Mortimer Weisinger (April 25, 1915 - May 7, 1978) was an American magazine and comic book editor best known for editing
DC ComicsDC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment...
'
SupermanSuperman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc...
during the mid-1950s to 1960s, in the
Silver Age of comic booksThe Silver Age of Comic Books was a period of artistic advancement and commercial success in mainstream American comic books, predominantly those in the superhero genre. Following the Golden Age of Comic Books and the interregnum the Atomic Age, the Silver Age is considered to cover the period from...
. He also co-created such features as
AquamanAquaman is a fictional comic book superhero who appears in DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 . Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title...
,
Green ArrowGreen Arrow is a fictional character, published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941...
, and
Johnny QuickJohnny Quick is the name of two DC Comics characters, each with the power of superhuman speed. The first was a superhero who appeared mostly in More Fun Comics during the Golden Age...
, served as story editor for the
Adventures of SupermanAdventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
television series, and compiled the often-revised paperback
1001 Valuable Things You Can Get Free.
Early life and SF fandom
Weisinger was born in the
Washington HeightsWashington Heights is a New York City neighborhood in the northern reaches of the borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest point on Manhattan island by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, to defend the area from the...
section of
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and raised in the Bronx as the son of a Jewish businessman in the garment trade. At 13, he was introduced to science fiction by means of a borrowed copy of the August 1928 issue of
Amazing StoriesAmazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
(featuring
Buck RogersAnthony Rogers was a fictional character that originated in two short stories by Philip Francis Nowlan, "Armageddon 2419 A.D." and "The Airlords of Han" published in Amazing Stories ....
and
The Skylark of SpaceThe Skylark of Space is one of the earliest novels of interstellar travel. Originally serialized in 1928 in the magazine Amazing Stories, it was first published in book form in 1946 by The Buffalo Book Co. It was written between 1915 and 1921 by chemical engineer Edward E. "Doc" Smith and Lee...
). By 1930, Weisinger was active in some of the earliest SF
fan clubA fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fanclubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fanclubs that are run by someone associated with the person or...
s and
fanzineA fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
s, including
The Planet. In 1931, Weisinger hosted a meeting of pioneer SF fan club "The Scienceers," which was attended by a young
Julius SchwartzJulius "Julie" Schwartz was a Jewish comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
, who recalled that the two became "very friendly... [and] got along well together." A year later, Weisinger, Schwartz and Allen Glasser joined fellow-future professional editor Forrest J. Ackerman in founding
The Time TravellerThe Time Traveller was one of the earliest science fiction fanzines, started in 1932. It grew out of a New York City fan club called the Scienceers and was started by Mort Weisinger, Julius Schwartz, Allen Glasser, and Forrest J Ackerman...
, which they styled "Science Fiction's Only Fan Magazine". The claim was more than mere youthful bravado, according to SF historian
Sam MoskowitzSam Moskowitz was an early fan and organizer of interest in science fiction and, later, a writer, critic, and historian of the field. As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of the Science Fiction League. Meanwhile,...
, who described the 'zine as the first devoted entirely to science fiction. Drawing on information they had gleaned from writing letters to the SF magazines and authors of the day, the young fans published interviews with, and short pieces by, established SF writers, and in the process gained increasing familiarity with the personalities and situations of the genre in that era. The first issue featured "a one-page biography of
Edward 'Doc' SmithE. E. Smith, also Edward Elmer Smith, Ph.D., E. E. "Doc" Smith, Doc Smith, "Skylark" Smith, and Ted was a food engineer and early science fiction author who wrote the Lensman series and the Skylark series, among others...
... [and] some news items."
Early career
After
high schoolHigh school is the name used in some parts of the world, particularly in Scotland, Northern America and Oceania, to describe an institution that provides all or part of secondary education...
, Weisinger attended
New York UniversityNew York University is a private, nonsectarian, research university in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, where he worked as editor of the college's newspaper and magazine, but left before graduating. With Schwartz, he approached the editor of
Amazing StoriesAmazing Stories was an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction...
