Ralph Carlson was born July 22, 1907 in Minneapolis, MN. His parents were Danish immigrants.
He studied art by mail order course from The Federal Schools, Inc. of Minneapolis.
After receiving his diploma in 1928 Carlson joined the art staff of Fawcett Publications in Robbinsdale, MN, where he became a lifelong pal of future pulp artists Norman Saunders, Allen Anderson, and Carl Buettner.
Carlson's nickname was "Hamlet" because of his moody nature and his Danish heritage.
He moved to NYC in 1934 and began working as a pen & ink man for interior story illustrations at Donnenfeld's saucy pulps as well as Harry Steeger's Popular Publications, including Terror Tales, Horror Stories, Operator #5, and Dr. Yen Sin. He also did story illustrations for Street & Smith's Clues magazine.
Carlson joined the Communist Party at this time, as did many Americans who were concerned by the fascist tendencies of American industrialists and the hardships of laborers during the Great Depression.
From 1940 to 1942 Carlson drew for Camp Comics, Popular Comics, and Future Comics, for which he created an original adventure feature series, Rush Newton of the Newsreels.
During WWII, Carlson served in the U.S. Army and worked for YANK Magazine on the Paris edition.
After the war, Carlson went back to working for Fawcett Publications, but instead of interior pen & ink illustrations he drew some of their new comic books, including Rocky Lane Comics.
In 1953, Carlson was subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee to testify as a cartoonist about his connection with the Communist Party. He refused to cooperate and was jailed, ending his career in comic books.
He returned to his home town Minneapolis in 1955 and found work as an art instructor at his old correspondence school, which had since changed it's name to Art Instruction, Inc.
Ralph Carlson retired to Arizona in 1972, where he died at age 95 in 2002.
© David Saunders 2009 |
