Field Newspaper Syndicate
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Formerly called
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|---|---|
| Subsidiary | |
| Industry | Print syndication |
| Fate | merged into King Features (1988) |
| Founded | December 1941 |
| Founder | Marshall Field III |
| Defunct | 1988 |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
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Area served
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United States |
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Key people
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Henry Baker |
| Products | Comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons |
| Owners |
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The Field Newspaper Syndicate was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated independently from 1941 to 1984, for a good time under the name the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate. The service was founded by Marshall Field III and was part of Field Enterprises. The syndicate was most well-known for Steve Canyon, but also launched such popular, long-running strips as The Berrys, From 9 To 5, Grin and Bear It, Rivets, and Rick O'Shay. Other features included the editorial cartoons of Bill Mauldin and Jacob Burck, and the "Ask Ann Landers" advice column.
The Chicago Sun Syndicate was founded in December 1941, concurrent with the founding of Marshall Field III's Chicago Sun newspaper. Long-time syndication veteran Henry Baker was installed as manager. Comic-strip historian Allan Holtz has written regarding the origins of the Field Syndicate and its relationship to the rest of the company:
Field . . . was a syndicate initially created by Marshall Field to sell features from his Chicago Sun newspaper. When Field started the Sun he found that Chicago was pretty much all sewed up with exclusive contracts on the better features. He resolved to purchase his own features and market them. Ironically, the Field Enterprises syndicate ended up being a better moneymaker than the Sun itself. It has been said that the flagship feature, Steve Canyon, was responsible for keeping the Sun afloat for many years.
Field formed Field Enterprises in August 1944, and the syndicate became known as Field Enterprises Syndicate. At some point circa 1950, the syndicate changed its name to the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate.
In 1963 Field Enterprises and New York Herald Tribune publisher John Hay Whitney acquired the Chicago-based Publishers Newspaper Syndicate, merging syndication operations with the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate, the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate, and the syndicate of the Chicago Daily News (a newspaper that had been acquired by Field Enterprises in 1959).
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