(T. Connor Sloane) and "sold his first story": 'The Price of Peace'. In late 1934, Weisinger suggested that he and Schwartz "ought to go into the agency business," noting (according to Schwartz) that the duo had
Schwartz concurred, and they formed the Solar Sales Service ("We always believed in
alliterationAlliteration is a literary or rhetorical stylistic device that consists in repeating the same consonant sound at the beginning of several words in close succession...
," noted Schwartz), the first literary agency to specialize in the related genres of SF, horror, and fantasy.
Edmond HamiltonEdmond Moore Hamilton was a popular author of science fiction stories and novels during the mid-twentieth century. Born in Youngstown, Ohio, he was raised there and in nearby New Castle, Pennsylvania...
was the agency's first client, and
Otto BinderOtto Oscar Binder was a writer of American science fiction, non-fiction UFO, and comic books.-Biography:Otto Binder was born on August 26, 1911 in Bessemer, Michigan, the youngest of six children born into a family who had emigrated from Austria a year earlier...
soon followed. Solar Sales eventually represented many prominent SF and fantasy writers, including
John Russell FearnJohn Russell Fearn One of the first British writers to appear in US pulp science fiction magazines. He was a prolific writer who wrote Westerns and Crime fiction as well as science fiction. His writing appeared under numerous pseudonyms. He wrote series like Adam Quirke, Clayton Drew, Golden...
,
Alfred BesterAlfred "Alfie" Bester was an American science fiction author, TV and radio scriptwriter, magazine editor and scripter for comic strips and comic books...
, Stanley Weinbaum,
H. P. LovecraftHoward Phillips Lovecraft was an American author of horror, fantasy, and science fiction, known then simply as weird fiction....
, and
Ray BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American mainstream, fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer.Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, Bradbury is widely considered one of the greatest and most popular American writers of speculative fiction of the...
. But while Schwartz continued the agency into the early 1940s, Weisinger moved on; he took a job with the Standard Magazine chain, publisher of a range of pulp magazines. Standard had acquired writer-publisher
Hugo GernsbackHugo Gernsback , born Hugo Gernsbacher, was a Luxembourg American inventor, writer and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. His contributions to the genre as publisher were so significant that, along with H.G...
's defunct
Wonder StoriesWonder Stories was an early science fiction magazine which was published under several titles from 1929 to 1955. It was founded by Hugo Gernsback in 1929 after he had lost control of his first science fiction magazine, Amazing Stories, when his media company Experimenter Publishing went bankrupt...
and added it to Standard series of "Thrilling" publications (
Thrilling Detective Stories, Thrilling Western Stories, and others). Weisinger became the editor of
Thrilling Wonder Stories, and bought stories by Hamilton and others from his former partner Schwartz. Weisinger was soon editing a range of other pulps by Standard, including
Startling StoriesStartling Stories was an American pulp science fiction magazine which included science fantasy. A companion magazine to Thrilling Wonder Stories and Captain Future magazine, it published 99 issues from 1939 to 1955. It was edited by Sam Merwin, Jr. from 1945 to 1951.It featured a novel in each...
and
Captain FutureCaptain Future is both a science fiction magazine and a fictional character.-Origins:Although sometimes mistakenly attributed to science fiction writer Edmond Hamilton, who indeed authored most of Captain Future stories, the character was created by Better Publications editor Mort Weisinger during...
, and "was in charge of no fewer than 40 titles" by 1940.
Army service
In March 1941, Weisinger moved from Standard Magazines to National Periodicals (later
DC ComicsDC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. It is the publishing division of DC Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary company of Warner Bros. Entertainment...
) primarily as editor of the
SupermanSuperman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc...
and
BatmanThe Batman, originally referred to as the Bat-Man, is a fictional character, a comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger , appearing in publications by DC Comics...
titles. Among his earliest jobs, however, was the task of "dream[ing] up some new characters" - these resulted in the line-up of
More Fun #73, and took the form of
AquamanAquaman is a fictional comic book superhero who appears in DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in More Fun Comics #73 . Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles, Aquaman later starred in several volumes of a solo title...
,
Green ArrowGreen Arrow is a fictional character, published by DC Comics. Created by Mort Weisinger and George Papp, he first appeared in More Fun Comics #73 in 1941...
and
Johnny QuickJohnny Quick is the name of two DC Comics characters, each with the power of superhuman speed. The first was a superhero who appeared mostly in More Fun Comics during the Golden Age...
