Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, was a
Racine, Wisconsin, firm responsible for publishing the
Little Golden Books
Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942.
''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...
. Its Golden Books Family Entertainment division also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products.
The company had editorial offices in New York City and Los Angeles, California. Western Publishing became Golden Books Family Entertainment in 1996. As of 2013, ''
Little Golden Books
Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942.
''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...
'' remains as an imprint of
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase ...
.
History
Early years
Edward Henry Wadewitz, the 30-year-old son of
German immigrants, worked at the West Side Printing Company in
Racine, Wisconsin. When the owner of that company was unable to pay Wadewitz his wages, Wadewitz took the opportunity in 1907 to purchase the company
for $2,504,
with some of the funds provided by his brother Albert. Knowing that the company needed staff with more knowledge of the business than he had, Wadewitz hired Roy A. Spencer, a printer at the Racine Journal Company.
At the end of its first year sales were $5,000 and the company increased its staff of four to handle a growing number of commercial jobs. It installed a
cylinder press, two smaller presses, and an automatic power cutter.
In 1910, the company changed its name to Western Printing and Lithographing Company after the purchase of its first
lithographic press.
By 1914, sales were more than $127,000. The company installed a larger
offset press
Offset printing is a common printing technique in which the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket and then to the printing surface. When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on ...
and added
electrotyping and
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an in ...
departments.
Wadewitz was approached by the Hamming-Whitman Publishing Company of Chicago to print its line of children's books. Unable to pay its bills, Hamming-Whitman left Western with thousands of books. As a result, Western acquired Hamming-Whitman on February 9, 1916, and formed a subsidiary corporation, Whitman Publishing Company. It employed two salesmen and, in the first year, grossed more than $43,500 liquidating the remaining Hamming-Whitman books.
In 1916, Sam Lowe joined Western. He convinced Western and Whitman to publish a 10-cent children's book in 1918 and convinced retailers that children's books could be sold year-round.
1920s
Western introduced boxed games and
jigsaw puzzle
A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture.
In t ...
s in 1923 after purchasing a 38-inch by 52-inch Potter offset press.
By 1925, sales exceeded $1 million. Western added another subsidiary, the Western Playing Card Company
after purchasing the Sheffer
Playing Card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...
Company.
In 1929, Western purchased a Chicago stationery and greeting card manufacturer, Stationer's Engraving Company.
Another subsidiary was K.K. Publications, named after
Kay Kamen, manager of character merchandising at
Walt Disney Studios from 1933 to 1949. K.K. Publications became defunct during the mid/late 1960s.
1930s
During the
Great Depression between 1929 and 1933, Western introduced new products: The Whitman jigsaw puzzle became very popular during this period as did a new series of books called
Big Little Books. Brought out in 1932, the 10-cent Big Little Books became very popular with people looking for inexpensive entertainment. The first Big Little Book was ''The Adventures of Dick Tracy.''
Western won exclusive book rights to all
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
licensed characters in 1933, and in 1934 established an eastern printing plant at the former
Fiat factory site in
Poughkeepsie
Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsie ...
, New York.
The printing plant allowed a close relationship to develop with the publishers
Dell Publishing Company and
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...
, Inc. From 1938 to 1962 Dell Publishing and Western produced
color comic books featuring many of Western's licensed characters. In 1938, the first joint effort between Western and Simon & Schuster, ''A Children's History,'' was published.
In the 1930s, Western formed the
Artists and Writers Guild Inc., located in New York City, to develop new children's books. Western expanded to the West Coast in the early 1940s, opening an office in Beverly Hills to make it easier to do business with studios that owned the characters the company licensed.
1940s
Georges Duplaix Georges may refer to:
Places
*Georges River, New South Wales, Australia
*Georges Quay (Dublin)
*Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
Other uses
* Georges (name)
* ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas
* "Georges" (song), a 197 ...
replaced Sam Lowe as head of the Artists and Writers Guild in 1940 when Lowe left the company.
Dick Simon
Richard Raymond Simon (born September 21, 1933) is retired American auto racing driver and racing team owner. Simon drove Indy cars in USAC and CART, and made 17 starts at the Indianapolis 500. At the 1988 Indianapolis 500, Simon set a record ...
, then head of Simon & Schuster, mentioned to Duplaix that he was interested in any new ideas for children's books.
