{{Short description|Australian illustrator and cartoonist (1924–1992)}} {{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> |image = |imagesize = 150px | | name = Keith Chatto | caption = | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{birth year|1924}} | birth_place = Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia | birth_name = Ronald Keith Chatto | death_date = {{death date and age|1992|10|22|1924|df=y}} | death_place = | occupation = Cartoonist, writer, illustrator | period = | genre = Adventure, crime, westerns, Pulp Fiction | subject = | movement = | signature = | website = }} '''Ronald Keith Chatto''' (1924 – 22 October 1992) was an Australian comic book artist and writer. He was the first Australian illustrator to draw a full-length episode of ''The Phantom'' comic.<ref name="SMH">{{Cite news|url=http://www.comicstrips.com.au/comic-strips-articles/1992/11/1/a-talented-life-on-the-drawing-board/ |title=A talented life on the drawing board |publisher=Sydney Morning Herald |last=Kent |first=Simon |date=1 November 1992 |accessdate=19 November 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425080436/http://www.comicstrips.com.au/comic-strips-articles/1992/11/1/a-talented-life-on-the-drawing-board/ |archivedate=25 April 2012 }}</ref>
==Biography== Keith Chatto was born at Kogarah, New South Wales in 1924,<ref name="Bonzer">{{Cite book|title=Bonzer: Australian Comics 1900s–1990s|last=Shiell|first=Annette|publisher=Eluga Media|place=Redhill, South Australia|year=1998|page=115|isbn=1-876308-12-5}}</ref> the son of an accountancy clerk.<ref name="Ryan">{{Cite book|title=Panel by Panel – An Illustrated history of Australian Comics|author1=Ryan, John|pages=190–192|year=1979 |publisher=Cassell Australia |isbn=0726973769 }}</ref> Chatto was educated at Kogarah Primary School, Canterbury High School and Sydney Grammar School.<ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="Ryan"/><ref name="DAAO">{{Cite web|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/ronald-keith-chatto/#artist_biography|title=Ronald Keith Chatto|publisher=Design & Art Australia Online|last=Kerr|first=Joan|year=1996|accessdate=19 October 2011}}</ref> His father, an accountant for ''Smith's Weekly'',<ref name="Ryan"/> showed his son's sketches to the art staff at the magazine, where he was invited by Jim Russell to attend weekly art classes.<ref name="SMH"/><ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="CBM">{{Cite web|url=http://www.collectingbooksandmagazines.com/chatto.html|title=Keith Chatto 1924–1992|publisher=Collecting Books & Magazines|last=Ray|first=Greg|year=2007|accessdate=18 October 2011}}</ref> On leaving school Chatto found work with the art department of Greater Union Theatres<ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="Ryan"/><ref name="CBM"/><ref name="B&W">{{Cite web|url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~jez/keith/keith.html|title=Keith Chatto – Tribute|publisher=The Black and White Artists Club|accessdate=18 October 2011}}</ref> then drawing aircraft recognition charts for the Australian Air Training Corps<ref name="Ryan"/> before enlisting with the RAAF.<ref name="CBM"/>
Following his demobilisation in 1946 he had his first comic strip published, ''Destiny Scott'', in the mid-week children's section of the ''Sydney Morning Herald''<ref name="SMH"/><ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="Ryan"/><ref name="DAAO"/><ref name="CBM"/><ref name="B&W"/> on 26 June 1946.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1301&dat=19460626&id=jedjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=x5MDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5656,7247163|title=New Australian Comic Strips in the 'Herald'|publisher=Sydney Morning Herald|date=26 June 1946|accessdate=13 December 2011}}</ref> Also, in 1947, Chatto produced two comic strips for a nudist magazine, ''The Australian Sunbather'', which was published by Ashworth Publications.<ref name="CBM"/> When '' Destiny Scott'' ended he contributed to the All-Australian Comics group on ''Bunny Allen'',<ref name="SMH"/><ref name="Collector">{{Cite book|title=Comics in Australia & New Zealand: The Collections, The Collectors, The Creators |author1=Burrow, Tony|author2=Stone, Grant|publisher=Haworth Press|page=38|year=1994|isbn=978-1-56024-664-0}}</ref> ''The Glamour Girl'' and ''The Buccaneer''.<ref name="Ryan"/><ref name="CBM"/>{{Quote|He had an eye for a good line and a very good talent at drawing women. Some of his strips, like ''Glamour Girl'' and ''Wanda Dare'', were good examples of his art. I don't mean to say he was a 'perv', or anything like that, but he captured women well.|Jim Russell<ref name="SMH"/>}}In 1949 Chatto created ''The Lone Wolf'' for Atlas Publications,<ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="Ryan"/><ref name="DAAO"/><ref name="Lobo">{{Cite web|url=https://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html |title=El Lobo – The Man from Nowhere | publisher=Comicsdownunder.com | last=Patrick |first=Kevin|date=19 April 2008|accessdate=19 October 2011}}</ref> which was later drawn by Yaroslav Horak,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ausreprints.com/content/articles/?apg=713|title=Atlas|publisher=AusReprints|accessdate=13 December 2011}}</ref> and in 1954 created ''Steven Carlisle'' for Larry Cleland Publishing Company.