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Al Stoffel isn’t a well-known name in the world of cartoons, but he may have written more words for Bugs Bunny than any other person. A reliable member of the Western Publishing team, Stoffel came from a varied background that included a career in journalism and in the Navy. He was a member of Western Publishing’s West Coast Office and wrote for many of the newspaper strips Western produced.
Albert Law Stoffel was born on May 20, 1909, to Albert and Harriet Stoffel. He was born in Racine, Wisconsin, where Western Publishing was founded two years before his birth by Edward and Albert Wadewitz. His youth was not peaceful. His mother died when Al was a young boy, and because of a hostile relationship with his father’s second wife, he would leave and move in with his other sister, Ethel, who was ten years older than he was.
In 1931, Stoffel graduated with a B.A. in Journalism from the University of Kentucky. There, he played basketball the first year Adolph Rupp was coach. In the early thirties, he would work as a reporter and photographer for the Wisconsin News. Regarding his early days, Al Stoffel Jr. said, “This was the Depression, so it was a real struggle back then; a journalist was what he really was, and he only became a photographer and publicity man out of necessity.”
During this time, he would become a publicist for the Chamberlain Hotel in Old Point, Virginia. There, he promoted the Hotel’s golf games and photographed many famous celebrities, including Jean Harlow, Tyrone Power, and his cinematic heroes Laurel & Hardy. In 1937, he married Catherine Williams and would then spend a year in Italy as a publicist for Rome’s Excelsior Hotel. Because of what was happening in Europe at the time, he returned to the United States and the Old Point Hotel, where census notes say he resided with his wife.
After a period on staff at the News-Ledger in Richmond, Virginia, Stoffel joined the Navy and became a U.S. Navy Aircraft carrier communications officer. Al’s son said about this period, “During this time, my sister was born in 1941, and my mother was sort of following the fleet. So, wherever he was stationed, she would try to get there. Well, for a time, he was stationed in Del Mar, California, and would get a taste for the West Coast.”
Al Stoffel (Far Left) in the Navy During World War II.
Returning to Racine, he landed a job at Western Publishing’s headquarters and worked with the company’s founder, E.H. Wadewitz. When the opportunity came to go to Dell’s West Coast offices, he took it. Despite being told he would never rise to the higher echelon of the company, he was interested anyways because of his experiences in California during the war. He was transferred to Western when its West Coast office opened in Beverly Hills, where he served as editor under R.S. Callendar.
The Western Publishing West Coast Office (Photo and Caption Clipped from Michael Barrier’s FunnyWorld).
Stoffel worked as second-in-command at Western Publishing under Callander. When Callander retired, Stoffel became manager of the Western offices and retained that position until his retirement. During his time there, Stoffel became friendly with folks like Walt Disney and Walter Lantz and was involved in some of Western’s biggest financial projects, including helping finance the Disneyland Hotel. However, while he was always involved in Western’s business side, Al’s son pointed out that his father preferred the creative side. We don’t know for certain how much Stoffel was involved in writing the comic books. The one comic book we do know he worked on was Dell’s monthly Dick Tracy Magazine in 1948. He also wrote the original Dick Tracy novel, Dick Tracy and the Woo Woo Sisters.
Stoffel would share an office with Warner cartoon veteran and Dell Comics artist Tom McKimson. McKimson and Stoffel would collaborate on the Roy Rogers Comic Strip. McKimson and Stoffel used the pseudonym “Al McKimson.” Credits on wikis and past articles have frequently linked this name incorrectly to Tom McKimson and his brother Chuck. However, Charles McKimson was not connected with the Roy Rogers comic strip, and he was not even at Western when the strip was being written. Stoffel wrote some episodes (including the first several) and produced the strip throughout its run, while Phil Evans and Carl Fallberg wrote other episodes. Stoffel also wrote the Gene Autry strip under the pseudonym “Bert Laws.”
Stoffel with Roy Rogers.