Duplaix had the idea to produce a colorful, more durable and affordable children's book than those being published at that time which sold for $2 to $3. With the help of Lucile Olge, also working at the Guild, Duplaix contacted Albert Leventhal, a vice president and sales manager at Simon & Schuster, and
Leon Shimkin
Leon Shimkin (April 7, 1907 – May 25, 1988) was an American businessman who helped to build Simon & Schuster into a major publishing company. Shimkin was responsible for many self-help bestsellers turning Dale Carnegie's lectures into t ...
, also at Simon & Schuster, with his idea. The group decided to publish twelve titles for simultaneous release in what was to be called the
Little Golden Books
Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942.
''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...
Series. Each book would have forty-two pages, twenty-eight printed in two-color, and fourteen in four-color. The books would be staple-bound. The group originally discussed a 50-cent price for the books, but Western did not want to compete with other 50-cent books already on the market. The group calculated that if the print run for each title was 50,000 copies instead of 25,000, the books could be sold for 25 cents each. In September 1942, the first 12 titles were printed and released to stores in October.
Three editions totaling 1.5 million books sold out within five months of publication in 1942.
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 opposing ...
, Western had a contract with the
U.S. Army Map Service to produce maps for soldiers in the field and it also manufactured books and
playing card
A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...
s which were sent overseas.
In 1945, Western acquired another major printing plant, Wolff Printing Company of St. Louis.
1950s
Guild Press, Inc., a publisher of Catholic books, religious greeting cards, and gift wrap, was purchased in the early 1950s. In 1955, a new specialty printing plant was built in
Hannibal, Missouri
Hannibal is a city along the Mississippi River in Marion and Ralls counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,312, making it the largest city in Marion County. The bulk of the city is in Mar ...
. Western achieved sales of $63 million in 1957, the year of its 50th anniversary. In the same year the company acquired Kable Printing Company, a large
rotogravure
Rotogravure (or gravure for short) is a type of intaglio printing process, which involves engraving the image onto an image carrier. In gravure printing, the image is engraved onto a cylinder because, like offset printing and flexography, it ...
magazine printer.
With partners Dell and Simon & Schuster, the company sponsored the Story Book Shop on
Main Street, U.S.A.
Main Street, U.S.A. is the first "themed land" inside the main entrance of the many theme parks operated or licensed by The Walt Disney Company around the world. Main Street, U.S.A. is themed to resemble American small towns during the early 20t ...
, in
Disneyland
Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...
which opened on July 17, 1955, and closed April 1, 1995. In addition it was one of the initial investors in the park by virtue of being a part-owner of
Disneyland, Inc.
Disneyland, Inc. (DLI) was a corporation formed to finance, build and run Disneyland park in Anaheim, California.
History
Start up
Disneyland, Inc. was incorporated in the State of California in 1951 by Walt Disney. A companion company owned on ...
Western and
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.
History
Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing ...
, Inc. formed Golden Press, Inc. at the end of 1958 following their joint purchase of all Golden Book properties from Simon and Schuster. The arrangement called for Western to continue to create and manufacture Golden Books which Pocket Books would promote, sell, and distribute. By 1959, over 150 Little Golden Book titles had sold at least a million copies, and more than 400 of the 1,000-plus Golden Book titles were in print in thirteen languages.
1960s
The 16-volume ''
Golden Book Encyclopedia'', published in 1960, enjoyed sales of 60 million copies in two years, while sales of Golden Press books reached almost $39 million in 1960.
In the same year, the name Western Publishing Company was adopted and common stock was issued with some eighty percent owned by management or employees. At this point Western had the distinction of being the largest creator and publisher of children's books, the largest producer/distributor of children's games made from paper or paper products, and the largest creator/producer of comic books. Western had operated at a profit every year since 1907, paid a dividend every year since 1934, and seen net sales increase from $40.5 million in 1950 to $123.8 million in 1960. During the same period, net profit had increased from $3.1 million to $7.4 million.
In 1961, Western opened another printing plant, in
Cambridge, Maryland
Cambridge is a city in Dorchester County, Maryland, United States. The population was 13,096 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Dorchester County and the county's largest municipality. Cambridge is the fourth most populous city in Mary ...
, and in 1970 acquired several companies, including Odyssey Press, a high school and college textbook publisher.
