Fred Harman (February 9, 1902 - January 2, 1982) is best known as the artist of
Red RyderRed Ryder a popular American fictional cowboy from the 1940s, was created by Stephen Slesinger and artist Fred Harman. Beginning Sunday, November 6, 1938, Red Ryder was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, expanding over the following decade to 750 newspapers with a readership of 14...
, "America's famous fighting cowboy."
Harman was two months old when his parents moved from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where he grew up familiar with horses and the ranching lifestyle. Working as a pressman’s helper at
The Kansas City StarThe Kansas City Star is a McClatchy newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes...
, he came in contact with the artists employed by the newspaper.
He was 20 years old when he began drawing cartoons and ads at the Kansas City Filmad Co., where he met
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder Walter Elias...
.
Fred Harman (February 9, 1902 - January 2, 1982) is best known as the artist of
Red RyderRed Ryder a popular American fictional cowboy from the 1940s, was created by Stephen Slesinger and artist Fred Harman. Beginning Sunday, November 6, 1938, Red Ryder was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, expanding over the following decade to 750 newspapers with a readership of 14...
, "America's famous fighting cowboy."
Harman was two months old when his parents moved from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where he grew up familiar with horses and the ranching lifestyle. Working as a pressman’s helper at
The Kansas City StarThe Kansas City Star is a McClatchy newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri, in the United States. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes...
, he came in contact with the artists employed by the newspaper.
He was 20 years old when he began drawing cartoons and ads at the Kansas City Filmad Co., where he met
Walt DisneyWalter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon and philanthropist. Disney is famous for his influence in the field of entertainment during the twentieth century. As the co-founder Walter Elias...
. The two were briefly partners in Kansas City, and after Disney headed for Hollywood, eventually so did Harman. On the West Coast, he edited, illustrated and published a Western magazine that collapsed after three issues.
When Harman drew his
Bronc PeelerBronc Peeler was an American fictional cowboy created by Fred Harman. Harman created the Western adventure comic strip in 1933. Harman is best known as the artist for the Red Ryder comics, which was created by Stephen Slesinger....
strip, he attempted to syndicate it himself, visiting numerous West Coast newspaper offices. In 1938, he met merchandising entrepreneur
Stephen SlesingerStephen Slesinger , was an American radio/television/film producer, creator of comic strip characters and the father of the licensing industry...
and found success. He worked with Slesinger for a year on what would become
Red Ryder. Slesinger sold the strip to NEA and embarked on an intensive campaign of merchandising and licensing with a seemingly endless parade of comic books,
Big Little BooksThe Big Little Books, first published in 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company in Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text...
, novels, serial chapters, radio programs and products.
After Harman retired from the strip in 1964, he turned to painting at his Albuquerque
studio. He was one of the original 1965 members of the Cowboy Artists of America along with Joe Beeler, Charlie Dye, John Hampton and George Phippen, and Harman's paintings were included in the first annual exhibition of the Cowboy Artists of America on September 9, 1966 at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in
Oklahoma CityOklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
.
Among other honors, Harman was one of only 75 white men in history to be adopted into the Navajo Nation. He died in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1982.
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