. Weisinger's fledgling career was soon interrupted by his
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
military service, during which he served as a
sergeantSergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....
in Special Services. Stationed at
YaleRapidMiner is an environment for machine learning and data mining experiments. It allows experiments to be made up of a large number of arbitrarily nestable operators, described in XML files which are created with RapidMiner's graphical user interface...
(and rooming with
Broderick CrawfordBroderick Crawford was an American actor.-Early life:Crawford was born William Broderick Crawford in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick, who were both vaudeville performers...
and
William HoldenWilliam Holden was an American film actor.Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954, and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974....
), he wrote scripts for a U.S. Army "radio show called 'I Sustain the Wings' " in New York City.
He met and married (Sept. 27, 1943) his wife, the former Thelma Rudnick. They would have two children, a daughter, Joyce, and son, Hendrie.
Superman innovations
Weisinger returned to his job at National after his discharge from military service in 1946, and resumed his editorship of the Superman comics, the Batman titles and others. His tenure was marked by the introduction of a variety of new concepts and supporting characters, including
SupergirlSupergirl is a fictional comic book Superhero that is depicted as a female counterpart to the DC Comics iconic superhero Superman. Created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino in 1959 and appearing in Action Comics...
,
Krypto the Super DogKrypto, also known as Krypto the Superdog, is a fictional character. He is Superman's pet dog in the various Superman comic books published by DC Comics...
, the
Phantom ZoneThe Phantom Zone is a fictional prison dimension featured in the Superman comic books and related media published by DC Comics. It first appeared in Adventure Comics #283 , and was created by Robert Bernstein and George Papp...
, the bottle city of
KandorKandor is the name of the former capital city of the fictional planet Krypton in the DC Universe. It is best known for being stolen and miniaturized by the supervillain Brainiac...
, the
Legion of Super-HeroesThe Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
, and a variety of types of
kryptoniteKryptonite is a fictional element from the Superman mythos, originating in the Superman radio show series.The material is usually shown as having been created from the remains of Superman's native planet of Krypton, and generally has detrimental effects on Superman and other Kryptonians...
. Attempting to rationalize Superman's powers, it was under Weisinger's watch that the "concept that in a world circling a yellow sun [as opposed to Krypton's red sun] his [Superman's] powers are muliplied" came to be introduced to the Superman mythology. Realising that "Batman was my favorite [character]," Weisinger realised that the crucial difference was that "Batman can get hurt." In order to better allow the reader to identify with the invulnerable Man of Steel, Weisinger's stories frequently featured stories in which "Superman lost his powers and had to survive on his natural wits." Pitted against Superman's wits was
Lois LaneLois Joanne Lane-Kent is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
, and under Weisinger's editorship stories in which she sought to prove that Superman was Clark Kent abounded. Weisinger "enjoyed surprising the readers," and to that end introduced a number of "live personalities... real people" into the comics, including
Candid CameraCandid Camera was a hidden camera television series created and produced by Allen Funt, which initially began on radio as Candid Microphone June 28, 1947...
's Alan Funt,
This is Your LifeThis Is Your Life is a television documentary series hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards. It originally aired in the United States from 1952 to 1961, and again in 1972 on NBC. It originated as a radio show airing from 1948 to 1952 on NBC Radio. A version of it continues a very long run in the...
's
Ralph EdwardsRalph Livingstone Edwards was an American radio and television host and television producer.-Early career:...
,
Steve AllenSteve Allen may refer to:*Steve Allen, American musician, comedian, and writer*Steve Allen , presenter on the London-based talk radio station LBC 97.3*Steve Allen, British musician, lead singer of Liverpool rock band Deaf School...
,
Ann BlythAnn Marie Blyth is an American actress and singer, often cast in Hollywood musicals, but also successful in dramatic roles...
and
Pat BooneCharles Eugene Boone , known professionally as Pat Boone, is an American singer, actor and writer who was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold over 45 million albums, had 38 Top 40 hits and starred in more than 12 Hollywood movies...
among others. Weisinger was particularly "proud of having dreamed up the "imaginary story" gimmick to motivate otherwise impossible stories," (non-canonical 'what if...?' scenarios not bound to series or character continuity, timeframe or logic), and for "having conceived the idea of DC's first giant anthology -
The Superman Annual."