By 1963, 65 percent of Western's total revenues derived from juvenile literature (including games), 25 percent from commercial printing, and 10 percent from books produced for other publishers and miscellaneous activities. Whitman accounted for 35 percent of the company's revenue. The company's half-share in Golden Press, Inc. was a problem. It lost money in 1961 and 1962, and, in 1963, its sales sagged from $32.9 million the previous year to $22.5 million. Western bought Pocket Books' half-share in Golden Press in 1964 with 276,750 shares of its common stock valued at nearly $7.4 million. Odyssey took over the sales and distribution of adult Golden Books; Western did the same for children's titles.
Western Printing & Lithographing, the largest company unit, accounted for about 40 percent of sales in 1965. Artists & Writers Press, Inc., one of fourteen active subsidiaries, created books for publishers and commercial customers including Golden Books,
Betty Crocker cookbooks, the Arts of Mankind series for Golden Press, and the four-volume ''Harper Encyclopedia of Science'' for Harper & Row. Capitol Publishing, purchased in 1961, originated and produced educational materials and games for children, as well as toys and novelty products. The Kable Printing division produced over 125,000 monthly magazines, other periodicals, and catalogs. The Watkins-Strathmore Co., acquired in 1957, produced children's books and games, including Magic Slate. Meanwhile, Whitman published nearly every type of juvenile and adolescent books,
numismatic books, coin cards, a wide variety of games, playing cards, crayons, and gift wrap. Western also had a Canadian subsidiary (established in 1959) and a French company (established in 1960).
In 1967, the Justice Department charged Golden Press and seventeen other publishers with illegally fixing prices of library editions of children's books. Each agreed to the terms of a
consent judgment forbidding them from submitting rigged bids or conspiring with wholesalers to fix prices of sales to schools, libraries, or government agencies. Western purchased Skil-Craft Playthings, Inc., a leader in craft kits and a manufacturer of laboratory science sets for children based in Chicago, for 100,000 shares of common stock in 1968.
1970s
In 1970, Western's sales reached $171.5 million but net profit fell to $3.9 million caused by the acquisition of a computerized typesetting facility and an eleven-week strike. As a result, the Hannibal plant was closed and the number of employees was reduced by 1,500 in mid-1974. Profits rose that year to $10.1 million; sales topped $215 million. In 1971 Western entered into an agreement with
Children's Television Workshop to produce Golden Books featuring
the Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...
. In 1974, Dell Publishing Company signed a ten-year printing contract with Western worth more than $50 million. That same year construction began on a distribution and game-and-puzzle assembly center in
Fayetteville, North Carolina.
Direct marketing accounted for twenty-five percent of Western's consumer product sales by 1976. This represented seventy percent of total sales. Driven by products such as the Betty Crocker Recipe Card Program, a monthly mailing of recipe cards to millions of customers, sales grew to $237.3 million in 1976 with net income of $10.8 million. In 1979, Western ceased to be an independent company when
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
Inc. purchased the company
for $120.8 million in a cash/stock deal.
By the late 1970s, Western was one of the largest commercial printers in the United States. It had four manufacturing plants and two distribution centers between Kansas and Maryland. It boasted of installing some of the first heatset web
offset printing presses in the US. As well, Western had the largest offset, sheet-fed presses, some exceeding 78 inches wide, printing in five colors, and one of the largest
bindery
Bindery refers to a studio, workshop or factory where sheets of (usually) paper are fastened together to make books, but also where gold and other decorative elements are added to the exterior of books, where boxes or slipcases for books are made ...
operations in the United States. Among other things, it printed
mass-market paperback
A paperback (softcover, softback) book is one with a thick paper or paperboard cover, and often held together with glue rather than stitches or staples. In contrast, hardcover (hardback) books are bound with cardboard covered with cloth, lea ...
books under contract, and was the primary manufacturer and distributor of the board game
Trivial Pursuit
''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures gam ...
, as well as other tabletop games. It developed and printed specialty cookbooks, premiums, and material for many
Fortune 500 clients. At one time, Western printed almost everything from "business cards to billboards", and employed over 2500 full-time employees.
1980s
1980 saw the launch of the Sesame Street Book Club and the relocation of the Skil-Craft manufacturing plant from Chicago to Fayetteville. Sales climbed to $278 million in 1981.