<ref name="Ryan"/><ref name="CBM"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ausreprints.com/content/main/?series=3637|title=Steven Carlisle Illustrated Adventures|publisher=AusReprints|accessdate=13 December 2011}}</ref> By 1955 Chatto branched out to other forms of commercial art including magazine illustrations, record sleeves and cover illustrations for pulp fiction novels, where in the 1950s he was produced upwards of six covers a week.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/exhibitions/pulp_fiction/image41.html|title=Cabinet 13: Science Fiction & Fantasy|publisher=Otago University|work=The Pulp Fiction Exhibition – Special Collections|accessdate=12 December 2012|archive-date=6 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506183149/http://www.library.otago.ac.nz/exhibitions/pulp_fiction/image41.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Pulp">{{Cite book|title=Pulp: A Collector's Book on Australian Pulp Fiction Covers|author1=Johnson-Woods, Toni|publisher=National Library of Australia |year=2004|isbn=978-0-642-10766-4}}</ref> He also worked on ''The Twilight Ranger''<ref name="Twilight">{{Cite web|url=https://comicsdownunder.blogspot.com/2008/04/comics-of-airwaves-twilight-ranger.html|title=Comics of the Airwaves: The Twilight Ranger|publisher=Comicsdownunder.com|last=Patrick|first=Kevin|date=19 April 2008|accessdate=19 October 2011}}</ref> and ''El Lobo''<ref name="Lobo"/> at Cleveland Publishing.<ref name="Collector"/>{{Quote|I began working exclusively for Cleveland Publishing Company, at first illustrating and designing pocket book covers. At one period about this time, I was producing an average of six full colour covers each and every week for various publishers. [Jack Atkins] commissioned me to illustrate a radio serial written by Michael Noonan, called ''The Twilight Ranger''. I had to adapt for the comic book Michael's scripts and illustrate them.|Keith Chatto<ref name="Twilight"/>}} With the introduction of television Chatto left the comic book industry to become a freelance film producer<ref name="DAAO"/><ref name="B&W"/><ref name="Pulp"/> and cine cameraman.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Australian Films|publisher=National Library of Australia|work=Film Division|year=1969}}</ref> He continued to work in the comics field on a part-time basis drawing comic book covers for Page Publications and a series of ''Skippy'' comics<ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="B&W"/> in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.grandpacifictours.com/news.asp?id=377&category=418|title=Skippy, Australia's most famous kangaroo|publisher=Grand Pacific Tours|last=Morris|first=Frank|accessdate=19 October 2011|archive-date=25 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425081858/http://www.grandpacifictours.com/news.asp?id=377&category=418|url-status=dead}}</ref> Unfortunately the comic book was produced after the television series had peaked in popularity.<ref name="Bonzer"/> In mid 1977 he began drawing the Sunday version of ''Air Hawk and the Flying Doctors'',<ref name="Bonzer"/><ref name="DAAO"/> having previously ghosted the strip for a short period in 1972.
In 1990 saw the publication of the first Australian-written and drawn full-length Phantom story, ''Rumble in the Jungle'', with Chatto providing the illustrations<ref name="Pulp"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirroroftheworld.com.au/imagination/pop_culture/comics/phantom.php |title=The Phantom No. 951A |work=Mirror of the World |publisher=State Library of Victoria |accessdate=19 October 2011 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822044956/http://www.mirroroftheworld.com.au/imagination/pop_culture/comics/phantom.php |archivedate=22 August 2011 }}</ref><ref name="ComicDb">{{Cite web|url=http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator_chron.php?ID=21577|title=Keith Chatto – Chronological Listing|publisher=ComicBookDatabase|accessdate=13 December 2011|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303220854/http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator_chron.php?ID=21577|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Jim Shepherd the storyline.<ref name="Frew">{{Cite web|url=http://www.deepwoods.org/frew1.html|title=The Phantom in Australia|last=Shedden|first=Brian|date=7 August 1999|accessdate=12 December 2011}}</ref> Chatto followed this by illustrating two more Phantom stories, ''Return of the Singh Brotherhood''<ref name="ComicDb"/> and ''The Kings Cross Connection'' in 1992,<ref name="B&W"/> again collaborations with Shepherd.
Chatto died of cancer on 22 October 1992<ref name="Bonzer"/> at the age of 67.<ref name="CBM"/><ref name="B&W"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{cite book|title=Comics in Australia and New Zealand: The Collections, the Collectors, the Creators|author=Toby Burrows, Grant Stone|publisher=Haworth Press|year=1994|isbn=1-56024-664-2}} * {{cite book|title=Panel By Panel: an Illustrated History of Australian Comics|author=John Ryan|publisher=Cassell|year=1979|isbn=0-7269-7376-9}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatto, Keith}} Category:Australian comic strip cartoonists Category:Australian comics artists Category:Pulp fiction artists Category:People from Newcastle, New South Wales Category:1924 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Australian comics writers Category:Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II Category:20th-century Australian illustrators Category:Australian album-cover and concert-poster artists Category:Australian magazine illustrators Category:Australian advertising artists and illustrators