Young, Chic, 1901-1973

Murat Bernard Young (1901-1973), famously known as Chic Young, was an American cartoonist and creator of the newspaper comic strip Blondie .

Chic Young was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up St. Louis, Missouri. He returned to Chicago to study at the Chicago Art Institute, lived briefly in Cleveland where he drew The Affairs of Jane for the NEA syndicate, and then landed in New York in 1922. His first strip there, Beautiful Bab for the Bell Syndicate, earned him a job offer from King Features Syndicate.

His first strip for King, in 1924, was Dumb Dora . In April of 1930, Young turned this strip over to Paul Fung so that he could devote himself to his new creation, the strip for which he is best known- Blondie . (One notes a pattern: Young had a knack for drawing pretty girls!) The strip, over the course of its long run, took Blondie from a flighty single girl with several beaux to marriage and children with Dagwood Bumstead and, eventually, a career as a caterer. The strip and its characters were aggressively and cleverly marketed, which resulted in 28 movies starring Arthur Lake and Penny Singleton as well as a radio show and a television series. Several artists worked with Young on Blondie over the years, including Alex Raymond, Ray McGill, and Jim Raymond. Young's son Dean eventually took the strip over on his father's death.

From the guide to the Chic Young Cartoons, 1929-1934, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)