Mattel's investment in Western soon soured. In fiscal 1983 (ending January 31, 1983) Western had sales of $246 million with an operating loss of $2.4 million after a $7.5 million charge relating to closing the Poughkeepsie printing plant. Mattel had its own financial issues and, strapped for cash, sold Western in December 1983 to Richard A. Bernstein, a New York City real estate investor, for $75 million plus the assumption of certain liabilities later thought to be $40 million. Bernstein reincorporated the firm as the Western Publishing Group; Western Publishing Co., now a subsidiary, continued to be based in Racine.
[
Bernstein oversaw the introduction of eight ]videocassettes
Videotape is magnetic tape used for storing video and usually Sound recording and reproduction, sound in addition. Information stored can be in the form of either an analog signal, analog or Digital signal (signal processing), digital signal. Vi ...
that featured Golden Books characters in 1985. A total of 2.5 million were shipped. Western developed and produced games under license for Tonka
Tonka is an American producer of toy trucks. The company is known for making steel toy models of construction type trucks and machinery. Maisto International, which makes diecast vehicles, acquired the rights to use the Tonka name in a line of ...
and Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
, and developed storybooks containing company logos as promotional items; Bernstein referred to this as "sponsored publishing". In 1986, Penn Corporation, which produced party paper and advertising specialities, was purchased for $108 million.
Bernstein took Western public in April 1986 and made more than $70 million on his original $5 million investment; he retained twenty-one percent of the stock. The company continued to prosper. For the fiscal year ending January 31, 1989, sales were $551 million produced earnings of nearly $30 million.
1990s
In 1990, sales dropped to $508 million and earnings fell to $23 million. Analysts attributed some of this decline to falling sales of Pictionary
''Pictionary'' (, ) is a charades-inspired word-guessing game invented by Robert Angel with graphic design by Gary Everson and first published in 1985 by Angel Games Inc. Angel Games licensed Pictionary to Western Publishing. Hasbro purchase ...
, a popular Western board game introduced in 1985. Sales fell from $118 million to $42 million. In fiscal 1991 (ending January 31, 1991) sales had declined to $491 million with earnings of only $8 million. By late 1991, Western's share price had dropped to $9 from a high of $28.
In 1992, Western celebrated the 50th anniversary of the introduction of Little Golden Books publishing a boxed set of the twelve original titles for $19.95. Special editions of all-time favorites, and new books by popular artists and illustrators of children's books were also published to mark the occasion. The Golden Little Nugget Book line was introduced and sold more than 1.9 million units in six months. Golden management decided to publish trade books for children for the first time in 1993. These titles were published under the imprint Artists and Writers Guild Books and sold in general book and toy stores.
Western's net sales recovered in fiscal 1992 to $552.4 million with net income of $13.7 million, and $649.1 million with $17.5 million net income in 1993. In 1993, Western decided to close the advertising specialty division and took a $21.8 million writedown. A further $10 million was spent setting up and running bookstores in Toys "R" Us
Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loc ...
stores; the company decided ultimately to run the departments itself. Bernstein wanted to sell Western's products in discount stores and supermarket and drugstore chains and spent $20 million to do so. The school book club, started in 1990, also lost money. The net effect was a $55.8 million loss on sales of $613.5 million for fiscal 1994 (ending January 1994).
Three Golden Books Showcase Store locations were opened, which featured only Western Publishing products. The first was opened in the Woodfield Mall
Woodfield Mall is a shopping mall located in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois, United States, at the intersection of Golf Road and Interstate 290. The mall is the largest shopping mall in the state of Illinois, the second la ...
in Schaumburg, Illinois
Schaumburg ( ) is a village mostly in Cook County and partly in DuPage County in northeastern Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 Census, the population was 78,723. Schaumburg is around northwest of the Chicago Loop and northwest of O'Hare ...
, in November 1992; the second in CityWalk Center outside Universal Studios Hollywood
Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County, California. About 70% of the studio lies within the unincorporated county island known as Universal City while the rest lies w ...
during June 1993; and the third store was opened in Rockefeller Center
Rockefeller Center is a large complex consisting of 19 commercial buildings covering between 48th Street and 51st Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span th ...
in New York City during April 1994.[ They have all since closed. By the mid-1990s, most of its printing plants were closed and its print operations consolidated in Racine.
