Collection inventory

Special Collections home page

Chic Young Cartoons

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: BB
Date: Dec 1968

Biographical History

Murat Bernard Young (1901-1973), famously known as Chic Young, was an American cartoonist and creator of the newspaper comic strip Blondie.

Chic Young was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up St. Louis, Missouri. He returned to Chicago to study at the Chicago Art Institute, lived briefly in Cleveland where he drew The Affairs of Jane for the NEA syndicate, and then landed in New York in 1922. His first strip there, Beautiful Bab for the Bell Syndicate, earned him a job offer from King Features Syndicate.

His first strip for King, in 1924, was Dumb Dora. In April of 1930, Young turned this strip over to Paul Fung so that he could devote himself to his new creation, the strip for which he is best known—Blondie. (One notes a pattern: Young had a knack for drawing pretty girls!) The strip, over the course of its long run, took Blondie from a flighty single girl with several beaux to marriage and children with Dagwood Bumstead and, eventually, a career as a caterer. The strip and its characters were aggressively and cleverly marketed, which resulted in 28 movies starring Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton as well as a radio show and a television series. Several artists worked with Young on Blondie over the years, including Alex Raymond, Ray McGill, and Jim Raymond. Young's son Dean eventually took the strip over on his father's death.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Chic Young Cartoons collection contains 12 original daily cartoons and 5 original Sunday cartoons from the comic strip Blondie (1934). The collection also contains 1 original Sunday cartoon from the Blondie topper strip The Family Foursome (this title ran with the Sunday feature)(1934). In addition, there are 4 original Sunday cartoons from the comic strip Dumb Dora (1929-1930) and 3 original examples of its topper strip, When Mother Was a Girl (1929).

Please note that some of the large format Sunday cartoons are complete in two pieces; some of our holdings are partial (only 1 of 2 pieces). See Inventory for details.

Arrangement of the Collection

The cartoons are arranged in alphabetical order by title, then chronologically. The daily Blondie cartoons are foldered separately at the head of the collection.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

See the Paul Fung Cartoons collection for additional material related to Dumb Dora and When Mother Was a Girl. See the C. D. Russell Cartoons collection for additional material related to Blondie. Special Collections Research Center has collections of more than 150 cartoonists. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Subject Headings

Persons

Young, Chic, 1901-1973.

Corporate Bodies

King Features Syndicate.

Associated Titles

Blondie (comic strip)
Dumb Dora (comic strip)
Family foursome (comic strip)
When mother was a girl (comic strip)

Subjects

American wit and humor, Pictorial.
Caricatures and cartoons -- United States.
Cartoonists -- United States.
Comic books, strips, etc. -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Cartoons (humorous images)

Occupations

Cartoonists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Chic Young Cartoons,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Rendell, 1968.

Table of Contents

Blondie 1934

Dumb Dora 1929-1930

The Family Foursome 1934

When Mother Was a Girl 1929-1930

Inventory