Kin Platt
Kin Platt was the mad genius of young adult books and probably the most controversial writer for this audience in the 1970's. From 1968 to 1980 he tackled many topics that had previously been taboo subject matter for children's books. Nothing was off limits for Platt and he managed to create fictional books on the topics of adolescent male sexuality, the effects of divorce and parental neglect, schizophrenia, drug addiction, gang violence and poverty. These were not merely “issue” books though. Platt’s work always had a satirical bend. To understand Platt's books is to know Platt's history as a caricaturist. In his stories for teens, caricature sets the stage, setting apart a Kin Platt book apart from the many other youth dilemma novels of the 1970's that had a realistic or psychological bent. As one reviewer stated, "Platt takes the extreme, end of the line cases as his starting point, eschewing comfortable, typical, and familiar protagonists and situations for his fiction." His book, Headman (1975), reads almost like a satire of Frank Bonham's 1965 novel Durango Street. And Platt's book Flames Going Out (1980), which concerns a schizophrenic adolescent, feels like a cartoonish version of the National Bestseller I Never Promised You a Rose Garden from 1964. Platt's talent as a writer was in presenting true-to-life disturbing situations through the eyes of a humorist.
Platt was an uncompromising artist who no doubt suffered for his work. In his own words, he has stated, "I would like to see less genteel supervised attitudes towards books for children and more imaginative approaches welcomed...Publishers have always been afraid of the type of books I wanted to do....I didn't want to keep doing ordinary books. I always felt that I had to stay ahead of everybody else, in my own mind at least...I don't write to make money; I write because the story has to be told."
Telling stories was Platt's forte, but only one of his many talents. And even though many of his works never saw the light of day, his output is one that would make any writer blush. An astonishing number of his titles saw print and included over 50 books.
In Kin Platt's autobiography from 1993, written when he was 81 years old, he states that anyone who wants to be an artist must learn the art of survival. Kin was no stranger to hard times. In his own words, "I've done my stint sleeping on bare floors and in railway stations for want of a room, gone hungry and walked many miles for lack of nickel or transport, sat with beggars more used to the life, and carried my own dreams. But in the end, at times, I did compromise, to eat and live and provide and survive, and the shame and loss of pride has never left me. What I had was the will but not the courage to starve to death." Kin Platt had something to be proud about, for he lived an amazing and rewarding life and accomplished more than most dream of. He lived by his own rules. In 2003, at the age of 91, he died by his own hand.
Platt was the son of a cantor and born Milton Platkin in December 1911 in New York City. Rebelling against his Jewish upbringing, Platt ran away from home at age 7. Pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable from the very beginning, Platt had a difficult childhood. To entertain himself he drew funny pictures. The artists he adored included the cartoonist George McManus as well as the caricaturist and illustrator Ralph Barton. The influence of both these artists can be seen in his drawings. As a kid, he was a voracious reader, claiming to have read up to 5 books a day. He mostly enjoyed the pulps which included western, sports and adventure stories. In High School, he imagined himself to be a writer as well as a cartoonist.
At age 19, Platt graduated High School just as the Great Depression had begun. Looking back at some of the pre-code Hollywood pictures of the early 1930's, you can see where Kin's distinct humor comes from. For example, there is a sort of reckless dark humor than runs amok in film's such as Skyscraper Souls (1932) that is not so far from Kin's sensibility. Kin never went to college. Instead, he began his career at a New York advertising agency as a delivery boy. Ever resourceful, he was soon selling cartoon ads to the company. He lived cheaply sleeping on a floor and managing food at 25 cents a week. Soon he started selling theatrical caricatures to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The World-Telegram and Sun. He got so entranced by the theater that he forgot to sketch while there and instead began making drawings from memory only. One of the cover drawings he did for the Eagle, in the style of Ralph Barton, became one of the first anti-Hitler cartoons in American newspapers. From there, he started drawing cartoons for ad campaigns, including the characters Pepsi and Pete in comic strip format for Pepsi Cola (following rube Goldberg and Jack Markow).