These losses raised Western's debt to $250 million; its negative cash flow caused its bonds to be downgraded to junk status. Unable to sell the company, Bernstein began a major restructuring of Western. Hasbro Inc. purchased the games and puzzles division for $105 million and the Fayetteville distribution center which handled them was put up for sale. Troll purchased the school book club division for $4.3 million. Ritepoint and Adtrend, parts of Penn Corporation's advertising specialty division, were sold as was its direct-marketing continuity-club business. Staff was reduced by 28 percent. Bernstein continued the concept of developing book sections within stores and introduced 100 Just For Kids sections in ]Walmart
Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...
locations which sold video and music along with books.
Western lost $11.6 million on revenues of $303.9 million during the first three quarters of 1994. Its common stock, which had traded as high as $21 a share in 1993, had fallen to below $10 in April 1995. No dividend had been paid since the company had been acquired by Bernstein from Mattel in 1984. At this point he owned or controlled nearly 20 percent of the common stock, the Gabelli Group held about 17 percent, and Prudential Insurance Company of America owned 8.6 percent. Long-term debt was $249.8 million.
By mid-1996, under the supervision of ex-Simon & Schuster executive Richard E. Snyder, it was renamed Golden Books Family Entertainment[ and focused on publishing children's books. Bernstein resigned all his positions at the company but retained his stock. It sold the adult books (]Golden Guide
The Golden Guides, originally Golden Nature Guides, were a series of 160-page, pocket-sized books created by Western Publishing and published under their "Golden Press" line (primarily a children's book imprint) from 1949. Edited by Herbert S. Zim ...
) to St. Martin's Press
St. Martin's Press is a book publisher headquartered in Manhattan, New York City, in the Equitable Building. St. Martin's Press is considered one of the largest English-language publishers, bringing to the public some 700 titles a year under si ...
in 1999.
2000s
In June 2001, DIC Entertainment
DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions), branded as The Incredible World of DIC, was an international film and television production com ...
announced they would purchase Golden Books Family Entertainment for $170 Million and send them out of bankruptcy. However, DIC would pass off the purchase due to high costs and instead Golden Books Family Entertainment was eventually acquired jointly by Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...
, owner of the catalog of United Productions of America
United Productions of America, better known as UPA, was an American animation studio active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Beginning with industrial and World War II training films, UPA eventually produced theatrical shorts for Columbia Picture ...
(UPA) and book publisher Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
in a bankruptcy auction for the $84.4 million on August 16, 2001. In turn, Random House, and Classic Media gained ownership of Golden Books' entertainment catalog (including the family entertainment catalog of Broadway Video
Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to ...
which includes the pre-1974 library of Rankin/Bass Productions and the library of Total Television
Total Television was an American animation studio founded in 1959 by Buck Biggers, Chester "Chet" Stover,p.478 Erickson,Hal ''Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 2003'' McFarland & Co., 2005 Joe Harris, and Trea ...
) as well as production, licensing and merchandising rights for Golden Books' characters and the Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...
and Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...
catalogs, while Random House gained Golden Books' book publishing properties.[
The H. E. Harris stamp and coin company bought Whitman Coin Products from St. Martin's Press in 2003 and renamed it Whitman Publishing.
On July 23, 2012, Classic Media was acquired by DreamWorks Animation for $155 million and renamed ]DreamWorks Classics
Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...
. On July 1, 2013, Random House merged with the Penguin Group
Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initi ...
, forming a new company called Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House.
On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase ...
. In April 2016, the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation (owner of DreamWorks Classics) by NBCUniversal
NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States.
NBCUniversal is primaril ...
was announced.
Historian Michael Barrier has lamented the apparent loss of Western's business records for future use by researchers.
Divisions
Comic books
With licenses for characters from Walt Disney Productions
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...
, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...
, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Walter Lantz Studio
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios.
The studio was originally formed as Universal Cartoon Studios on the initiative o ...
, Western produced comics based on these characters, as well as original works. The editorial staff at the West Coast office over the years included: Eleanor Packer, Alice Cobb, Chase Craig
Wingate Chase Craig (August 28, 1910 – December 2, 2001) was an American writer-cartoonist who worked principally on comic strips and comic books. From the mid-1940s to mid-1970s he was a prolific editor and scripter for Western Publishing' ...
, Zetta Devoe, Del Connell and Bill Spicer. Bernie Zuber was an editorial artist, a position similar to that of a production artist
A production artist is a technical and creative position in a creative profession. The job title originated at advertising agencies, assigning what was known as paste-up work (now prepress production) to the position. Production artists work clos ...
