born in alaska, from a mother with the maiden name pavlof, partch studied at the university of arizona and the chouinard art institute in los angeles. he later worked for the disney studios, where he was among those fired after taking part in the disney animators' strike of 1941. soon, he began selling gag cartoons to large-circulation magazines, including "collier's", "the new yorker", "playboy", and "true". after he left disney, he worked briefly for walter lantz on woody woodpecker cartoons.