Working in advertising provided his first major financial success and led to him inheriting the art chores for Mr. and Mrs., a comic strip that ran in the New York Herald Tribune. He even did some cartoons of Bob Hope before he gained fame in Hollywood. Also, early on, Kin developed a lifelong friendship with cartoonist Vince Fago. The two would eventually share studio space. Their partnership would be as good a model for Chabon's Kavalier and Clay as that of Simon and Kirby.
In the mid 1930's, Platt began writing radio scripts. In 1936, at the age of 24, the ambitious young man headed west to seek his fortune in the then burgeoning Hollywood. He drove across the country and was almost immediately hired to write comedy scripts. Some of the legendary talents he wrote for included George Burns and Mary Martin. The former, he was a great admirer of, and the latter was a dear friend for over 50 years. In fact, he used to babysitter Martin's daughter as well as Larry Hagman, who would later become famous for playing JR on the TV show Dallas. This would be the most glamorous time in Platt's life. In California he was taking in over $1000 dollars a week. Still, Platt disliked writing jokes, preferring a more soft and droll humor that was less popular amongst mass audiences at the time. He pressed on through writing not 1, but 3 shows a week and averaging about 3 hours sleep a night. Elements of a 1930's joke writer remain throughout Kin's work though and a trademark of his characters, even in his YA books, is that at some point they say "rotsa ruck". It's a throwback to George Burns era comedy.
From the beginning, Kin always disliked compromise. He notoriously lost his temper when collaborating. After eventually offending too many comedians, Platt left the joke writing business. He didn't travel too far though, landing on his feet at the story department at the Disney studios. Finally, his drawing talents and writing skills seemed to merge into a singular purpose. While Platt was excited about the direction of the animation medium, he felt disappointed in the compromised roundness of the drawing style that seemed to suck the personality out of the art. The artist at Disney he most admired was Bill Peet, who would also later leave Disney in favor of creating his own children's books.
After Disney, Platt went to work for the MGM animation department where he befriended Heck Allen, who was also a Western writer. One of Allen's books inspired the title for Kin's first children's book. Platt also met Joseph Barbera and Bill Hanna. When they later left MGM to form Hanna Barbera Studios, Platt was hired on as one of the studio's main writers. Within a year Kin was put in charge of thirty writers in the shorts department at MGM. He was soon married in LA, only to get fired shortly after. This would spur on his first move back East to New York. Luckily, at this time, the comic book industry was being born.
In the early 40's, Platt wrote and drew hundreds of comic book stories for Timely Comics. This gave Platt the chance to work more autonomously and to exercise his drawing skills. Platt drew detective stories, superhero stories and funny animal stories. Amongst his creations were the superhero Captain Future, Inferior Man "The Weakest Man In The World" and SuperMouse. He drew these while living in a brownstone apartment off of Central Park West. He would also return to writing animation for a number of companies including Walter Lantz and Hal Seeger Productions.
In 1943, at age 31, Platt was drafted into the army. While enlisted he wrote the book, lyrics and music for a musical play Let Freedom Ring. Platt played piano and writing a musical was one of his grand ambitions that he harbored since being a teenager. While stationed in India, as part of the Army Air Corps (USAAF), he drew the spicy weekly comic panel Broad Views for an army newspaper called The Hump Express. He also began doing "lightning quick" caricatures as a performance/drawing act. Army life, however, did not suit Platt's temperament. He was constantly getting in trouble for insubordination and found himself chasing around a Red Cross girl. This just happened to be the Commander's girlfriend and Kin was transferred over to China.
In 1946, he went back home to New York. He was married and had a son, Chris. While living in Great Neck, New York, he continued writing for comic books and drawing Mr. & Mrs. Between 1947 and 1948, he worked for Timely again, alongside Stan Lee, working on the company's teen related comics with titles such as Cindy, Rusty and Willie. He had known Lee as far back as 1941. By 1950, he would also have a newspaper strip of his own creation, The Duke and the Duchess, where he spoke out against Joe McCarthy and other political opinions, but it only lasted until 1954. Some of the hundreds of comic books he wrote included the scripts to the Bob Hope, Sgt. Bilko and Jerry Lewis comic books. Ironically, Platt had done sketches of Bob Hope earlier in his career before he had moved to Hollywood.