The Adventures of Superman
Weisinger "eventually gave up editorship of
Batman and many of the other magazines and concentrated on the #1 superhero," both in the comics and elsewhere. In the early 1950s, he was "called out to California by
Whitney EllsworthFredric Whitney Ellsworth was an American comic book editor, and sometime writer and artist for DC Comics during the period known to historians and fans as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
. . . to work as story editor for the Superman TV series." Weisinger recalled in 1975 about this experience that
Through Weisinger's previous "experience with television," Reeves landed "a guest star spot, "Big Red S" and all, on the
I Love LucyI Love Lucy is an American television sitcom, starring Lucille Ball, Desi Arnaz, Vivian Vance and William Frawley. The black-and-white series originally ran from October 15, 1951 to April 1, 1960 on CBS...
show."
Weisinger's influences on up-and-coming writers in SF and comics also extended, by these means, to television. Jackson Gillis was shepherded from his work on
The Adventures of Superman to
Perry MasonPerry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who originally was the main character in numerous pieces of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a story line which involved his client being...
and
ColomboColombo is the largest city and commercial capital of Sri Lanka. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life and colonial buildings and ruins and a city...
(alongside many, many other credits). Weisinger also highlights David Chantler, William Woolfolk and
Leigh BrackettLeigh Douglass Brackett was an American author, particularly of science fiction. She was also a screenwriter, known for her work on famous films such as The Big Sleep , Rio Bravo , The Long Goodbye and The Empire Strikes Back .-Life:Leigh Brackett was born and grew up in Los Angeles, California...
as "examples of proteges and associates who have surpassed him in term of success."
Superman editorship
Many of Weisinger's ideas were in direct response to his having "talked to kids" in his neighborhood, asking them what they wanted to see, and then attempting to riff on those ideas. Such talks inspired him to create the
Lois Lane and
Jimmy Olsen spin-off titles "over a lot of opposition" from the management who "protested that the character's weren't strong enough." Weisinger certainly wasn't averse to tapping ideas wherever he found them, later buying a story from
Jim ShooterJames Shooter is an American writer, occasional fill-in artist, editor, and publisher for various comic books...
while unaware of the writer's age, and hiring him for a popular run on "The
Legion of Super-HeroesThe Legion of Super-Heroes is a fictional superhero team in the 30th and 31st centuries of the . The team first appears in Adventure Comics #247 , and was created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino....
" even after discovering that he was only 14 years old.
Weisinger encouraged a static
picture bookA picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. The images in picture books use a range of media such as oil paints, acrylics, watercolor and pencil....
style of illustration in his stories, and was known for reusing previously published stories as new story ideas. A noted example of this is a 1950s story featuring Superman encountering an alien being he thought might have been his long-lost brother; this was reused in the early 1960s as a
SuperboyThe original Superboy is a fictional superhero who appears in DC Comics. A younger version of Superman, Superboy has adventures that occur in the relative past to those of Superman and take place predominantly in his hometown of Smallville...
story introducing
Mon-ElLar Gand, known primarily as Mon-El , is a fictional character in DC Comics' universe who is associated with the Legion of Super-Heroes, Superboy, and Superman...
.
Over time, Weisinger found himself growing disenchanted, and even embarrassed to reveal his primary job, saying "When people asked me what I did for a living, I would suppress the fact that I was editing Superman. I'd tell people that I wrote for
Collier's or
The Saturday Evening Post." He recalls that he attempted to get himself removed from his editorial position by "asking for bigger and bigger raises," but instead found his demands met - even to the extent that he was given "generous stock options" and "made a vice president of public relations for the company." He did eventually leave, and bought himself a white
CadillacCadillac is a luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors Company. Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mainly in North America....
to "bolster my ego."
Style and criticism
Weisinger was noted by some for having a
micromanagingIn business management, micromanagement is a management style where a manager closely observes or controls the work of his or her subordinates or employees...
attitude and a heavy-handed, overbearing treatment of his writers and artists. Criticism has been levelled at Weisinger for dominating his writers and quashing creativity by dictating storylines. He countered such criticism, however, noting that
Flipping his earlier reasoning for founding the Solar Sales Service on its head, he noted that with magazine articles, time spent developing an article need not be wasted because there are other avenues (titles) in which to sell such products.
