The Ken Muse Papers and Collection of Original Art is made up of his original art and a series on photographs and clippings containing newspaper clippings, photographs of Ken Muse, and one of him with a Way Out charcter.
[identification of item], [Box Number/ Folder Number], Ken Muse Papers and Collection of Original Art, SPEC.CGA.MUS, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, Ohio State University
CGA.MUS.: Ken Muse,
Materials in this collection are available for use, but may be used in the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum reading room only.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyright, and are made available for research and educational purposes. In general, the OSU Libraries do not own the copyright for materials from our collections and cannot grant copyright permissions for these materials. The user is responsible for making a final determination of copyright status. If copyright protection applies, permission must be obtained from the copyright holder to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exceptions to the law. Works in the public domain are not protected by copyright and do not require permission to use.
BICLM Staff, March 2017
Ken Muse was born in Detroit, Michigan on April 28, 1925. He began drawing at the age of 5 and took a mail order correspondence course through the Landon School of Cartooning and Illustrating at 12. He then created comic strips for the school newspaper while attending Northeastern High School. Upon graduation, he enrolled in Detroit’s Meinzinger School of Art. During World War II he trained as a pilot and a medic in the Army, treating wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Ken served in France and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, Ken returned to Detroit, where he found work as a technical illustrator and cartoonist at the Jam Handy Organization, at the time one of the largest producers of industrial films in the world.
In the early 1950s Ken’s cartooning skills were used in a handful of Detroit TV programs. From 1960 to 1962 Ken was the assistant art director at WJBK-TV. From 1962 to 1964 he worked in the animation department at Group Productions. From 1964 to 1970 he drew Way Out, an aptly named comic strip consisting of bizarre “way out” gags and situations. The popular strip was seen in over a hundred newspapers, including The Detroit News.
Ken has written five books on cartooning, photography and videography for Prentice-Hall and Simon & Shuster. His books The Secrets of Professional Cartooning and The Total Cartoonist are considered textbooks for anyone interested in pursuing a career in cartooning. He taught commercial art and photography at Macomb County Community College from 1968 until his retirement in 1999. Ken Muse passed away on June 19, 2010.
For more detailed information, please check the entry on Ken Muse here: http://www.detroitkidshow.com/Ken_Muse.htm
The Ken Muse Papers and Collection of Original Art is made up of his original art and a series on photographs, clippings, and correspondence containing newspaper clippings, photographs of Ken Muse, and one of him with a Way Out charcter, in addition to letters from sixteen cartoonists in the 1960s.
List of dates of the letters and the cartoonist available is in the folder.