Norman W. Marsh

Norman W. Marsh (1936)

Norman Winfield Marsh[1] (February 25, 1898 or 1899 [sources differ] – February 10, 1980)[1][2][3] was an American cartoonist and comic-strip creator known for his character Dan Dunn, a hardboiled detective. [4]

Biography

Marsh was born in Waukegan, Illinois,[5] the son of Ernest Morrell Marsh and Julia Inez Craver.[1]

Marsh worked as agent for the Secret Service for about five years, and then as a detective in the Chicago police.[6][7][8]

Marsh was drafted into the military in 1942,[9] during World War II, and retired at the rank of Captain.[10]

Afterward, he moved to Los Angeles.[10] He was part of a veterans group called the Studio City Barracks, named after the neighborhood where he lived and worked.[11]

Marsh had a wife named Nannie Louella Cash (1895–1983). They married on February 25, 1920.[12][5]

He supported the Republican Party.[13]

Writing Career

Detective Dan: Secret Operative 48 (May 1933).

Norman Marsh's career as a cartoonist began c. 1922.[13] He created the hardboiled detective character Dan Dunn in the proto-comic book Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 (May 12, 1933).[14][15][16] The book contained all-original stories as opposed to reprinted newspaper strips. Comics historian Don Markstein notes that this periodical and the only two others from this publisher were pioneering in that they contained "non-reprinted comics in 1933", though these periodicals were not "in modern comic book format. Theirs were done as tabloids"[15] with Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 measuring either 9 1/2 x 12-inches[17] or 10 x 13-inches[18] (sources differ), with black-and-white newsprint pages and a three-color cardboard cover.[17]

The character appeared primarily in the newspaper comic strip Dan Dunn, syndicated by Publishers Syndicate beginning Monday, September 25, 1933, with a Sunday page added soon afterward. The strip, which ran through Sunday, October 3, 1943, eventually would appear in approximately 135 papers.[15] Dan Dunn strips were reprinted in comic books, through publisher Eastern Color's Famous Funnies, Dell Comics' The Funnies and Red Ryder Comics, and Western Publishing's Crackajack Funnies from 1935 to 1943.[19]

Following the end of Dan Dunn, Marsh created another hardboiled-detective strip, Hunter Keene, for King Features Syndicate, which ran daily and not Sunday from April 15, 1946, to April 12, 1947.[20] Following this was Danny Hale, about "a kid frontiersman who found himself tagging along with revolutionary war heroes, accompanying the Lewis and Clark expedition, and generally being in the right place at the right time (even if those times were widely separated)", according to comics historian Allan Holtz.[21] King Features syndicated it beginning October 27, 1947, and after three years, with the syndicate prepared to end it, Marsh began self-syndicating the strip starting January 15, 1951 episode. A year later, he changed the title to Dan'l Hale and aged the character to a young man. The strip ended on October 13, 1962.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Norman Winfield Marsh". California Death Index, 1940-1997. Retrieved May 20, 2018 – via FamilySearch.org. Gives dates February 25, 1898 - February 10, 1980.
  2. ↑ "Norman Marsh". United States Social Security Death Index. Retrieved May 20, 2018 – via FamilySearch.org. Gives dates February 25, 1899 - February 1980, the latter with month and year only.
  3. ↑ The gravestone of Capt Norman W. Marsh in the Los Angeles National Cemetery gives the birth year as 1898. Via ancestry.com.
  4. ↑ https://www.lambiek.net/artists/m/marsh_n.htm
  5. 1 2 Marriage registration of Norman W. Marsh and Nannie Louella Cash. Via wvculture.org
  6. ↑ "Cartoonist Now In Service Tells About Comics". The Honolulu Advertiser. 28 May 1943.
    "Lt. Marsh, a former federal agent and later sleuth in the Chicago police department..."
  7. ↑ "Ex-Secret Service Man Is Creators Of Dan Dunn". The Boston Globe. 4 Jan 1936.
    "Formerly connected with the United States Secret Service, Mr Marsh draws upon a wealth of date from his own experience."
  8. ↑ "Creator of Dan Dunn Got Material as Federal Sleuth". The Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. 4 Dec 1936.
    "Mr. Marsh was so tickled with the dangerous work [of a US Treasury Department agent] that he stuck with it for five years."
  9. ↑ "Norman Marsh". Lambiek Comiclopedia. Retrieved May 5, 2018. Note: Cite gives life years as 1901-1981, contrary to dates given by the California Death Index and the U.S. Social Security Death Index.
  10. 1 2 Haldeman, Bob (October 13, 1962). "To Captain Norman W. Marsh from Haldeman, re: Cartoon Ideas". Richard Nixon Presidential Library White House Special Files Collection: Richard M. Nixon's Returned Materials Collection, 1969-1974 Series: Returned White House Special Files, 1/1969 - 8/1974 File Unit: WHSF: Returned, 54-2. Retrieved May 20, 2018 – via U.S National Archives Catalog. Captain Norman W. Marsh, 3820 Buena Park Drive, Studio City, California
  11. ↑ Forgotten! 1917-1918: Presenting the Studio City Barracks Resolution at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library White House Special Files Collection
  12. ↑ Via ancestry.com
  13. 1 2 "From Norman Marsh to Farrington, re: Letter 4/20 - editorial cartoons. 1 page." at Richard Nixon Presidential Library White House Special Files Collection. April 23, 1962. Marsh Features Syndicate letterhead. "I am a Republican and would like to see Nixon elected. ... My outline was based on 40 years of successful experience as a cartoonist and newspaper feature syndicate."
  14. ↑ Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 was copyrighted on May 12, 1933. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B] Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series. United States Library of Congress. 1933. p. 13,978.
  15. 1 2 3 Dan Dunn at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived 2012-04-13 at WebCite from the original on April 14, 2012.
  16. ↑ Humor Publishing Company Archived December 22, 2015, at the Wayback Machine. at the Grand Comics Database.
  17. 1 2 Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48 at the Grand Comics Database.
  18. ↑ Coville, James. "Newsstand Period 1922 - 1955". TheComicBooks.com. Archived from the original on June 3, 2016. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  19. ↑ Norman Marsh at the Grand Comics Database.
  20. ↑ Holtz, Allan (July 14, 2009). "Obscurity of the Day: Hunter Keene". Stripper's Guide. Archived from the original on October 12, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
  21. 1 2 Holtz, Allan (August 13, 2008). "Obscurity of the Day: Danny Hale". Stripper's Guide. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. Retrieved May 20, 2018.
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