PCL MS 139 Paul S. Newman Papers

The Paul S. Newman Papers are comprised of approximately 0.2 cubic feet of manuscript materials. A manuscript for the text of a DarkWing Duck comic book story is the core of the collection.

In 1995, Paul S. Newman transferred one manuscript to the Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University. The collection is open for research, but the photocopying of manuscripts must comply with applicable copyright laws. Please contact the BPCL reference email with any questions about this collection.

This register was compiled by Kirk Richardson under the supervision of Jean Geist, Popular Culture Associate II. It was updated in September 2009 by Patricia Falk. The finding aid was revised by Manuscripts & Outreach Archivist Steve Ammidown in November 2019.

Paul S. Newman (1924-1999) was born on April 29, 1924, in New York City.

Newman joined the Boy Scouts at age 12 credited the experience with informing many of his adventure comics over the years. At age 13, he was the youngest Scout allowed to attend the 1935 World Jamboree in Holland, thanks to his high rank. He ended up as an Eagle Scout with 54 merit badges.

Newman graduated high school at age 16 and attended City College of New York for one year before transferring to Dartmouth. He enlisted in the Army on October 3, 1942 and remained in the service until July 6, 1946. He served in Bomb Disposal as well as Special Services and Information & Education. He served in all three theaters in the war and earned a Battle Star, Italian Campaign.

He returned from the war and went back to Dartmouth for a while, but left when he got a Broadway option on Dollar Diplomacy, a play which he had written. The play lost its financing, forced Newman to find work on the radio show, A Date with Judy. The producer of this show sent Newman over to National Comics (DC) that was publishing the Date with Judy comic book. By the end of the year, Newman had penned stories for Patsy Walker, Real Clue Crime Stories, Crime Detective, Hopalong Cassidy, The Two-Gun Kid, Outlaws, and The Texan.

Newman was married twice, first to Zoe, whom he married in 1949 and had two children, Peter and Lisa. In 1977, Newman and Zoe divorced and he moved back to New York City, where he supplemented his comics income by writing many industrial films and speeches for top level corporate executives. He married Carol in 1985, who provided the storyboards for the DarkWing Duck comic in this collection.

Paul S. Newman is most known for long runs working on The Lone Ranger (1948-1962) and Turok, Son of Stone (1954-1980). In addition to these title, Newman wrote for more than 300 other titles, surpassing 4,000 stories over the course of his long career, from Fat Albert to G.I. Joe and Nancy to The Twilight Zone. A nearly-complete listing of Newman's work was compiled in the January 1997 issue of the Comic Book Marketplace.

Paul S. Newman passed away on May 30, 1999.

The Paul S. Newman Collection houses the manuscript for the text of a DarkWing Duck comic, "Faster Than a Speeding Ticket." The finished version was published in Disney Afternoon Magazine in March 1995.

Six drafts of the script, beginning with a handwritten storyboard and ending with a typed script, comprise this collection.

The collection will be of interest to those sutdying the process of comic book writing in the 1990s, as well as those interested in the work processes of prolific writers like Paul S. Newman.