George Baker (May 22, 1915 – May 5, 1975) was a cartoonist who became prominent during World War II as the creator of the popular comic strip, The Sad Sack.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Baker grew up in Rock Island, Illinois and Chicago. In Chicago, he attended Lane Technical High School, and graduated from Roosevelt High School, where he played baseball and drew pictures for the high school annual. After six weeks of art training in a night sc...
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George Baker (May 22, 1915 – May 5, 1975) was a cartoonist who became prominent during World War II as the creator of the popular comic strip, The Sad Sack.
Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Baker grew up in Rock Island, Illinois and Chicago. In Chicago, he attended Lane Technical High School, and graduated from Roosevelt High School, where he played baseball and drew pictures for the high school annual. After six weeks of art training in a night school, he got a job as a commercial artist "but soon grew tired of drawing pots and pans for newspaper advertisements."
He moved to California to pursue a minor league career. Instead, he was hired by Walt Disney in 1937, and assisted in the production of the studio's full-length animated features, including Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi. His specialty was animation of thunderstorms, waterfalls and other effects.
Five months prior to Pearl Harbor, Baker was drafted (June 1941) into the United States Army. He related later that he...
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