comic 'The Bungle Family' (1924-1945) at the McNaught Syndicate.
Unpublished comics
Throughout his career, Clinton often tried to launch a newspaper comic of his own, but never found a syndicate interested. One of his earliest creations was a comic strip about a little boy named 'Dinky'. Like most of his unpublished comics, it's undated, but the graphic style is very reminiscent of a standard 1940s cartoon character. Another attempt was made in the early 1960s, when Clinton drew a gag-a-day family comic named 'Calvin'. It centers around father Herb Dibble, his wife Millie, two children, cat Jiffy and a dog. The 'Calvin' comics mention Clinton's personal address on every strip. They too never found a newspaper. Perhaps the resemblance with Hanna-Barbera's house style was too big. The father looks a lot like George Jetson and his wife is a mix between Jane Jetson and Wilma Flintstone (particularly the haircut). The short-sized neighbor Bill Bagby, with whom Herb Dibble often argues, echoes Barney Rubble from 'The Flintstones'.
Death and legacy
Walter Clinton retired in 1969 and passed away in 1992 in Sun City, Arizona. After his death, his unpublished comics were purchased by collector John Province, who claimed that there were "literally dozens of ideas Walt drew up, but never submitted." In January 2014, several 'Calvin' comics were sold on eBay.
'Dinky'.