by Andrew Leal.

Though Walt Kelly is well remembered for his accomplishments in the field of comics, it s worth noting that he actually began his career as an animator, and this may explain the fact that his Pogo strips have so much life, and that his characters seem so perfectly suited to animation (though thus far the results of the few attempts in that regard have been mixed at best.)

Born Walter Crawford Kelly in Philadelphia, Kelly s family soon moved to Bridgeport, Connectict, hometown of P. T. Barnum (this fact no doubt inspired the Pogo character P. T. Bridgeport.) Like many of those who go on to success in animation or the comics, Walt Kelly was an admirer of the funny pages, particularly Bud Fisher's Mutt and Jeff. Experiencing a paralysis in his left side for two years, Kelly turned his interest towards drawing, and while in high school, became a contributor to the local daily paper the Bridgeport Post. He eventually became an editorial cartoonist, and from there moved on to become an investigator for the city welfare department. He drew children's pages for National Comics.

In 1936, he moved to California to train as an animator. During this time, he became an assistant animator to Ward Kimball, working on Pinocchio and other projects, and the closest friend Kimball had at the studio. The pair played practical jokes together, and along with Fred Moore, once went to theatres as part of a promotional deal. Kimball and Moore drew Mickey Mouse and others, while Kelly told Irish jokes. Kelly also worked as a full animator, again often with Kimball, animating Bacchus and Jacchus in the Pastoral Symphony of Fantasia, and the crows in Dumbo. Kelly also animated the blustery ringmaster, notably in a silhouette sequence as he explains his dream of a pachyderm pyramid.

Then, in 1941, the strike came. Walt Kelly was just one of many animators who left during that period. However, he retained an indirect association with Disney as an artist at Dell Comics, drawing Donald Duck covers for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, and later features stories as well, even after the creation of Pogo. He also worked on Raggedy Ann and Andy, Our Gang, and Looney Tunes, and his own titles, Fairy Tale Parade, Santa Claus Funnies, and especially Animal Parade, the first issue of which introduced the characters of Albert Alligator and Pogo Possum, at least in embryonic form. Years later, Kelly married a former ink and paint girl and future animator Selby Daley, ex-wife of animator Roger Daley.

Pogo was noted for its political satire, but also for its inventive use of language and dialect, unique use of dialogue balloons to define a character's personality, and for it's sprawling cast of distinct swamp characters. Kelly's drawing style is also rich and distinctive, while also remaining decidedly cartoonish in many ways. The strip was first adapted to animation for a TV special, Pogo's Special Birthday Special, directed by Chuck Jones. However, though Kelly co-wrote the script, the songs, provided character voices, and even animated a few scenes himself, the result was hardly to his liking. Possibly because the MGM animators were also working on a Dr. Seuss special and the feature Phantom Tollbooth at the same time, they weren't able to pay as close attention to character models and designs as Kelly did in his own strip, so in more than one instance, the characters look off. Kelly attempted to produce his own animated film to make up for this special, animating it entirely himself, but sadly died before it s completion. Widow Selby Kelly has recently begun selling video tapes of the completed footage, however.

Another attempt was the stop-motion feature Pogo for President (1984), which Selby approved of, but somehow clay seems an odd medium for a strip whose visuals relied on richly inked details and shadings, and the voice cast , including Stan Freberg, Arnold Stang, and Vincent Price, did not sound particularly Southern for the most part. Following Kelly's death in 1973, his family continued the strip for about a year, and the strip was revived later in the early 90's as Walt Kelly's Pogo. Walt Kelly's Pogo it was, though, and without Kelly, the strip was hardly the same.