Editing Western Publishing (section)

==Divisions==

===Comic books===
With licenses for characters from [[Walt Disney Productions]], [[Warner Bros.]], [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]], [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]] and [[Walter Lantz Studio]], 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]], Zetta Devoe, Del Connell and [[Bill Spicer]]. Bernie Zuber was an editorial artist, a position similar to that of a [[production artist]], from 1957 until 1982.<ref>{{cite web |last=Evanier |first=Mark |date=January 21, 2009 |title=Bernie Zuber, R.I.P. |url=http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_01_21.html#016563 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629001539/http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2009_01_21.html#016563 |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |publisher=News from Me}}</ref> [[Oskar Lebeck]], Matt Murphy and Wally Green are among those who oversaw the East Coast office.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

From 1938 to 1962, Western's properties were published under a partnership with [[Dell Comics]], which also handled the distribution and financing of the comic books. In 1962, Western ended this partnership and published comics itself, establishing the [[imprint (trade name)|imprint]] [[Gold Key Comics]]. As Murphy explained the split: {{cquote|With regard to a Western-Dell separation, this was by mutual agreement so that each company would be free to explore the potential business in the comics market without the self-imposed restrictions which formerly required Western and Dell to work exclusively with one another. In our previous relationship, Western Publishing Co. secured the rights, created the comics, printed them and shipped them out for Dell. Dell acted as the publisher and distributor and did the billing and paid Western for its creatively manufactured products.<ref>{{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Maggie |date=March 17, 2011 |title=And I Quote: Matthew Murphy Discusses the Dell-Gold Key Split in 1962 |url=http://www.maggiethompson.com/search/label/Matthew%20H.%20Murphy |access-date=January 24, 2018 |publisher=Maggie Thompson}}{{better source needed|reason=this is a self-published blog, not a [[WP:RS]]|date=January 2018}}</ref>}}

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.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}} 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.{{citation needed|date=August 2012}}

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]]'' and the annual kite safety title (which featured an array of licensed characters) published over a span of 32 years for power utility companies.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barrier |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Barrier |title=''Carl Barks and the Art of the Comic Book'': Corrections, Clarifications, and Amplifications |url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Books/barks_errata.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718095617/http://michaelbarrier.com/Barrier_Books/barks_errata.htm |archive-date=July 18, 2011 |access-date=December 18, 2018 |publisher=[[Michael Barrier]]}}</ref> Both series had print runs in the hundreds of thousands.<ref>{{cite web |last=Barrier |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Barrier |date=March 16, 2010 |title=''Dumbo'' in Print |url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/WhatsNewArchives/2010/WhatsNewArchivesMar10.htm#dumboinprint |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101217170144/http://michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/WhatsNewArchivesMar10.htm#dumboinprint |archive-date=December 17, 2010 |access-date=December 18, 2018 |publisher=[[Michael Barrier]]}}</ref>

In the 1990s, the Western/Gold Key characters [[Magnus, Robot Fighter|Magnus]], [[Turok]] and [[Solar (comics)|Dr. Solar]] were licensed to [[Valiant Comics]], who published modified versions of the characters to great success.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Samsel |first=Robert |date=January 1993 |title=The State of Valiant Address |journal=[[Wizard (magazine)|Wizard]] |publisher=[[Wizard Entertainment]] |issue=17 |pages=47–54}}</ref> 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.{{Citation needed|date=March 2015}}

In 2004, [[Dark Horse Comics]] began reprinting some of Western's original comic book properties, which by then were owned by [[Random House]], along with [[Tarzan in comics|Tarzan]] from the [[Jesse Marsh]] era.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}} In 2009, the company announced plans to launch new versions of various Gold Key characters, with former Valiant editor-in-chief [[Jim Shooter]] as head writer.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 6, 2009 |title=Official news on that Gold Key/Dark Horse deal |url=http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/20852.htm/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100114000436/http://www.majorspoilers.com/archives/20852.htm/ |archive-date=January 14, 2010 |publisher=[[Dark Horse Comics]] [[press release]] via MajorSpoilers.com}}</ref>