One concept Weisinger brought to comics from the pulps was creating a story "around a pre-drawn cover," a concept taken up across the industry, most notably by colleague Julius Schwartz. During Weisinger's reign, the Superman comics maintained a reasonably tight internal continuity, but related little to the rest of the
DC UniverseThe DC Universe is the shared universe where most of the comic stories published by DC Comics take place. The fictional characters Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are well-known superheroes from this universe. Note that in context, "DC Universe" is usually used to refer to the main DC continuity...
. Weisinger was succeeded in 1970 by his childhood friend and longtime colleague
Julius SchwartzJulius "Julie" Schwartz was a Jewish comic book and pulp magazine editor, and a science fiction agent and prominent fan. He was born in the Bronx, New York...
. Weisinger was later immortalized within the Superman comics "as a bust in Clark Kent's apartment."
Articles and books
In addition to his SF agency and extensive editorial work for DC Comics, Weisinger found time - particularly after his retirement from DC - to write a considerable number of articles for a wide variety of magazines. Weisinger was reported, in 1975, as having "had articles in
The Journal of the AMA,
Reader's DigestReader's Digest is a monthly general-interest family magazine co-founded in 1922 by Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace, and based in Chappaqua, New York, United States of America...
,
Collier's,
The Saturday Evening PostThe Saturday Evening Post is a bimonthly American magazine. While the publication traces its historical roots to Benjamin Franklin and The Pennsylvania Gazette first published in 1728, The Saturday Evening Post, rechristened under new ownership in 1821 as a four-page newspaper, eventually became...
... [and]
ParadeA parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
." His articles ranged from one on the Comics Code for
Better Homes and GardensBetter Homes and Gardens is a popular Australian lifestyle television program broadcast on the Seven Network. The show covers a wide variety of lifestyle related activities including gardening, cooking, craft, pet care and DIY....
to an article entitled "How Ralph Edwards Fools 'Em" for which he "accompanied Edwards on several
This is Your Life escapades to get the story of how the clever impressario suckered the celebrities whom he was to honor on his popular '50s show."
Weisinger had a particular interest in
Beauty contestA beauty contest, or beauty pageant, is a competition based mainly on the physical beauty of its contestants, although such contests often incorporate personality, talent, and answers to judges' questions as judged criteria...
s, writing an article for
Parade on "why certain finalists in the Miss America pageant can never win the crown," as well as a "best-selling novel" entitled
The Contest (published in hardback by World, and in paperback by
New American LibraryNew American Library, NAL, based in New York and beginning in 1948, produced affordable paperback reprints of classics and scholarly works, as well as popular, pulp, and "hard-boiled" fiction. Non-fiction, original, and hardcopy issues were also produced....
). Weisinger had once been a "judge in a preliminary Miss America contest," through which he "learned the inside story," later travelling to Europe with the then-"world-famous host of the real-life contest," a friend of Weisinger's at the time who refused to talk to him again after reading the resulting novel. For the author, however,
The Contest netted a $125,000 movie option and "printings in several foreign languages."
Weisinger's best known book was "a compendium of freebies available to anyone" entitled
1001 Valuable Things You Can Get For Free, first published in 1955 and which (as of 1975) had "gone through 41 paperback printings and sold over three million copies." Weisinger's book was praised by
Abbie HoffmanAbbot Howard "Abbie" Hoffman was a social and political activist in the United States who co-founded the Youth International Party...
in
Steal This Book-Advice on dissidence:The book includes advice on such topics as growing marijuana, starting a pirate radio station, living in a commune, stealing food, shoplifting, stealing credit cards, preparing a legal defense, making pipe bombs, and obtaining a free buffalo from the U.S. Department of the...
, and earned its author a place in "Who's Who".
Later life
Weisinger lived for much of his life in
Great Neck, New YorkGreat Neck is a village in the town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, in the U.S., on the North Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the village population was 9,538....
, and stayed there until his death. He was survived by his wife and children.