Stripper's Guide: Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Alden McWilliams

Friday, December 08, 2023

Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Alden McWilliams

Alden Spurr McWilliams was born on February 2, 1916, in Greenwich, Connecticut, according to his World War II draft card. McWilliams’ parents were John McWilliams and Florence Spurr.

The 1920 United States Census counted McWilliams and his parents in Greenwich. They lived on Parsonage Road near North Street. His father was a chauffeur and mother a musician and teacher.

In the 1930 census, McWilliams, his parents and sister, Faith, resided on Arch Street near Riverside in Greenwich. His father was a chemist at a laboratory and his mother a piano teacher.

McWilliams’ National Cartoonists Society profile said he graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. The 1937 Greenwich, Connecticut city directory listed McWilliams whose occupation was artist. In the late 1930s his first published work appeared in pulp magazines such as Flying Aces.

McWilliams was one of several artists who worked at Dell Comics, an early entrant in comic book publishing. The art director was Oskar Lebeck. Many of McWilliams’ credits are at the Grand Comics Database and Who’s Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999.

According to the 1940 census, McWilliams lived with his widow mother, sister and maternal grandmother at the same address in Greenwich. He had completed four years of high school and, in 1939, earned $1,100.

On October 16, 1940, McWilliams signed his World War II draft card. He was employed by the Whitman Publishing Company in New York City. McWilliams was described as six feet one inch, 155 pounds, with blue eyes, blonde hair and freckles.

He enlisted on October 1, 1942. At Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists, Dave Saunders said

He fought in the Normandy D-Day invasion, for which he received the Bronze Star and French Croix de Guerre.

An obituary in The Comics Journal #158, April 1993 said

He served throughout Europe and was present at the historic meeting of U.S. and Soviet troops on the banks of the Elbe River.

McWilliams’ veteran’s file said he served in the Army from October 15, 1942 to October 30, 1945.

The Daily Item (Port Chester, New York), December 17, 1945, said Ruth Linea Jensen was engaged to McWilliams. Their marriage was reported in the Standard-Star (New Rochelle, New York), April 12, 1946.

Miss Ruth Linea Jensen daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Jensen of Greenwich, Conn. to Alden Spurr McWilliams son of Mrs. John McWilliams of Old Greenwich. The ceremony was performed Monday at the Jensen home and a reception followed at Pickwick Arms, Greenwich, Sunday in the rectory of St. Gabriel’s Church.

The 1950 census counted commercial artist McWilliams, his wife and son, Chris, in Darien, Connecticut at 33 Miles Road.

When Oskar Lebeck left Dell, he and McWilliams sold, in 1952, a science fiction comic strip, Twin Earths, to United Feature Syndicate.

Editor & Publisher, 6/7/1952

American Newspaper Comics (2012) said the strip ran from June 16, 1952 to May 25, 1963. In John Stanley: Giving Life to Little Lulu (2017), Bill Schelly said

… Lebeck scripted it until 1957, when McWilliams assumed scripting duties along with the art.

Twin Earths was featured in Popular Science, January 1953.

McWilliams and writer John Saunders produced Dateline: Danger for Field Enterprises. The strip ran from November 11, 1968 to March 17, 1974. According to American Newspaper Comics, McWilliams assisted on or ghosted many strips including Dan Flagg, Heart of Juliet Jones, Joe Jinks, Kerry Drake, On Stage, Rip Kirby, Secret Agent X-9, and Tim Tyler’s Luck.

McWilliams passed away on March 19, 1993, in Stamford, Connecticut. He was laid to rest at Putnam Cemetery. Obituaries were published in the Stamford Advocate and The New York Times.