Submit a bio  

Artist Biography & Facts
Ted Key

Auction Records (11)   For Sale (0)   Bio/Info   Free Alerts  
Upcoming (0) Wanted (0) Related Artists (24) Pricing my art
Charts (6) Dealers (0) Signatures (2)
Ted (Theodore Keyser) Key (1912 - 2008) was active/lived in New York, Pennsylvania, California.  Ted Key is known for Syndicated cartoons.

Ted Key was a prolific drawing master of cartoons and an "inventor of anthropomorphic animal characters" including the pet duck that laid golden eggs and was 'star' of the Walt Disney movie, The Million Dollar Duck (1971); a field-goal kicking mule in the Disney movie, Gus (1976) and a dog, who was a traveling professor who starred in a cartoon show, Rocky and Friends (1959).

Likely the cartoon character for which he remains best known is Hazel, "a name synonymous with live-in housekeepers as American suburbs flowered after World War II."  Key created the series in 1943 based on a dream his father had about a bossy maid.  The next morning Key sent the drawing he made from the conversation with his father to editors of the Saturday Evening Post, and within weeks, Hazel, a name Key "picked out of the air", became a regular part of the magazine.  The series lasted until 1969 when the publication folded.  In 1961, the   ...  [Displaying 1000 of 3003 characters.]  Artist bio

Artist auction records

.  askART's database currently holds 11 auction lots for Ted Key (of which 9 auction records sold and 0 are upcoming at auction.)

Artist artworks for sale and wanted

.  There are 0 artworks for sale on our website by galleries and art dealers . There are 0 galleries and art dealers listing works of art by Ted Key as either "Wanted" or "For Sale" .

Research resources

.  askART lists Ted Key in 0 of its research Essays. Ted Key has 2 artist signature examples available in our database.

Similar artists

.  There are 24 similar (related) artists for Ted Key available:    Otto Soglow,  Noel Douglas Sickles,  Willard Mullin,  Ernie (Ernest Paul) Bushmiller,  Reginald Bathurst Birch,  Joseph De Mers,  Edward Windsor Kemble,  Milton Caniff,  Will Crawford,  Joseph Bowler,  Frederic Gruger,  Jon Whitcomb,  Verne Tossey,  Raeburn Van Buren,  Robert Fawcett,  John Held Jr,  George McManus,  Robert Albert Maguire,  Bob (Kahn) Kane,  Chic (Murat Bernard Young) Young,  Johnny (John T) Craig,  Norman Mills Price,  Herbert Morton Stoops,  Peter Helck



Copyright © 1999-2024 askART.com and underlying auction houses. All Rights Reserved. Digital copying of these images and content strictly prohibited; violators will be subject to the law including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Facts about Ted Key

   Ted Key  Born:  1912 - Fresno, California
Died:   2008 - Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania
Known for:  Syndicated cartoons

Biography from the Archives of askART

Ted Key was a prolific drawing master of cartoons and an "inventor of anthropomorphic animal characters" including the pet duck that laid golden eggs and was 'star' of the Walt Disney movie, The Million Dollar Duck (1971); a field-goal kicking mule in the Disney movie, Gus (1976) and a dog, who was a traveling professor who starred in a cartoon show, Rocky and Friends (1959).

Likely the cartoon character for which he remains best known is Hazel, "a name synonymous with live-in housekeepers as American suburbs flowered after World War II."  Key created the series in 1943 based on a dream his father had about a bossy maid.  The next morning Key sent the drawing he made from the conversation with his father to editors of the Saturday Evening Post, and within weeks, Hazel, a name Key "picked out of the air", became a regular part of the magazine.  The series lasted until 1969 when the publication folded.  In 1961, the Hazel cartoon series became a television show with Shirley Booth playing Hazel, who managed the lives of the Baxter family.

Ted Key was born Theodore Keyser in Fresno, California.  His father was Simon Keyser, an immigrant from Latvia who changed his name to Keyser from Katseff.  His son, Ted, did not get legally renamed until the 1950s.  Ted graduated from the University of California in Berkeley and then went to New York City, where he began his career as a freelance cartoonist.  He served in public relations in the Army during World War II and as part of that job wrote a promotional play to recruit more women.

Source:
Bruce Weber, "Ted Key, 95, Creator of 'Hazel' Cartoon", The New York Times, May 6, 2008, Obituaries, C13


Biography from the Archives of askART

Note from Arnold Wagner:

Ted Key graduated in 1933 from the University of California at Berkeley California, and sold his cartoons to magazines while still in college. He sold to all the major publications in the thirties, and was associate editor at Judge Magazine.

He created the cartoon "Hazel" in 1943, which ran in the "Saturday Evening Post" until the magazine folded in 1969. He then turned it into a syndicated panel for newspapers. He served as a master Sergeant in the Army Signal Corps during WWII.

He has sold other material to magazines, written radio plays, screenplays for Disney, Children's books, and illustrated other peoples books. His son Peter is a gag writer.


Biography from the Archives of askART

Born in Fresno, CA on Aug. 25, 1912.  "Ted" Key studied art while at UC Berkeley, graduating in 1933.  By 1940 he was a resident of New York City and a contributor to Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, New Yorker and other national magazines.  He also created "Hazel" which was syndicated by King Features.  His last years were spent in Pennsylvania as a resident of Norristown and Wayne.  He died in the latter on May 3, 2008.

Edan Hughes, author of the book "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
Who's Who in American Art 1940-70; Social Security Death Index


Nearly 20,000 biographies can be found in Artists in California 1786-1940 by Edan Hughes and is available for sale ($150). For a full book description and order information please click here.


** If you discover credit omissions or have additional information to add, please let us know at [email protected].

Share an image of the Artist: [email protected].
Top