Floyd Buford Yates (July 5, 1921 – March 26, 2001), better known as Bill Yates, was an American cartoonist who drew gag cartoons and
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
s before assuming the position of comic strip editor for
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
in 1978.
Biography
Born in
Samson, Alabama
Samson is a city in Geneva County, Alabama, United States. It is part of the Dothan, Alabama Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census the population was 1,940, down from 2,071 in 2000. Samson incorporated in 1905 (according to the 1910 U. ...
, Yates learned to cartoon by taking the W. L. Evans Correspondence Course, and his first sale was a five dollar first prize in ''
The Open Road for Boys
''The Open Road for Boys'', a boys' magazine encouraging the outdoor life, was published from November 1919 to the 1950s. The magazine was a monthly for the first 20 years and then switched to a schedule of ten issues a year. It began as ''The Op ...
'' cartoon contest. He served as an aviator in the United States Navy during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, training fighter pilots in
Corpus Christi, Texas
Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...
, where he married Jessie Jean ("Skippy") Hardy. As a journalism student at the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
, he edited the campus humor magazine, ''
The Texas Ranger
''The Texas Ranger'' is a 1931 American pre-Code Western film directed by D. Ross Lederman.Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
's cartoon magazines (''
1000 Jokes'', ''
Ballyhoo
The ballyhoo halfbeak or ballyhoo (''Hemiramphus brasiliensis'') is a baitfish of the halfbeak family (Hemiramphidae). It is similar to the Balao halfbeak (''H. balao'') in most features. Ballyhoo are frequently used as cut bait and for trollin ...
'', ''For Laughing Out Loud'') and Dell's paperback cartoon collections, such as ''Forever Funny'' (1956). His comic strip about an absent-minded professor, ''Professor Phumble'', was carried by
King Features
King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial c ...
from 1960 to 1978. (In Brazil during the early 1960s, ''Professor Phumble'' was published as ''Zé Fiasco'' in the ''Correio da Manhã'' newspaper. But his more famous Brazilian nickname is the one used by the ''
Folha de S.Paulo
''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã c ...
'' newspaper, ''Professor Tantã''.)
In addition to work on
Jimmy Hatlo
James Cecil Hatlo (September 1, 1897 – December 1, 1963), better known as Jimmy Hatlo, was an American cartoonist who in 1929 created the long-running comic strip and gag panel ''They'll Do It Every Time'', which he wrote and drew until his d ...
's ''
Little Iodine
''Little Iodine'' is an American Sunday comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which was syndicated by King Features and ran from August 15, 1943 until August 14, 1983. The strip was a spin-off of ''They'll Do It Every Time'', an earlier Hatlo crea ...
'', Yates also did the strip ''Benjy'' with
Jim Berry from 1973 to 1975. In addition to work in advertising and twice-weekly editorial cartoons for the ''Westport News'' in Connecticut, Yates also illustrated books and comic books, such as Charlton's ''Ronald McDonald'' (1970–71).
When
retired from King Features Syndicate in 1978, Yates took over the position of comics editor. In 1986, he began collaborating with Morrie Brickman on the political strip, ''the small society'' (written lower-case as a satiric nod toward
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
's "Great Society"). The strip carried the signatures of both Brickman and Yates until 1989. It then became a solo effort by Yates, who continued it until 1989. When
Gordon Bess
Gordon C. Bess (January 12, 1929 – November 24, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for the comic strip ''Redeye (comics), Redeye''.
Born in Richfield, Utah, Bess grew up attending schools in Nevada, Oregon and Utah, finishing high sch ...
, the writer of ''
Redeye
Red eye, red-eye, redeye or variants may refer to:
Related to the eye
* Red-eye effect, in photographs
* Red eye (medicine), an eye that appears red due to illness or injury
* Red, an extremely rare eye color due to albinism
* Red eyeshine i ...
'' (with art by
Mel Casson
Mel Casson (July 25, 1920 – May 21, 2008) was an American cartoonist with a 50-year career. He is primarily remembered for his work on the daily comic strips ''Sparky'', ''Angel'', ''Mixed Singles''/''Boomer'' and '' Redeye'', plus numerous ...
) became ill in May 1988, Yates took over the scripting of that strip about Chief Redeye and his lunatic Chickiepan Indian tribe.
At the end of 1988, Yates left his editorial position at King Features in order to spend full-time cartooning. He continued to write ''Redeye'' and do both scripting and art on ''the small society'', but increasing ill health forced his retirement from the strips in 1999. Casson continued to write and draw ''Redeye'' for King Features.
Don Markstein's Toonopedia: ''Redeye''
/ref>
Personal life and death
Yates lived in Westport, Connecticut
Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
History
...
, for 50 years. In 2001, 3 months after the death of his wife, he died in Norwalk, Connecticut
, image_map = Fairfield County Connecticut incorporated and unincorporated areas Norwalk highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 230px
, map_caption = Location in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County and ...
, of complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's. He was survived by his daughter, Georgia Y. Rojas of Trumbull, Connecticut
Trumbull is a town located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders on the cities of Bridgeport and Shelton and the towns of Stratford, Fairfield, Easton and Monroe. The population was 36,827 during the 2020 census. Trumbul ...
; his sister, Ralphine Lee of Powder Springs, Georgia; and two grandchildren, Matthew Rojas and Emma Rojas.
References
External links
UT Texas Ranger Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yates, Bill
1921 births
2001 deaths
American comic strip cartoonists
American magazine editors
People from Geneva County, Alabama
Journalists from Alabama
Military personnel from Alabama
University of Texas alumni
20th-century American journalists
American male journalists