Chauncey "Chad" McKee Grothkopf was born on June 14, 1914 in Ironton, Ohio. In 1932 he graduated from North High School in Columbus, Ohio, and received a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. In 1937 he was hired as a junior art director at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood, after which he was soon working as an animator at the Disney Studio.
In 1938 he had his first newspaper comic strip "Toy Town Christmas" for the Ledger Syndicate. That same year he moved to New York City and continued to work in animation.
He married Dorothy Anna Vaughn on October 12, 1940. They had one child, Chad Jr.
In 1941 he worked at the Lloyd Jacqet Shop.
In 1942 he created another newspaper comic strip "Famous Fiction," cartoon versions of classic literature, for the Bell Syndicate. To produce the strip he opened the Grothkopf Shop as a small group of artist assistants. In 1943 he produced another syndicated newspaper comic strip "Moments of History" with cartoon depictions of historic events. His shop produced "Three Ace" and "Cliff Crosby" for National from 1940 to 1942, "Squat Car Squad" for Timely in 1942, "Funny Animals" and "Hoppy the Marvel Bunny" for Fawcett from 1942 to 1949.
During WWII Chad Grothkopf served as a Sergeant in the Army Corps of Engineers in Washington D.C. where he produced instructional publications.
In 1950 Chad Grothkopf and Disney writer Milt Neil created a newspaper comic strip for the United Features Syndicate on the popular TV Show "Howdy Doody." It ran until 1953.
In 1953 he formed Chad Associates to specialize in producing story-boards for television commercials and animated cartoon advertising.
Chad Grothkopf died at the age of eighty-eight on January 25, 2002 in Norwalk, Connecticut.
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GROTHKOPF SHOP ARTISTS from 1942 to 1947
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1942
Chad Grothkopf
Don Gunn
Al Jaffee
Alex Kotzky
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1943
Bill Brady
Chad Grothkopf
Don Gunn
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1944
Bill Brady
Chad Grothkopf
Don Gunn
Joe Oriolo
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1945
Bill Brady
Chad Grothkopf
Joe Oriolo
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1946
Bill Brady
Chad Grothkopf
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1947
Bill Brady
Chad Grothkopf
Allen Ulmer
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