, from 1957 until 1982. Oskar Lebeck
Oskar Lebeck (August 30, 1903 – December 20, 1966) was a Scenic design, stage designer and an illustrator, writer and editor (mostly of children's literature) who is best known for his role in establishing Dell Comics during the 1930s and 1940s ...
, Matt Murphy and Wally Green are among those who oversaw the East Coast office.
From 1938 to 1962, Western's properties were published under a partnership with Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...
, which also handled the distribution and financing of the comic books. In 1962, Western ended this partnership and published comics itself, establishing the imprint Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was originally an imprint of American company Western Publishing, created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated this way from 1962 to 1984. Currently, Gold Key Comics is owned b ...
. As Murphy explained the split:
This imprint continued until the late 1970s, after which newsstand distribution was discontinued in favor of distribution to toy stores under the "Whitman Comics" banner. The company stopped publishing comics in 1984, and all of its licenses have since gone to other publishers. Many of these new licensees have included among their offerings reprints of stories originally published by Western.
Prior to 1962, in addition to comics published through Dell, Western published some comics under its own name, particularly giveaways such as ''March of Comics ''March of Comics'' was a comic book series published by Western Publishing. 488 issues were published from 1946 to 1982. Comic book writer Mark Evanier has described it as "...one of the most widely-circulated comic books in the history of mankind ...
'' and the annual kite safety title (which featured an array of licensed characters) published over a span of 32 years for power utility companies. Both series had print runs in the hundreds of thousands.
In the 1990s, the Western/Gold Key characters Magnus
Magnus, meaning "Great" in Latin, was used as cognomen of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in the first century BC. The best-known use of the name during the Roman Empire is for the fourth-century Western Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus. The name gained wid ...
, Turok
Turok is a fictional character who first appeared in American comic books published by Western Publishing through licensee Dell Comics. He first appeared in ''Four Color Comics'' #596 (October/November 1954). After a second ''Four Color'' appear ...
and Dr. Solar were licensed to Valiant Comics
Valiant Comics is an American comic books, comic book publisher. The company was founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter along with lawyer and businessman Steven Massarsky. In 1994, the company was sold to Acclaim E ...
, who published modified versions of the characters to great success. However, by the mid-1990s, Valiant's sales had slumped due to the decade's speculative boom collapsing, and the company ceased publishing in 1999.
In 2004, Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops know ...
began reprinting some of Western's original comic book properties, which by then were owned by Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
, along with Tarzan
Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...
from the Jesse Marsh era. In 2009, the company announced plans to launch new versions of various Gold Key characters, with former Valiant editor-in-chief Jim Shooter
James Shooter (born September 27, 1951) is an American writer, editor and publisher for various comic books. He started professionally in the medium at the age of 14, and he is most notable for his successful and controversial run as Marvel Comic ...
as head writer.
Children's books
Beginning in the 1920s and 1930s, Western published a wide range of children's books (puzzle books, coloring books, Tell-a-Tale books, Big Little Books), mostly under the Golden Books and Whitman Publishing brand names. The Little Golden Books
Little Golden Books is a series of children's books, published since 1942.
''The Poky Little Puppy'', the eighth release in the series, is the top-selling children's book of all time in the United States.. Many other Little Golden Books have b ...
was a very popular series. Lucille Ogle helped develop the format for these low-priced books, which told simple stories and were among the first children's books with full-color illustrations. The first was published in 1942. Beginning as the "Whitman Famous Classics", and later renamed the "Golden Press" imprint, Western published a series of (public domain) classics, such as '' Little Women,'' ''Little Men
''Little Men,'' or ''Life at Plumfield with Jo's Boys,'' is a children's novel by American author Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888), which was first published in 1871 by Roberts Brothers. The book reprises characters from her 1868–69 two-volume ...
,'' ''Black Beauty
''Black Beauty: His Grooms and Companions, the Autobiography of a Horse'' is an 1877 novel by English author Anna Sewell. It was composed in the last years of her life, during which she was bedridden and seriously ill.Merriam-Webster (1995). ...
'' and ''Heidi
''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' (german: Heidis Lehr- und Wanderjahre) and ''Heidi: How She Use ...
''.
In the late 1960s, Golden Books were bound in the Goldencraft reinforced library bindings and sold to schools and libraries in the United States by a group of independent sales representatives. The library bound books were very popular with the schools and libraries. Offices were set up in Wayne, New Jersey, and the reinforced library books were warehoused in Wayne and distributed from that location. There were about 80 sales representatives in the United States under the general manager, Roy Spahr.
