Walter Keane - Background

Background

Walter Keane was born in Lincoln, Nebraska in October 7, 1915, one of 10 children from his father's second marriage. His father Stanley Keane was born in Ireland, his mother Johnson in Denmark. Keane grew up near the center of Lincoln and made money by selling shoes. In the early 1930s he moved to Los Angeles, California where he attended Los Angeles City College. He moved to Berkeley, California in the 1940s with his bride Barbara Ingham Keane, and went into real estate, both were real estate brokers. Their first child, a son, died shortly after birth in the hospital. In 1947 they had a healthy baby girl, Susan Hale Keane. Walter and Barbara bought a huge home, over 5,000 sq ft (with a ballroom) designed by the architect Julia Morgan (who also designed Hearst Castle.) In 1948 the Keanes traveled to Europe, living in Heidelberg and later Paris. It was in Paris that Walter studied art, painting primarily nudes and Paris street scenes. His wife Barbara studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu, and also studied dress design in various Couturier Houses in Paris. They were amazed at how quickly their young daughter picked up foreign languages, and when they returned to their home in Berkeley, California, began an educational toy business called "Susie Keane's Puppeteens", teaching children to speak French through the use of handmade puppets, phonograph records, and a book. The "ballroom" of their large home became an assembly line of hand painted "wide eyed" wooden puppets, with various intricately made costumes. The puppets were sold in high-end stores like Saks Fifth Avenue.

Barbara Keane later became head of her own department in dress design at the University of California in Berkeley. Walter Keane subsequently closed his Berkeley, California real estate firm and the toy company to devote full-time to his painting. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1952.

At a fairgrounds in 1953, Walter met an artist doing charcoal sketches, her name was Margaret (Doris Hawkins) Ulbrich. She was married to Frank Ulbrich and had one daughter, Jane Ulbrich. Margaret and Frank later divorced and Margaret married Walter Keane in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1955.

Walter Keane married his third wife, Joan Mervin of British Columbia, Canada, after his divorce with Margaret was final. They had two children in the early 1970s, while living in London, England. That marriage also ended in divorce.