Editor Murray Boltinoff had Cecil Beard give a quick bio in F&C 97, in which he identified Alpine Harper as his collaborator and noted that, having been writing comics for 20 years in '66, "by now, I think we've written for almost every comic character in the business."
I found a few of their later scripts at Gold Key by their distinctive "Ooo-hoo-hoo." From one story in it I could work out that they did the entire single issue of the time-travel sitcom tie-in It's About Time; I believe they did more stories of Scooby Doo than I've listed here, but it will take more study to be sure of the ones without "Ooo-hoo-hoo." The tiers are from the untitled first story in Fox and the Crow 90 (Feb-March/65); "A Better Mousetrap"; and "That's Snow Ghost."
Cecil Beard & Alpine Harper Scripts on
It's About Time
| Jan/67 | 1 | The Day of the Widget |
| A Lesson in Courtship | ||
| A Better Mousetrap |
on Scooby Doo
| Dec/70 | 4 | The Ghostly Sea Diver |
| Mar/71 | 5 | That's Snow Ghost |
| Aug/73 | 20 | The Fiery Hoo-Doo |
Thanks for this. I see that Inducks lists some Beard and Harper stories, including solo stories! I would personally suspect that both worked on each other's solo stories as well, but at this point, only their children might know.
ReplyDeleteI think the records might only show who handed in the script and took the check. I agree that it's just easier at this late date to figure them for a team, like Freiwald and Schaeffer.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that those scripts of Alpine Harper's that Inducks credits as solo were for overseas, as far as I can see, and never appeared in the original English, means they can't be studied for style. But Inducks' credit to Cecil Beard for one of the Mickey Mouse serials does give a starting point to start looking for more of his (or more likely his and her) Disney scripts.
They did a lot of work for Walt. His studio was around the corner from Alpine and Cecil's home studio. Their home studio was up on Fargo Street in Silver Lake, California. You can see it in the the Three Stooges episode when the wine barrels roll down the hill after falling off the truck. I spent my first years on earth from 1965 to 1975 visiting Alpine and Cecil. They were black listed, from what I gathered their work was being re-branded by the big Corporations. They moved from Fargo Street to Reserve, New Mexico in the early 1970's.
DeleteI have a letter Cecil Beard sent me when I was first researching the history of the FOX & CROW comic. In it, he said that he and his wife collaborated on a lot of things, sometimes ghosting for each other, but that he didn't think she'd worked on any FOX & CROW stories.
ReplyDeleteIn that F&C 97 text page he's quite definite: "...my wife, Alpine Harper, collaborates with me...For the past 10 years, we've been associated with Jim Davis on FOX & CROW"--so he's said different things at different times.
ReplyDeleteAll this time later, I guess people will just have to take "Beard & Harper" as shorthand for "Beard and/or Harper."
Let me dig out the letter and read it again. I may have misremembered.
ReplyDeleteBy the way: There are a few Gold Key stories around 1967-1970 that are direct lifts from FOX & CROW stories. I remember one that turned the Fox into Elmer Fudd and the Crow into Daffy Duck with only minor changes. I assume those were Harper 'n' Beard.
Yes, their work was starting to become plagiarized by the big studios. They were being blacklisted too. My mom was best friends with the family. I spent my first 10 years on earth at their house on Fargo Street in Silver Lake, California. Their home was right around the corner from Walt's home studio. (Disney)
DeleteMark, that hint just now led me to find one Fox & Crow/WB story by working in the other direction. I'd IDed "Heckleberry Screamies" in YOSEMITE SAM 6 as a Beard/Harper story, and the fact that Bugs uses a costume he has lying around reminded me of the Crow's MO. It's a rehash of the untitled first story in F&C 87; the script itself is newly written around the general thrust of the old plot, although not panel-to-panel like many of the Millie the Model or Candy/Tippy refries.
ReplyDeleteI recall at least one I spotted years ago that was a direct panel-to-panel lift. It was a DAFFY DUCK story drawn by Jack Manning.
ReplyDeleteMy mom painted the cells for Disney cartoons in the 1950's. She called him by his first name, Walt. She was best friends with Alpine and Cecils daughter Cecily. They had another daughter Bekka. My mom helped Alpine and Cecil Beard, the famous cartoonist for Disney. They too were canceled and blacklisted for their beliefs and moved from their home on Fargo Street in Silver Lake, California. I spent my first 5 years on planet earth at Alpine and Cecils house there. They had a home studio with color boards, paint and the works. They moved to Reserve New Mexico. I visited them in the early 1970's at there new home there. It was made out of real adobe and Alpine had straw on the floors. Great times...
ReplyDeleteWentworth, it's always good to hear real-life stuff about creators, going beyond the dry facts of listing their work.
ReplyDelete