Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Doug Heyes

1936

Douglas Howard Heyes was born on October 27, 1919, in Los Angeles County, California according to the California Birth Index at Ancestry.com. Heyes’s Social Security application (transcribed at Ancestry.com) said he was born on the same date in Glendale, California. Wikipedia and the Internet Movie Database said Heyes was born on May 22; their source for the birth date was not identified.

Heyes’s parents, Herbert Heyes and Mildred von Hollen, were married on September 12, 1913 in Hardin, Iowa. Their first child, Herbert Jr. was born in Illinois. On June 5, 1917, Herbert signed his World War I draft card. His address was 3920 Broadway in Manhattan, New York City. He was a motion picture actor employed by Louis Selznick, Inc.

The 1920 U.S. Federal Census recorded Heyes as the youngest of two sons. The Heyes family and a maid lived in Los Angeles at 1318 Highland Avenue. Heyes’s father was a movie actor.

In the 1930 census, Heyes’s mother was the head of the household which included Heyes and his brother. The trio resided at the Guardian Arms Apartments on Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles. At some point Heyes’s parents divorced. His father remarried in 1934 in Washington.

Heyes attended Fairfax High School where he was in the German Club (1934 and 1935) and on the Gazette newspaper staff (1936).

According to the 1940 census, Heyes was an artist, his mother a saleslady, and brother a sheet metal worker. They lived in Los Angeles at 315 Spaulding.

The Los Angeles Times, January 14, 1941, reported reservations for the world premiere of Standing Room Only at the Assistance League Playhouse in Hollywood. Heyes did the book, lyrics and sketches.

During World War II Heyes enlisted in the Army on April 21, 1944 at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California. His military record said he was a commercial artist who was married and had one year of college education.

The Gruber Guidon was a newspaper published at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. The August 31, 1945 issue revealed some information about Heyes’s early art career.

Before entrance into the army he worked for Walt Disney studios at which time he produced drawings for the production, “Snow White and Seven Dwarfs.” While in Hollywood Heyes also produced and wrote a musical review entitled, “Standing Room Only,” which was quite successful. His last job before coming into the service was at North American Aviation where he supervised art for posters and handbook illustrations.

Heyes was a private in the 618th Field Artillery Observation Battalion. His cover drawing for the battalion’s publication, The Outpost, is above.

American Newspaper Comics (2012) said Heyes was the third artist on Strange As It Seems which was created by John Hix in 1928. When Hix died, the series was drawn by Dick Kirby from July 1944 to April 1946. Heyes produced the daily from June 17, 1946 to July 3, 1948, and the Sunday from April 1946 to July 25, 1948. Heyes was followed by Dick Kirby, Anthony D’Antoni (the artist was photographed with Elsie Hix in the Daily World, September 27, 1949), George Jahns, Jack Ozark, and Ernest Hix Jr.

The Kiss Off (1951) was Heyes’s first novel. Book Previews said Heyes was a greeting card art director. Heyes also wrote The 12th of Never (1963) and The Kill (1985).

Heyes’s artistic career extended into film and television writing, directing and producing.

Heyes’s son, Doug Jr., was born May 22, 1956, and went into show business.

Heyes and his wife, Joanna, were residents of Beverly Hills. Directories for 1960 and 1973 listed them at 1227 Coldwater Canyon Drive. Heyes’s occupation was writer.

Heyes’s father passed away May 31, 1958, and mother in August 1971. Heyes passed away February 8, 1993, in Beverly Hills. 

—Alex Jay