John L. Goldwater
Encyclopedia
John L. Goldwater founded (with Maurice Coyne and Louis Silberkleit) MLJ Comics (later known as Archie Comics
), and served as editor and co-publisher for many years. In the mid-1950s he was a key proponent and custodian of the comic book
censorship
guidelines known as the Comics Code Authority
.
, leaving "New York, hopping freight trains and bumming rides to the Midwest, where he worked for a time in Kansas
as a news reporter. Assigned to school sports, he hung around with football teams, meeting the players and the girls they attracted, who would later supply him with ample comic material." A few years later, "he continued west to the Grand Canyon
, where he worked at a lodge," from which he was dismissed for "socializing with the female help," his employers paid for him to travel to San Francisco, where he saved enough money (again working as a reporter) to travel by ship back to New York. On the boat, "he met two young women bound for the novitiate... [b]oth fell for him, which later gave him the idea of the Betty
-Veronica
rivalry."
Married twice, Goldwater's second wife Gloria was the first "national chairwoman" of the women's division of the Anti-Defamation League
of B'nai B'rith
, while Goldwater was himself a national commissioner of the same organisation.
/magazine
publisher Louis Silberkleit to "buy his outdated issues at a penny each," which he then re-sold abroad. Finding success in his venture, Goldwater was soon joined by Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne to form their own publishing venture MLJ Comics, (named after the first initial of each of the three individuals).
Silberkleit and Coyne, with (Timely
/Marvel
's) Martin Goodman
, were among the earliest publishers of pulp magazine
s with their Columbia Publications publishing house, and others. In addition to having bought stock from them for his "Periodicals for Export" venture, Goldwater worked alongside the two of them for Paul Sampliner, Jack Liebowitz
and Harry Donenfeld
's Independent News
- the distribution arm of National Periodicals, forerunner of DC Comics
.
Inspired by the success of National's Superman
and Batman
(and hot on the heels of Goodman's Timely Comics publications), Goldwater and company published their first comic - Blue Ribbon Comics
#1 - in November 1939, and soon after, in his role as editor, Goldwater helped devise the Shield as star of Pep Comics
, the Black Hood
for Top-Notch Comics
, and Steel Sterling in Zip Comics
."
Interviewed for the book The Best of Archie (1980), Goldwater recalls that he "thought of Superman as an abnormal individual and concluded that the antithesis, a normal person, could be just as popular," so "in 1941, just as the war was restricting paper supplies," the fledgling company began publishing such a character in the pages of Pep Comics
#22: Archie Andrews.
, Goldwater, "inspired by the popular 'Andy Hardy
' movies starring Mickey Rooney
"
Calling the character Archie
, the name echoing that of a schoolfriend, Goldwater - and series writer/artist Bob Montana with the surrounding cast supposedly "patterned after teen-agers he [Goldwater] had met in the Midwest."
At its peak, the Archie comic strip
ran in 750 newspapers, while comics sales continue to sell millions of copies each year (from a height of c. 50 million) through grocery stores and newsvenders as well as tailored comics shops - Archie Comics' output is among the few still carried by the full range of venues.
The Archie line of comics (and related items) gave Goldwater a "multimillion-dollar fortune and publishing empire, Archie Comic Publications Inc. of Mamoroneck
, N.Y.," a major rival to the comics industry's Superhero houses Marvel
and DC Comics
. Archie would feature not just in comic books and newspaper strips, but on radio, television and in film, as well as having his own "short-lived chain of Archie restaurants."
Goldwater ran Archie Comics until his retirement in 1983.
