Telecomics

Dick Moores and Jack Boyd, 1942–1945

In 1942, cartoonist Dick Moores, known for the crime comic strip Jim Hardy (1936–1942), partnered with Disney effects animator Jack Boyd to form Telecomics, Inc. Their goal was a television show presenting still comic panels with narration and voice actors. While developing the idea, Moores worked at Walt Disney Studios on comics including Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse. In 1945, they produced a pilot, Case of the Missing Finger, Chapter 4: The Belt of Doom, featuring Peril Pinkerton, but it was not picked up, and the project went dormant.

Stephen Slesinger, 1945–1947

In 1945, Stephen Slesinger, creator of Red Ryder and King of the Royal Mounted and licensing rights holder for Winnie-the-Pooh, Tarzan, Buck Rogers, and Alley Oop, announced two companies: Tele-Comics, Inc. in New York, to bring syndicated comic strips to television and 16mm film, and Telepictures, Inc. in Hollywood, for children's book properties. He planned to use Red Ryder, King of the Royal Mounted, Ozark Ike, and Winnie-the-Pooh. In April 1946, Slesinger demonstrated his approach at the American Newspaper Publishers Association convention, where comic panels appeared without speech balloons, then balloons appeared as narration began.

In April 1947, he signed a deal with N. W. Ayer & Son for television rights to King of the Royal Mounted, serialized in five-minute episodes, with 150 episodes produced. By November 1947, Billboard reported five organizations vying for similar shows, including two different Telecomics, Inc. companies—Slesinger's and Moores & Boyd's (now run by agent Jimmy Saphier). Despite legal threats, both companies remained active into 1951. Slesinger reached the air first: in December 1947, two Christmas specials, Gingerbread Man and Santa and the Angel, aired on WCBS-TV in New York.

Tele-Comics, 1949

In 1949, a syndicated show titled Tele-Comics aired, produced by singer Rudy Vallée's Vallee-Video. The 15-minute program featured four three-minute comic strip stories: Brother Goose by Cal Howard, Joey and Jug by Arnold Gillespie, Rick Rack, Secret Agent by Miles Pike and Pete Burness, and Sa-Lah by AJ Metcalf. Voice actors included Jack Kirkwood, Lilien Leigh, and Bill Grey. The show was short-lived, and no episodes survive.

NBC Comics, 1950–1951

Dick Moores and Jack Boyd continued trying to sell their Telecomics concept to a network. On August 7, 1950, Daily Variety announced NBC had picked up the show, retitling it NBC Comics. It debuted as a weekday show on September 18, 1950, in the 5:00–5:15pm slot following Kate Smith, sponsored by Standard Brands and produced by Don Dewar. The show included four three-minute segments: Danny March (an orphan turned private eye), Kid Champion (a boy pressured into boxing who becomes a fighter under an alias), Space Barton (a college football star who travels to Mars with a professor and his stowaway brother), and Johnny and Mr. Do-Right (a boy taught health and safety by his talking dog).

Voice cast included Robert C. Bruce, Lurene Tuttle, Patrick McGeehan, Howard McNear (voicing Space Barton, Danny March, and Kid Champion), and Verne Smith (narrating Johnny and Mr. Do-Right). The show was dropped on March 30, 1951, when Lever Brothers wanted the timeslot. 165 episodes were produced. NBC recouped costs quickly and syndicated episodes as Telecomics, airing on WCBS-TV from 1952 to 1953. In 1954, National Telefilm Associates acquired distribution, and episodes aired through the end of the 1950s.