===Children's books===
[[File:Uncledonbiglittlebook.jpg|right|thumb|300px|''Uncle Don's Strange Adventures'', a 1936 [[Big Little Book series|Big Little Book]], featured a story about radio host [[Uncle Don]] and his adventures with a mystery cruiser.]]
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]] 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.<ref>{{cite web |date=December 22, 1988 |title=Lucille Ogle, 84, Dies; Creator of Book Series |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFD91F3FF931A15751C1A96E948260 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150707112044/http://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/22/obituaries/lucille-ogle-84-dies-creator-of-book-series.html |archive-date=July 7, 2015 |access-date=September 29, 2013 |website=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> 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]],'' ''[[Black Beauty]]'' and ''[[Heidi]]''.

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.{{Citation needed|date=June 2015}} 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.{{citation needed|date=March 2015}}

===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]], [[Ginny Gordon]], [[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 (1954 TV series)|Lassie]],'' ''[[The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin]]'', many television [[Westerns]], and [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Spin and Marty]]'' and ''Annette'' (from the serial featuring [[Annette Funicello]] that aired on ''[[The Mickey Mouse Club]]''. The company was also the original American publisher of ''[[The Adventures of Tintin]]'', issuing six titles in English translation in 1959 and 1960, before discontinuing further releases because of what were considered disappointing sales.<ref>{{cite web |last=Owens |first=Chris |date=January 2007 |orig-year=First published October 2004 |title=Tintin Crosses The Atlantic: The Golden Press Affair |url=http://www.tintinologist.org/articles/goldenpress.html |access-date=December 18, 2018 |website=Tintinologist.org}}</ref>

===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]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last=Jim Korkis |title=Wednesdays with Wade: Christmas at Disneyland |date=December 27, 2005 |url=http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/wade_sampson/archive/2005/12/28/1295.aspx |access-date=September 29, 2013 |publisher=Jimhillmedia.com}}</ref> which, in October 1940, was succeeded by the comic book ''[[Walt Disney's Comics and Stories]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Disney Comics History |url=http://stp.lingfil.uu.se/~starback/dcml/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410095508/https://cl.lingfil.uu.se/~starback/dcml/history.html |archive-date=April 10, 2019 |access-date=February 6, 2024 |website=stp.lingfil.uu.se |publisher=David Gestein}}</ref> 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]]'' television series. Eventually the name was changed to ''Walt Disney's Magazine'' and the focus shifted to contemporary Disney movie and television productions.<ref>{{cite web |title=Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club Magazine |url=http://www.originalmmc.com/wdmmag.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141004101754/http://www.originalmmc.com/wdmmag.html |archive-date=October 4, 2014 |access-date=August 17, 2015 |website=The Original Mickey Mouse Club Show}}</ref> In a similar vein, they printed [[Gulf Oil]]'s ''Wonderful World of Disney'' premium (1969-1970) which was edited by Disney's [[George Sherman (comics)|George Sherman]].<ref name="Freeman">Cathy Sherman Freeman. ''A Disney Childhood: Comic Books to Sailing Ships''. Duncan, OK: BearManor Media, 2012.</ref>{{rp|p.48–49}} 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]] and [[Pictionary]] until [[Hasbro]] bought that division in 1994.<ref>{{Cite news |date=April 8, 1994 |title=Company News; Western Publishing To Sell Its Games Unit To Hasbro |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/08/business/company-news-western-publishing-to-sell-its-games-unit-to-hasbro.html |url-status=live |access-date=September 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926073709/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/04/08/business/company-news-western-publishing-to-sell-its-games-unit-to-hasbro.html |archive-date=September 26, 2015}}</ref> The company published the children's science books ''[[The World of Science (Golden book)|The World of Science]]''<ref>{{cite web |last=preskill |date=January 6, 2013 |title=Science books for kids matter (or used to) |url=http://quantumfrontiers.com/2013/01/06/science-books-for-kids-matter-or-used-to/ |access-date=August 14, 2015 |website=quantumfrontiers.com}}</ref> and ''[[The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments |url=https://archive.org/details/GoldenBookOfChemistryExperiments |access-date=August 17, 2015 |website=archive.org |publisher=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> while the [[Golden Guide]] nature guides were published with the Golden Press name.<ref name="GoldenGuides" />