characters, Popeye excepted, to St. John Publishing, which issued five Casper titles with a resounding lack of success. In 1952, Harvey Comics picked up the license. Harvey became Casper’s comic book home for more than three decades. It was at Harvey where Casper was given a cast of sidekicks—his trusty ghost horse, Nightmare, and his antagonist, Spooky, the “Tough Little Ghost.” Casper also became pals with Wendy, the “Good Little Witch,” who spun off her own titles. The success of the Harvey comic books goosed the interest in made-for-television cartoons—more than 100 episodes were syndicated.
But despite the need for storylines for all these outlets, Casper’s origins remained shrouded in mystery, and as it turns out, this was no accident. Sid Jacobson, who has been associated with Casper for more than fifty years, told Imponderables that when the company bought the rights to the Paramount characters, Harvey was more interested in the then more popular Little Audrey (a not-too-subtle “homage” to Little Lulu). Casper was thrown in as part of the deal, and he and other editors at Harvey went to work “rethinking him.” Why the need to rethink? It turns out that Jacobson was less than thrilled with the original animated cartoon: “It was so ugly, and so stupid, I never forgot it. If we used the original premise for our books, it would have been a failure.”
Ever mindful that Casper was meant to appeal to a younger segment of the audience, the editors at Harvey wanted to banish elements that would frighten children or give parents an excuse to ban their kids from reading about even a friendly apparition. Jacobson says:
Since the dawn of the Harvey Casper character, truly the Casper everyone knows and loves, Casper’s origin is definite but flies in the face of conventional definition: he was born a ghost. Like elves and fairies, he was born the way he was. We consciously made the decision as to his creation. It stopped the grotesqueries, and fits in better with the fairyland situation. It allows Casper to take his place with the other characters in the Enchanted Forest. It doesn’t deal in any sense with a kid wanting to die and become a ghost. That was our main concern.
Considering the treacly nature of the comic book, inevitably a few impure types have speculated about the secret origins of Casper. Mark Arnold reveals a particularly startling one:
The most notorious origin story appeared in Marvel Comics’ Crazy Magazine #8 , in December 1974, in a story called, “Kasper, the Dead Baby.” In it, they show that small boy Kasper was killed by his alcoholic, abusive father. It’s pretty gruesome, but bizarrely funny in a kind of strange way. Marvel has disowned the story, as they have tried to acquire the Harvey license.
In 1991, during The Simpsons ’ second season, the episode “Three Men and a Comic Book” speculates that Casper was actually Richie Rich (another bland comic book star of Harvey’s stable) before he died. As Arnold puts it, “Richie’s realization of the emptiness that vast wealth brings caused his demise.”
Most recently, in the feature film Casper , there are allusions to the ghost’s past (his father dabbled in scientific spiritualism), but no real explanation for what makes Casper so damned friendly and why he was snuffed out before his prime. Maybe the best theory comes from comic book writer and author of Toonpedia (http://www.toonpedia.com), Don Markstein:
Personally, I always thought it was his friendly, open nature that did him in. His family apparently didn’t do a very good job of teaching him about “stranger danger.”
Submitted by Steve, a caller on the Glenn Mitchell Show,
KERA-AM, Dallas, Texas.
Thanks also to Fred Beeman of Las Vegas, Nevada.
WHY DO RINKS USE HOT WATER TO RESURFACE THE ICE?
----
H ere’s the problem. Skaters, even elegant flyweights like Michelle Kwan, leave gouges that get dirty and lead to
But despite the need for storylines for all these outlets, Casper’s origins remained shrouded in mystery, and as it turns out, this was no accident. Sid Jacobson, who has been associated with Casper for more than fifty years, told Imponderables that when the company bought the rights to the Paramount characters, Harvey was more interested in the then more popular Little Audrey (a not-too-subtle “homage” to Little Lulu). Casper was thrown in as part of the deal, and he and other editors at Harvey went to work “rethinking him.” Why the need to rethink? It turns out that Jacobson was less than thrilled with the original animated cartoon: “It was so ugly, and so stupid, I never forgot it. If we used the original premise for our books, it would have been a failure.”
Ever mindful that Casper was meant to appeal to a younger segment of the audience, the editors at Harvey wanted to banish elements that would frighten children or give parents an excuse to ban their kids from reading about even a friendly apparition. Jacobson says:
Since the dawn of the Harvey Casper character, truly the Casper everyone knows and loves, Casper’s origin is definite but flies in the face of conventional definition: he was born a ghost. Like elves and fairies, he was born the way he was. We consciously made the decision as to his creation. It stopped the grotesqueries, and fits in better with the fairyland situation. It allows Casper to take his place with the other characters in the Enchanted Forest. It doesn’t deal in any sense with a kid wanting to die and become a ghost. That was our main concern.
Considering the treacly nature of the comic book, inevitably a few impure types have speculated about the secret origins of Casper. Mark Arnold reveals a particularly startling one:
The most notorious origin story appeared in Marvel Comics’ Crazy Magazine #8 , in December 1974, in a story called, “Kasper, the Dead Baby.” In it, they show that small boy Kasper was killed by his alcoholic, abusive father. It’s pretty gruesome, but bizarrely funny in a kind of strange way. Marvel has disowned the story, as they have tried to acquire the Harvey license.
In 1991, during The Simpsons ’ second season, the episode “Three Men and a Comic Book” speculates that Casper was actually Richie Rich (another bland comic book star of Harvey’s stable) before he died. As Arnold puts it, “Richie’s realization of the emptiness that vast wealth brings caused his demise.”
Most recently, in the feature film Casper , there are allusions to the ghost’s past (his father dabbled in scientific spiritualism), but no real explanation for what makes Casper so damned friendly and why he was snuffed out before his prime. Maybe the best theory comes from comic book writer and author of Toonpedia (http://www.toonpedia.com), Don Markstein:
Personally, I always thought it was his friendly, open nature that did him in. His family apparently didn’t do a very good job of teaching him about “stranger danger.”
Submitted by Steve, a caller on the Glenn Mitchell Show,
KERA-AM, Dallas, Texas.
Thanks also to Fred Beeman of Las Vegas, Nevada.
WHY DO RINKS USE HOT WATER TO RESURFACE THE ICE?
----
H ere’s the problem. Skaters, even elegant flyweights like Michelle Kwan, leave gouges that get dirty and lead to
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