Older children's literature
From the 1940s to the 1980s, Western published several series of books for older children and young teenagers, initially under its Whitman line. Girls' mystery series included Trixie Belden
Trixie Belden is the title character in a series of "detective" mysteries written between 1948 and 1986. The first six books were written by Julie Campbell Tatham, who also wrote the Ginny Gordon series; the stories were then continued by variou ...
, Ginny Gordon
Ginny Gordon is the main character in a series of five mystery books for adolescent girls published by the Whitman Publishing
Whitman Publishing is an American book publishing company which started as a subsidiary of the Western Printing & Lit ...
, Donna Parker, Meg Duncan and Trudy Phillips. Boys' series included the Walton Boys, Power Boys, Brains Benton, and Troy Nesbit mysteries. The series, published from the 1950s to the 1970s, also included a number of titles licensed from popular movies and television shows: '' Lassie,'' ''The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
''The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin'' is an American children's television series in the Western genre that aired from October 1954 to May 1959 on the ABC television network. In all, 164 episodes aired. The show starred Lee Aaker as Rusty, a boy o ...
'', many television Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
, and Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
's ''Spin and Marty
''Spin and Marty'' is a series of television shorts that aired as part of ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' show of the mid-1950s, produced by Walt Disney and broadcast on the ABC network in the United States. There were three serials in all, set at the ...
'' and ''Annette'' (from the serial featuring Annette Funicello that aired on ''The Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised ...
''. The company was also the original American publisher of ''The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' (french: Les Aventures de Tintin ) is a series of 24 ''bande dessinée'' albums created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comi ...
'', issuing six titles in English translation in 1959 and 1960, before discontinuing further releases because of what were considered disappointing sales.
Magazines
In 1937, Western, at the request of Kay Kamen (who oversaw licensing and marketing at Disney), assumed production of the newsstand version of ''Mickey Mouse Magazine
''Mickey Mouse Magazine'' is an American Disney comics publication that preceded the popular 1940 anthology comic book ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories''. There were three versions of the title – two promotional giveaway magazines published f ...
'', which, in October 1940, was succeeded by the comic book ''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
''Walt Disney's Comics and Stories'', sometimes abbreviated ''WDC&S'', is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chi ...
''. 1936-1954 Story Parade, Inc. (a Western subsidiary) published ''Story Parade: A Magazine for Boys and Girls'' with a children's literature orientation. Then in late 1955, Western initiated ''Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club Magazine'' with content produced by Disney Studio staff members. It was intended to promote ''The Mickey Mouse Club
''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised ...
'' television series. Eventually the name was changed to ''Walt Disney's Magazine'' and the focus shifted to contemporary Disney movie and television productions. In a similar vein, they printed Gulf Oil
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...
's ''Wonderful World of Disney'' premium (1969-1970) which was edited by Disney's George Sherman.[Cathy Sherman Freeman. ''A Disney Childhood: Comic Books to Sailing Ships''. Duncan, OK: BearManor Media, 2012.] During the 1960s, Western published ''The Golden Magazine for Boys and Girls'' with Cracky the Parrot as its mascot.
Miscellaneous
For many years Golden Press was publisher of Betty Crocker cookbooks. Often these were issued in a three-ring binder format so recipe pages could be removed for easy consultation while cooking. Western produced games such as Trivial Pursuit
''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures gam ...
and Pictionary
''Pictionary'' (, ) is a charades-inspired word-guessing game invented by Robert Angel with graphic design by Gary Everson and first published in 1985 by Angel Games Inc. Angel Games licensed Pictionary to Western Publishing. Hasbro purchase ...
until Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...
bought that division in 1994. The company published the children's science books '' The World of Science'' and '' The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments'', while the Golden Guide
The Golden Guides, originally Golden Nature Guides, were a series of 160-page, pocket-sized books created by Western Publishing and published under their "Golden Press" line (primarily a children's book imprint) from 1949. Edited by Herbert S. Zim ...
nature guides were published with the Golden Press name.
Slogans and taglines
* I grew up with Golden Books! (1980s)
* Silence isn't Golden. Reading to your child is. (1997)
Trademarks
Western Publishing Company Inc. owned dozens of trademarks
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from othe ...
over the years, many of which have now expired. A sampling of Western's trademarks follows. Some like "Golden" for example were registered multiple times for different uses (separated by "/"). Refer to the website cited for a complete listing of all trademarks.