His first children's book, The Blue Man, was published in 1961 and introduced his character Steve Forrester who would appear in three more books. The book was a sort of underground hit with librarians even though it was bashed at the time by some critics. One reviewer, from the School Library Journal, stated that the book "could not be recommended for purchase". Others, however, found something special about the book with comparisons drawn to JD Salinger's The Catcher In the Rye. Later Scholastic re-released it in paperback form. The story concerns a boy who takes the law into his own hands after he believes a blue bodied alien has killed his uncle. The character carries a rifle and goes on a road trip searching for the mysterious killer. The subject matter, while tame compared to some of Platt's later books, still sets the standard for his distinctive style. Around this time, Platt’s cartoons and theater caricatures began appearing in New York’s underground newspaper The Village Voice.
In the early 1960's, Platt relocated to Santa Monica, CA. He also had an act in Vegas (learned in the army) calling himself The Fastest Draw In The West. The act consisted of him doing lightning quick caricatures in 4 to 5 seconds that were projected with a wall projector. From 1963 to 1965 Platt also contributed several stories for humorous comic books and a few War titles published by DC comics. Platt's wife, Ruth, also helped out by scripting some romance titles. Platt's most well-remembered contributions to popular entertainment were at the Hanna-Barbera studios. He helped create the shows Top Cat and The Jetsons. He also wrote for The Flinstones and Jonny Quest. Of all these shows, Top Cat was the best reflection of Platt's humor with its cast of eccentric characters who hung out in an alley.
In 1965 Big Max, written by Kin, was published by Harper Brothers and was the first mystery written for beginning readers. Platt's second novel, a mystery called Sinbad and Me was rejected by Harper, but later bought by Chilton. It won the Edgar award in 1967, was reprinted multiple times and is still well-remembered and sought out today by collectors. Even though this book also featured Steve Forrester, it was far different than The Blue Man. Its strengths relied not on Platt's "edginess"" but instead as his skill as a Mystery writer. Platt would go on to write 2 more Steve Forrester mysteries as well as ten mystery novels for adults. 7 of these would feature Max Roper, a karate expert private eye who sometimes killed with his hands. These mysteries usually revolved around a sports theme.
Platt's breakthrough book came in 1968 at the age of 57. The Boy who Could Make Himself Disappear would set his career in a new direction, writing about taboo subjects up until 1980's Flames Going Out. The story concerns Roger Baxter, a boy who is troubled as a result of a dysfunctional family. His mother abuses him. And, perhaps too close for comfort, the absent father who lives in LA is a comedy writer who completely ignores his son. As a result, Roger suffers from a severe speech impediment. His problems leave him lost in New York City and on the verge of a mental breakdown. He finally learns to cope through friends and the assertion of a speech therapist. The book touched a nerve with readers and heralded in a new form of psychologically based YA book that would follow by authors such as Marjorie Kellogg and John Neufeld. The Boy Who Could Make Himself Disappear was reprinted in a number of languages, had multiple Dell/Laurel-Leaf paperback printings and was even adapted into a Hanna-Barbera produced live-action film starring Scott Jacoby.
Oddly enough, around this same time, Platt also began writing under a number of pseudonyms. Beginning in the late 1960's, he published 3 "Adults Only" paperbacks that included Pandora (as Guy York), Lovers & Exorcists (as Wesley Simon York) and Sex Heel (as Guy West). Obviously the pseudonyms of West and York derive from Kin's history of moving back and forth from New York to the West Coast. He would also use the name Nick West to pen three books in the juvenile series Alfred Hitchcock's Three Investigators. But it doesn't end there. Astonishingly, Platt wrote another 8 paperback originals for California publisher Canyon books under the name Kirby Carr. This lurid men's adventure series that Platt created was titled The Hitman. The books have Platt's trademark humor mixed in with all the elements you might expect from a 1970's action/exploitation movie. Also, in the 70's, Platt wrote the occasional comic book story as well as picture books for children based on animated characters.
To say that Platt's career was diverse is an understatement. This Renaissance man also dabbled in sculpture, painting, architecture and was a seasoned runner and golfer. When you consider all of the TV shows he wrote, that are still viewed today, and the amazing number of comics and novels he produced, it is fair to say that his audience as a creator was in the millions. He was a cartoonist who brought a daring sensibility to fiction that has never quite been replicated.