, with a public outcry against comics building on Fredric Wertham
's book Seduction of the Innocent
and the Estes Kefauver
-led United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings, Goldwater helped found the "Comics Magazine Association of America, whose Comics Code Authority
persuaded magazines to voluntarily weed out offensive copy as well as ads for guns, knives and war weapons." Goldwater served as president of the Comics Magazine Assoc. for 25 years, personally decrying such events as the 1971
United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare-sanctioned Spider-Man
storyline dealing with the problems of drug addiction, which while talking of the evils of drugs still violated the code's guidelines by mentioning them at all.
of B'nai B'rith
, for "more than 50 years." In a 1999 notice placed in the New York Times, he was described as a "Poet Laureate
, listed in [The] Who's Who of America," and a member of both the "Old Oaks Country Club and the Friars Club
."
, Goldwater "licens[ed] Archie for evangelical Christian messages," despite his personal Jewish
faith, feeling that the "sentiments were in line with his wholesome family message." The comics were written and illustrated by one of the Archie regulars, Al Hartley
, and were published by Spire Christian Comics
.
Ten years later, after Goldwater's retirement, the then-publicly traded Archie Comics company was acquired by Richard Goldwater (his son) and Silberkleit's son Michael, returning it to private ownership. In 2009, Goldwater's son Jonathan was named CEO of Archie Comics.
Goldwater died in New York on February 26, 1999, and was survived by his second wife and three sons: Richard (from his first marriage), Jonathan and Jared. He was also described as a "[d]evoted brother of Dorothy Glaser and the late Jack." Donations were invited in his honor to the Anti-Defamation League.
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
), and served as editor and co-publisher for many years. In the mid-1950s he was a key proponent and custodian of the comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
guidelines known as the Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
.
Early life and career
John L. Goldwater was born in East Harlem, New York on February 14, 1916. "His mother died giving birth to him... and his father succumbed to grief, abandoning his baby and dying soon afterward," leaving the orphaned John to be raised by a foster mother. Distantly related to US Senator Barry M. Goldwater, in his youth, the teenage Goldwater hitchhiked his way west during the DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, leaving "New York, hopping freight trains and bumming rides to the Midwest, where he worked for a time in Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
as a news reporter. Assigned to school sports, he hung around with football teams, meeting the players and the girls they attracted, who would later supply him with ample comic material." A few years later, "he continued west to the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon
The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona. It is largely contained within the Grand Canyon National Park, the 15th national park in the United States...
, where he worked at a lodge," from which he was dismissed for "socializing with the female help," his employers paid for him to travel to San Francisco, where he saved enough money (again working as a reporter) to travel by ship back to New York. On the boat, "he met two young women bound for the novitiate... [b]oth fell for him, which later gave him the idea of the Betty
Betty Cooper
Betty Cooper is a fictional character of Archie Comics, the blonde-haired daughter of Hal and Alice Cooper. Betty likes sports, and is also a cheerleader. Betty was created in December 1941. Her older brother Chic Cooper and older sister Polly Cooper have both moved out of Riverdale, their hometown...
-Veronica
Veronica Lodge
Veronica Lodge is a fictional character in the Archie Comics books series.-Fictional history and character:She is called both by her name Veronica and her nickname Ronnie...
rivalry."
Married twice, Goldwater's second wife Gloria was the first "national chairwoman" of the women's division of the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
of B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
, while Goldwater was himself a national commissioner of the same organisation.
MLJ Comics
Arriving back in New York, he gained employment at the docks, where his "experience with shipping" inspired him to both start his own company - Periodicals for Export, Inc. - and strike a deal with pulpPulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
/magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
publisher Louis Silberkleit to "buy his outdated issues at a penny each," which he then re-sold abroad. Finding success in his venture, Goldwater was soon joined by Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne to form their own publishing venture MLJ Comics, (named after the first initial of each of the three individuals).
Silberkleit and Coyne, with (Timely
Timely Comics
Timely Comics, an imprint of Timely Publications, was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics....
/Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
's) Martin Goodman
Martin Goodman (publisher)
Martin Goodman born on was an American publisher of pulp magazines, paperback books, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics....
