Western Publishing, also
known as "Western Printing and Lithographing Co." was a publishing
firm based in Racine, Wisconsin
, that was responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books.
History
The company was initiated by brothers Edward Henry and Albert H.
Wadewitz. It bought
West Side Printing Company
from a printer during September 1907 for $2,504 and changed its
name during 1910.
The company was based in Racine,
Wisconsin
, with
editorial offices in both New York City
and Los Angeles, California
, and another printing plant in Poughkeepsie,
New York
(which closed about 1980). During 1915, the
company bought Chicago
publisher
Hammerung-Whitman Publishing Co., which became
their subsidiary Whitman Publishing
Company. Another subsidiary was
K.K. Publications, named after
Kay Kamen, manager of character
merchandising at
Walt Disney
Studios from 1933-1949. K.K. Publications appears to have
become defunct during the mid/late 1960s.
Western Publishing also produced children's books and family
related entertainment products as
Golden Books Family
Entertainment.
Divisions
Comic Books
Western had licenses for the characters from
Walt Disney Productions,
Warner Brothers,
Metro Goldwyn Mayer,
Edgar Rice Burroughs and
Walter Lantz Studio, and produced comics
based on these characters (and others) 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, and
Del Connell;
Bernie
Zuber was a
production artist
there from 1950 until 1978.
Oskar
LeBeck,
Matt Murphy and
Wally Green are among those
who oversaw the East Coast office.
From 1938 to 1962, Western's comics were published with the
Dell Comics imprint; Dell also handled
the distribution and financing of the comics. During 1962, Western
decided to end its partnership with Dell and publish comics
themselves, and established
Gold Key
Comics. This continued until the late 1970s, after which
newsstand distribution was discontinued in favor of distribution to
toy stores etc. under the "Whitman Comics" banner. They stopped
publishing comics during 1984, and all their licenses have since
gone to other publishers. Some of their comics were published by
that name, especially
March of
Comics.
Dark Horse Comics
has recently been doing some reprints of their original comic book
properties, which are owned by Random House.
Children's Books
Western published a wide range of children books (puzzle books,
coloring books,
Big Little Books,
etc), mostly under the Golden Books and Whitman Publishing brand
names since the 1920/30s. The
Little
Golden Books was a very popular series.
Lucille Ogle helped develop the format for the
low-priced books, which told simple stories and were among the
first children's books with full-color illustrations. The first was
published during 1942. 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, among many others.
Older Juvenile Literature
Initially under its Whitman line, Western from the 1940s to the
1980s published several series of books for older children and
young teenagers. Girls' mystery series included
Trixie Belden,
Ginny
Gordon,
Donna Parker, and
Trudy Phillips. Boys' series included the
Walton Boys,
Power
Boys, and
Troy Nesbit mysteries. The
series from the 1950s to the 1970s also included a number of titles
licensed from popular movies and television shows:
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) among many other titles. They also were the original
American publisher of
Tintin, issuing 6 titles in English
translation during 1959-1960 before discontinuing further releases
due to what they believed were disappointing sales.
Magazines
During 1937 Western assumed production of the newsstand version of
Mickey Mouse Magazine, which during 1940 was succeeded by
the comic book
Walt
Disney's Comics and Stories. Then during 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 shifted focus to contemporary
Disney movie and television productions. During the 1960s Western
published
The Golden Magazine for Boys and Girls with
Cracky the Parrot as its mascot.
Cookbooks
Golden Press for many years was publisher of various
Betty Crocker cookbooks, reputed to have sold
in the millions. Often these were issued in a spiral binder format
so recipe pages could be removed for easy consultation while
cooking.
Corporate annual reports
A very lucrative division which realized Western's expertise in
specialized, technically unique publishing formats.
Automobile service manuals
Western printed automobile service manuals for
Volvo until at least 1989.
Children's Science Books
The Golden Book
of Chemistry Experiments.
Other
The popular series of nature guides,
Golden
Guide, were published with the Golden Press name. This series
has since been revived by
St.
Martin's Press. They published a series of guidebooks for coin
collectors with the Whitman name, which has been sold to
H.E. Harris.
Retail locations
Disneyland Story Book Shop
The
company sponsored, (along with partners Dell
and Simon & Schuster), the
Story Book Shop on Main Street,
U.S.A. in Disneyland
which opened on July 17, 1955. It closed
mobile April 1995. In addition it was one of the initial investors
in the park via being a part-owner of
Disneyland, Inc.. This was done in
appreciation of its long and lucrative business relationship with
Walt Disney.
Golden Books Showcase Stores
During the 1990s, at least three Golden Books Showcase Store
locations were opened, which featured only Western Publishing
products.
The first was opened in the Woodfield Mall
in Schaumburg, Illinois
in November 1992; the second in CityWalk Center outside Universal
Studios Hollywood
during June 1993; and the third store was opened in
Rockefeller
Center
in New York City during April 1994. They
have all since closed.
Acquisition
Mattel bought Western during 1982, then sold
it during 1984.With new ownership, it renamed itself
Golden
Books Family Entertainment and tried to emphasize
children's books. It sold the adult books (
Golden Guide) to
St. Martin's Press during 1999, and later
the
H.E. Harris coin company would buy Whitman
Coin Products from St. Martin’s Press during 2003 and rename it
Whitman Publishing. By 1997, Western Publishing
was absorbed into the name
Golden Books Publishing
Company.
Golden Books Family Entertainment was acquired by
Classic Media Inc. and
Random House in a bankruptcy court auction for
$84.4 million on August 16, 2001. Historian
Michael Barrier has lamented the
seeming loss of Western's business records for the use of future
researchers.
Slogans and taglines
- I grew up with Golden Books! (1980s)
- Silence isn't Golden. Reading to your child
is. (1997)
See also
References
Bibliography
External links
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