About Chester Gould

  • Biography

    Cartoonist Chester Gould, as a young boy, fell under the spell of Mutt and Jeff and Sherlock Holmes. In 1931, he created Dick Tracy, a strip that became nearly as successful as Bud Fishers, and featured a detective who became nearly as well-known as Conan Doyles.

    Gould, the son of a publisher of a weekly newspaper, was born in Pawnee, Oklahoma in 1900. Gould once said "It was probably that influence which got me into the frame of mind to become a cartoonist." He migrated to Chicago in 1921 to finish college. Although he majored in business administration, he went from school directly into drawing for newspapers. The years before he signed his Dick Tracy contract, Gould recalled, were a decade of frustrating experiences in just about ...

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