Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ward Greene (1893-1956)


Ward Greene, journalist, playwright, and novelist, was born in Ashville, North Carolina in 1893, grew up in Atlanta, and died at Havana, Cuba 22 January 1956. William Randolph Hearst and Sylvan S. Byck were two of his pall-bearers. After attending the University of the South in Tennessee, he began his journalistic career as a reporter on the Atlanta (Ga.) Journal in 1913, worked a short period for the NY Herald-Tribune, and joined King Features Syndicate in 1920. He eventually became the general editor at King Features.

Writer Mel Heimer recalled the day Greene had a new intercom installed in his office at KFS -- “he called up a sub-editor and said ‘Listen’ -- whereupon he promptly played the verse and chorus of Dixie on the harmonica.” Greene wrote Cora Potts, Death in the Deep South, Route 28, Weep No More, and Ride the Nightmare, a story of a highly paid violent, lusty, drunkard comic strip artist, based roughly on the life of author William Seabrook. Death in the Deep South was compared favorably with Theodore Dreiser’s American Tragedy and filmed as They Won’t Forget, directed by Mervyn LeRoy with actress Gloria Dickson.

Ward Greene and Alex Raymond co-wrote the stories for Raymond's detective strip Rip Kirby. Ultimately Greene's greatest creation was the book Lady and the Tramp, which was immortalized by Walt Disney in 1954, and spun-off as a popular comic strip, Scamp, on 2 Jan 1955. The Scamp strip ran daily and Sunday until December 1977.








13 comments:

  1. Hey nice. this is the only page where i found any information about Ward Grenne, I`ve been looking for information about him since i discovered he wrote the story of one of my favorite childhood movies. by the way what was your source?

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  2. I used a variety of newspaper articles from various different periods.

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  3. Charles Thomas GreeneFebruary 15, 2011 at 1:12 PM

    John, this is most data I have been able to find.
    I am his adopted son.

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  4. Hi Charles,
    He was a great writer. Lady and the Tramp was a classic. So was Rip Kirby.

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  5. I've always been curious to find information on him.....for obvious reasons....including my interest in being a writer.
    Ward Greene (Australia).

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  6. Charles Thomas Greene ... I am Roger Wood. I lived in Nutley N.J. 1954 to 1960. Given that much info can you tell me any more
    Rogertwood@aol.com

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    1. Yes Roger, I also lived in Nutley for some time in the home of Alice Wood as a foster child. Please reply to: greenect@comcast.net

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    2. Charles Thomas GreeneNovember 18, 2019 at 9:02 AM

      Roger, I did not receive a reply from you. Are you the child of Alice Wood? Rely to greenece@comcast.net

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    3. Charles, my brother in law's grandmother, Charlotte, was Ward's niece. He would love to reach out to you, the email above appears to no longer be working. My email is jessicamariedavis@hotmail.com Thanks!

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  7. Hal Foster referred to him as "Jimmy."

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  8. William Randolph Hearst died in 1951 and can’t possibly have been a pallbearer in 1956...

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  9. I should have checked - that is what a newspaper column reported. Obviously wrong!

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  10. Does anyone have any information whatsoever regarding Ward Greene's original "Happy Dan, the Cynical / Whistling Dog", the one that inspired Walt Disney for the film? I believe it was originally published in Cosmopolitan magazine in Feb 1943, according to the bonus material in the "Lady & the Tramp" movie DVD. The issue can't be found on any website (Amazon, eBay, etc.), and the original story seems to have vanished completely. What was it about? Where can I find a copy or scan of the original story in "Cosmo"? Thanks

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