Al Stoffel’s biggest writing job, though, was the Bugs Bunny newspaper comic strip. He wasn’t the first contributor to the strip. Carl Buettner and Chase Craig were both involved with it before him. He collaborated with others, including Roger Armstrong, who had also drawn and written the strip before Stoffel worked on it. Stoffel was involved. However, probably Stoffel’s longest and closest creative partnership was with Ralph Heimdahl. Stoffel wrote much of the strip and could draw roughs of his ideas. In a joint interview, Stoffel said about their partnership, “Being together this long—and still being good friends— has gotta mean something. Ralph can take a gag and make it visually hilarious. We’ve been together for so long that our brains sort of work in unison. I can picture how he’ll draw a gag when I’m writing it. In my estimation, Ralph Heimdahl is one of the finest comic artists around.”
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Stoffel wrote the Bugs Bunny strip from 1949 to 1981. Dell might’ve portrayed characters differently than in their animated equivalents, but the comics were filled with animation veterans. Robert McKimson, Tom McKimson, Mike Maltese, Veve Risto, Phil De Lara, and Pete Alverado were just a few of the Warner veterans who worked on the Looney Tunes comic books. The Bugs Bunny strip differed from both its animated counterpart and its comic book equivalent. The two main artists behind it, Ralph Heimdahl and Roger Armstrong, were animation veterans. Stoffel said regarding the differences, Stoffel said, “Although it seems that I’ve seen several hundred Bugs Bunny cartoons over the years, that work is quite different from ours. The animated cartoons depend mostly on action, sound, and voice characterizations for their impact. In the strip, we have to try and translate these characteristics into cartoons which don’t move and the printed word which has no sound. It ain’t easy, but the people who count—especially the funny page fans—seem to think that what Ralph and I are doing is OK.”
Original 1972 Sunday Art courtesy of collector Todd Federman. Click to Enlarge.
Early in the Dell Comics, Sylvester was portrayed with a British accent; this was eventually dropped in the comic books but was retained in the strip for many years. Stoffel was proud of this character development and said to an interviewer, “Looking back, I think I’m most proudest of my development of Sylvester. I think of him as a combination of Wimpy and W.C. Fields with the seat out of his pants. I’ve invented a lot of other characters, mainly as pegs to hang gags on, but none of them have ever become as important as Bugs, Elmer, Sylvester, Porky, and Petunia who originated in the animated cartoons.”
Stoffel wrote other strips too. Among his other strips was Woody Woodpecker, which he wrote from 1954-1961. Al Stoffel Jr. remembers his dad being friends with Walter Lantz and his wife Gracie and remembers the Lantz’s visiting their house at parties and such. He also wrote the Little Lulu and Uncle Wiggly strips. He was also involved in pitching and production of strips that never were sold, including the proposal for a Green Hornet strip Western would’ve printed. In the 1970s, he wrote stories and helped adapt Disney features into strip form for Disney’s Treasury of Classic Tales. Among the films adapted were Freaky Friday, The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again, and The Cat from Outer Space.
Regarding his memories of his father, Al Stoffel Jr. has fond memories. In an interview with him, he recalled fondly memories such as watching Laurel & Hardy comedies on television with his father and spoke about his father’s advice that would help inspire his own writing career. However, his favorite memories of his father were often the ones on the golf course. “He was a member of Riviera Country Club in L.A., and that’s where we spent our time, and we spent a lot of our time together. We lived close enough that I could walk to the golf course, and he would come home from work, and I would meet him there, and we’d get our clubs, and we’d go down and practice and play. Sometimes we play three holes. Sometimes we play five holes, depending on the time we had. Well, my favorite memory of him was when we would be together, and it was just getting dark, and we would be the only people out there. We would play together; it was just a bonding experience that is my fondest memory of my time with him.”
Al Stoffel died May 6, 2002 in Santa Monica, California, at 92 years old
Thanks to Al Stoffel Jr. for his memories
Also, thanks to Alberto Becattini for providing his fantastic biographical notes to help with this article.
Additional thanks to Todd Federman, Ted Hager, Michael Barrier, Allan Holtz, Strummer Cash Peterson, and Christy Stoffel Mulkerin.
