Someone who knows not of time zones woke me up at 6 AM to ask if I could confirm the death of Don R. Christensen, the prolific comic book writer (and occasionally, artist) for Western Publishing Company and other firms. And this wasn't even a magazine or newspaper calling. It was just a devout fan of Disney Comics who couldn't wait another minute to know. He'd sent me an e-mail at 4 AM my time and when I didn't respond in two whole hours, he decided to phone. A number of other folks were content just to write and to not expect us to be checking the mailbox here, 24/7.
All I know, I'm afraid, is that one Italian-language Disney site is reporting that Don passed away on October 18. I found this out by checking Tom Spurgeon's fine news site, The Comics Reporter. The Italian site just says that Don died and there's no explanation of how and where they learned this. Since Don was born in 1916, one tends to assume a report like this is true but I think I'd like a more direct source, preferably in English, before I leap wholly to that conclusion.
And the next time someone wakes me up at that hour to ask me anything, I'll post an obituary about them. And then I'll go make it accurate.
Live or dead (and I'm still hoping for live), Don was one of the great talents in the world of animation and "funny animal" comics, and one of my favorite people when he lived in Southern California and I fraternized and occasionally worked with him. He authored countless scripts for the Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics produced by Western Publishing Company, including Magnus, Robot Fighter and one of my all-time favorite specials, Donald in Mathmagic Land. Don was also Western's "go-to" guy when a comic book required that puzzle pages be designed, plus he authored dozens of non-comic kids' books for the outfit.
Because people are always making the understandable mistake, let me remind the comics/animation community that there have been two separate and unrelated men named Don Christensen in the cartoon business, along with a Don Christiansen — who also was not the same person. The Don Christensen of whom I write here is Don R. Christensen, who sometimes signed his work as "Don Arr" or "Don Arr Christensen." He is not the Don Christensen whose name you'll see in the credits of old Filmation cartoons, although Don R. did do a few brief jobs for that studio.
Of course, if anyone has any solid info on his current health or lack thereof, please write. Or phone at a decent hour.