, were among the earliest publishers of pulp magazine
Pulp magazine
Pulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
s with their Columbia Publications publishing house, and others. In addition to having bought stock from them for his "Periodicals for Export" venture, Goldwater worked alongside the two of them for Paul Sampliner, Jack Liebowitz
Jack Liebowitz
Jacob "Jack" S. Liebowitz , was an American accountant and publisher, known primarily as the co-owner with Harry Donenfeld of National Allied Publications .-Early life:...
and Harry Donenfeld
Harry Donenfeld
Harry Donenfeld was an American publisher who is known primarily for being the owner of National Allied Publications, which distributed Detective Comics and Action Comics, the originator publications for the superhero characters Batman and Superman...
's Independent News
Independent News
Independent News Co. was a magazine and comic book distribution business owned by National Periodical Publications, the parent company of DC Comics. Independent News distributed all DC publications, as well as those of a few rival publishers, in addition to pulp and popular magazines. The company...
- the distribution arm of National Periodicals, forerunner of DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
.
Inspired by the success of National's Superman
Superman
Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...
and Batman
Batman
Batman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
(and hot on the heels of Goodman's Timely Comics publications), Goldwater and company published their first comic - Blue Ribbon Comics
Blue Ribbon Comics
- Volume 2 : Archie Comics :The second series to carry the Blue Ribbon Comics name was initially published by the Archie Comics imprint Red Circle Comics. It ran for 14 issues cover-dated November 1983 to December 1984...
#1 - in November 1939, and soon after, in his role as editor, Goldwater helped devise the Shield as star of Pep Comics
Pep Comics
Pep Comics is the name of an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
, the Black Hood
The Black Hood
The Black Hood was originally a golden age character created by MLJ Comics, later known as Archie Comics. The Black Hood first appeared in Top-Notch Comics #9, October 1940 and became one of MLJ's most popular characters. He also had his own title, Black Hood Comics, a pulp magazine, and his own...
for Top-Notch Comics
Top-Notch Comics
- Top-Notch Laugh Comics/Laugh Comix :In a change of editorial direction, from issue #28 the story emphasis changed to humor strips and the title became Top-Notch Laugh Comics to reflect this. All the long-running adventure series from Top-Notch Comics ended between issue #24 - Top-Notch Laugh...
, and Steel Sterling in Zip Comics
Zip Comics
Zip Comics was the name of an American anthology comic book series published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for 47 issues between June 1940 and Summer 1944...
."
Interviewed for the book The Best of Archie (1980), Goldwater recalls that he "thought of Superman as an abnormal individual and concluded that the antithesis, a normal person, could be just as popular," so "in 1941, just as the war was restricting paper supplies," the fledgling company began publishing such a character in the pages of Pep Comics
Pep Comics
Pep Comics is the name of an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books...
#22: Archie Andrews.
Archie Comics
In 19411941 in comics
-Events and publications:Stan Lee becomes editor-in-chief at Timely Comics.Adventures of Captain Marvel, a twelve-chapter film serial adapted from the popular Captain Marvel comic book character for Republic Pictures, debuts...
, Goldwater, "inspired by the popular 'Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy
Andy Hardy was a fictional character played by Mickey Rooney in an MGM film series from 1937 to 1958. Spanning over 20 years, the 16 movies were based on characters in the play Skidding by Aurania Rouverol....
' movies starring Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney
Mickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
"
Calling the character Archie
Archie Andrews (comics)
Archie Andrews, created in 1941 by Vic Bloom and Bob Montana, is a fictional character in an American comic book series published by Archie Comics, as well as the long-running Archie Andrews radio series, a syndicated comic strip, The Archie Show, and Archie's Weird Mysteries.-Character and...
, the name echoing that of a schoolfriend, Goldwater - and series writer/artist Bob Montana with the surrounding cast supposedly "patterned after teen-agers he [Goldwater] had met in the Midwest."
