About the Author

Merrill De Mariswas born in New Jersey in 1898 and in addition toSilly Symphonies, wrote for theMickey Mousestrip, and contributed gags forSnow White and the Seven Dwarfsand other animated films.

Charles Alfred Taliaferrowas born in Montrose, Colorado on August 29, 1905 and moved with his family to Glendale, California in 1918. "I knew I was going to be a cartoonist," he told interviewer Jim Korkis in 1968. "I've always believed that if you want anything bad enough and you work hard enough for it, eventually you'll get it." In the middle of the Great Depression in 1931 he learned that the Walt Disney Studio had jobs available. "I went in and was hired on the spot- January 5, 1931," he recalled. At first he inked Floyd Gottfredson's Mickey Mouse newspaper strip. He then went on to draw the Silly Symphonies Sunday page, where on September 16, 1934 he first drew Donald Duck, the character with whom he would become forever associated.

Hank Porterwas a staff artist at Disney from 1935-1950, who created the newspaper strip adaptations ofSnow White and the Seven DwarfsandPinocchio.

Reviews

"This is a handsome book with lots of extras to enhance the wonderful comic strips... In his informative introduction, J.B. Kaufman uses the phrase 'collected and preserved' when he describes the strips in this book and I can't think of a better way of putting it. This series, along with IDW's entire Library of American Comics line, has found lost, forgotten treasures of comic strip art, restored and collected them in beautiful hardcover books, to preserve them for future generations to read and enjoy. We're gonna need a bigger book shelf!" --Rich Clabaugh, Christian Science Monitor