*FIRST FUN - Children's Workbooks
*MIRROR MANIA - Equipment Sold as a Unit for Playing a Board Game
*A GOLDEN BLOCK BOOK - Children's Miniature Books
*POP-UP GAME - Equipment Sold as a Unit for Playing a Board Type Parlor Game
*V.I.P. - Jigsaw Puzzles
*IMAGE - Coloring Books / Juvenile Books / Jigsaw Puzzles / Children's Books / Pre-recorded Audio Tape Cassettes
*GOLDEN - Coloring Books / Retail Mail-Order Services in the Field of Housewares, Giftwares, and Personal Care Products / Jigsaw Puzzles / Crayons / Equipment Sold As Units For the Purpose of Playing Board or Parlor Games / Juvenile Books-Namely, Storybooks, Picture Books, Preschool and School Activity Books, Coloring Books and Painting Books...
*GOLDEN PRESS SHOPPER'S SERVICE - Retail Mail Order Services in the Field of Books
*DRIVE AWAY - Children's Books
*SPONSORED PUBLISHING - Advertising, Marketing, and Publishing Services Offered to Clients for the Purpose of Enabling Such Clients to Promote the...
*SP - Promoting the Goods and Services of Others by Producing and Distributing Specialty Products
*PICTURE PARADE - Illustrated Books for Children
*DOODLE BUG - Children's Books
*PAINT WITH WATER - Children's Paint Books
*A GOLDEN MELODY BOOK - Children's Books which Emit an Electronically Produced Melody
*GOLDEN MELODY - Children's Books which Emit an Electronically Produced Melody
*KING'S COURT - Equipment Sold as a Unit for Playing a Card Game
*PRETTY AS A PICTURE - Equipment Sold in Units for the Purpose of Playing a Board- or Parlor-Type Game
*GOLDEN STEP AHEAD - Educational, Color-Illustrated Workbooks Intended to Be Used by Children of Preschool and Elementary School Age in the Classroom.../ Children's Educational Workbooks Intended for Use in School or Home / Pre-Recorded Audio Tape Cassettes Packaged in Combination with Children's Workbooks and Sold as Units in the Form of Combination...
*IT ACTUALLY PLAYS MUSIC – Children's Books Which Emit an Electronically Produced Melody
*STEP AHEAD - Children's Printed Educational Flash Cards
*MAGIC SLATE - Toy and Amusement Apparatus for Temporarily Receiving Written Impressions
*GOLDEN MINIATURE - Jigsaw Puzzles
*WHITMAN CLASSIC – Coin Folders, Namely, Hinged Books or Fold-Out Albums Intended for Storage and Display of Coins and Coin Collections
*A GOLDEN SUPER ADVENTURE BOOK – A Series of Children's Books
*A GOLDEN THINKABOUT BOOK – A Series of Children's Books
References
External links
Golden Books official website
"At Western: It's Fun, Games And Profit". ''Milwaukee Sentinel'' June 3, 1974
* ''The Westerner'' Western Publishing House organ
A house organ (also variously known an in-house magazine, in-house publication, house journal, shop paper, plant paper, or employee magazine) is a magazine or periodical
A periodical literature (also called a periodical publication or simp ...
, #194 (Jan. 1966) Golden Anniversary Issue; v.3 #2 (Winter 1982), Commemorative Issu
"The Comic World"
by Charles Beaumont
Charles Beaumont (January 2, 1929 – February 21, 1967) was an American author of speculative fiction, including short stories in the horror and science fiction subgenres.Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, "Beaumont, Charles" in David Pringle, ed., '' ...
, ''Fortnight'' May 1955.
Trademarks Owned by Western Publishing Company
{{Authority control
DreamWorks Classics
Western Publishing
American companies established in 1907
American companies disestablished in 2001
Defunct publishing companies of the United States
Children's book publishers
Comic book publishing companies of the United States
Magazine publishing companies of the United States
Companies based in Racine, Wisconsin
Publishing companies established in 1907
Publishing companies disestablished in 2001
1907 establishments in Wisconsin
2001 disestablishments in Wisconsin
Defunct companies based in Wisconsin
Disney comics publishers
Penguin Random House
Former Mattel subsidiaries