Success
The success of the Archie line of comics, thought Goldwater, was becauseAt its peak, the Archie comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
ran in 750 newspapers, while comics sales continue to sell millions of copies each year (from a height of c. 50 million) through grocery stores and newsvenders as well as tailored comics shops - Archie Comics' output is among the few still carried by the full range of venues.
The Archie line of comics (and related items) gave Goldwater a "multimillion-dollar fortune and publishing empire, Archie Comic Publications Inc. of Mamoroneck
Mamaroneck (town), New York
Mamaroneck is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of Mamaroneck...
, N.Y.," a major rival to the comics industry's Superhero houses Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
and DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
. Archie would feature not just in comic books and newspaper strips, but on radio, television and in film, as well as having his own "short-lived chain of Archie restaurants."
Goldwater ran Archie Comics until his retirement in 1983.
The Comics Code
In 19541954 in comics
-Events and publications:* Publication of Seduction of the Innocent, by American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham. The book warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency...
, with a public outcry against comics building on Fredric Wertham
Fredric Wertham
Fredric Wertham was a Jewish German-American psychiatrist and crusading author who protested the purportedly harmful effects of violent imagery in mass media and comic books on the development of children. His best-known book was Seduction of the Innocent , which purported that comic books are...
's book Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent is a book by German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized...
and the Estes Kefauver
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S...
-led United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency hearings, Goldwater helped found the "Comics Magazine Association of America, whose Comics Code Authority
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
persuaded magazines to voluntarily weed out offensive copy as well as ads for guns, knives and war weapons." Goldwater served as president of the Comics Magazine Assoc. for 25 years, personally decrying such events as the 1971
1971 in comics
This is a list of comics-related events in 1971.-Year overall:* The Comics Code Authority revises the Code a number of times during the year. Initially "liberalized" on January 28, 1971, to allow for the sometimes "sympathetic depiction of criminal behavior . ....
United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare-sanctioned Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
storyline dealing with the problems of drug addiction, which while talking of the evils of drugs still violated the code's guidelines by mentioning them at all.
Other roles
Goldwater also found time to serve as President of the New York Society for the Deaf, and was actively involved as a National Commissioner of the Anti-Defamation LeagueAnti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
of B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
, for "more than 50 years." In a 1999 notice placed in the New York Times, he was described as a "Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
, listed in [The] Who's Who of America," and a member of both the "Old Oaks Country Club and the Friars Club
New York Friars' Club
The Friars Club is a private club in New York City, founded in 1904 and famous for its risqué celebrity roasts. The club's membership is composed mostly of comedians and other celebrities. It is located at 57 East 55th Street between Park and Madison Avenues in a building it calls the Monastery...
."
Later life
In 19731973 in comics
-Year overall:* Dell Comics, after 44 years in the comics business, ceases publication; a few of the company's former titles moving to Gold Key Comics....
, Goldwater "licens[ed] Archie for evangelical Christian messages," despite his personal Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
faith, feeling that the "sentiments were in line with his wholesome family message." The comics were written and illustrated by one of the Archie regulars, Al Hartley
Al Hartley
Henry Allan Hartley , known professionally as Al Hartley, was an American comic book writer-artist known for his work on Archie Comics, Atlas Comics , and many Christian comics...
, and were published by Spire Christian Comics
Spire Christian Comics
Spire Christian Comics was a line of comic books published by Fleming H. Revell starting in 1972. In 1981 Hugh Revell Barbour started his own company, Book Bargains, which soon became Barbour & Company...
.
Ten years later, after Goldwater's retirement, the then-publicly traded Archie Comics company was acquired by Richard Goldwater (his son) and Silberkleit's son Michael, returning it to private ownership. In 2009, Goldwater's son Jonathan was named CEO of Archie Comics.
Goldwater died in New York on February 26, 1999, and was survived by his second wife and three sons: Richard (from his first marriage), Jonathan and Jared. He was also described as a "[d]evoted brother of Dorothy Glaser and the late Jack." Donations were invited in his honor to the Anti-Defamation League.