Ketcham started in the business as an assistant animator for
Walter Lantz and, starting in 1939, for Walt Disney, where he worked on
Pinocchio,
Fantasia,
Bambi, and several
Donald Duck shorts. During
World War II, Ketcham was a photographic specialist with the
U.S. Navy Reserve. He also created the character
Mr. Hook for the Navy during World War II, and four cartoons were made (one by
Walter Lantz Productions, in color, and three by
Warner Bros. Cartoons, in black and white). Also while in the Navy, he began a camp newspaper strip,
Half Hitch, which ran in
The Saturday Evening Post beginning in 1943. By 1944, his freelance cartoons were running in ''
Collier's and Liberty'' magazines. After World War II, Ketcham settled in
Carmel, California, and began work as a freelance cartoonist. He built a two-bedroom redwood house and studio in
Carmel Woods. The Spanish adobe home on the Carmel Valley property was designed by architect
Hugh W. Comstock with bitudobe brick. On the edge of the orchard was a Victorian ranch house for the foreman and his family, designed by architect Wilson Mizner. In 1958, Dennis Play Products, Inc., was created by Ketcham to distribute toys, which included the Dennis the Menace Doll, Ruff Dog, and Banshee Ball. Between 1959 and 1964
Dennis the Menace was broadcast on CBS television, based on the Ketcham comic strip. The show was a great success. In 1970,
King Features Syndicate revived Ketcham's wartime strip
Half Hitch as a newspaper comic. The strip was published under Ketcham's name, although it was drawn and written by others. The new version of
Half Hitch ran until 1975. ==Family==