Family & Social Life

Johnny's Machines written by Helen Palmer with illustrations by Cornelius De Witt, and published by Simon & Schuster in New York, New York, in 1949, reprint 1950.

Cornelius De Witt (1905-1956) was born in Germany but spent most of his life in and around New York. De Witt worked successfully in several mediums including printmaking, painting and illustration. De Witt‘s realistic style of drawing created distinctly visual images and in turn children found the books easy to read and comprehend. He was best known for his Golden book on the human body.

Come Play House written by Edith Osswald with illustrations by Eloise Wilkin. This book was published by Simon and Schuster in New York, New York, in 1948, reprinted 1949.

A Graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology, Eloise Wilkin (1904-1987) studied illustration. In her early years she worked as a freelance artist in New York City, illustrating schoolbooks for children learning to read, paper dolls and puzzles. She was married and raising a family in upstate New York when she started working from home creating illustrations for Little Golden Books in 1946. A prolific illustrator, Wilkin's work is easily identifiable for her adorable images of children with round faces and rosy pink cheeks. It is reported that she modeled her characters on her own family members and friends. Her beautifully detailed settings and backgrounds demonstrate her meticulous research and attention to detail. Her depiction of the idyllic home and family life reflected the post war optimism of the 1950s. She worked for Little Golden Books until 1984 and continued to design dolls for Vogue and Madame Alexander.

A stalwart Catholic, Wilkins was much attuned to the awakening social conscious of the 1960s. In 1964, the National Urban League, headed up by Whitney Young, brought attention to what he considered a fundamental omission on the part of the juvenile publishing world who he accused of racial stereotyping. Indeed, there were no children of color depicted in this vast category of books, but Eleanor Wilkin was one of the first illustrators to include an integrated classroom in We Like Kindergarten.

Doc Evans Ensemble. side 1: Fidgety Feet; side 2: Clarinet Marmalade (Disc 6071), from the album, Doc Evans' Dixieland Five (Disc).
78 rpm.

Album cover illustration was by David Stone Martin (born David Livingstone Martin, 1913-1992). Martin was an American artist best known for his illustrations on jazz album covers for labels including Mercury, Asch, Disc, and Dial. Many of his commissions were from Martin’s longtime friend, American jazz record producer and concert promoter Norman Granz (1918-2001).

Rocky and His Friends was written by Ann McGovern with illustrations by Ben De Nunez and Al White, and published by Golden Press in New York, New York, in 1960, 2nd Printing in 1973.

Like many of the other artists that worked on Little Golden Books, Ben De Nunez worked as an animator at Disney Studios from 1955 to 1961. Information on Al White is limited but we do know he worked at Disney at some point and was the “background” illustrator for Little Golden Books from 1959-1964. White’s illustrations for Little Golden Books includes, Top Cat, Ruff and Reddy and Bozo Finds a Friend.

The techniques used to create the 2-d images limited the animator who created images with strong, well defined outlines and flat colors, but with the more complex 3-d process used for book illustrations, the illustrator had more freedom and created characters that became part of the background, blending both techniques to create a more 3-d image. De Nunez was known as a character illustrator and White was a background illustrator. Despite the difference in artistic styles, both illustrators worked together to create a unified picture.

The introduction of TV into the home had great impact on American society and culture, and its impact on Little Golden Books was no exception. In the 19th century consumer products such as toys, books and games were already used as a tie-in to historical events, sports and famous people, and this phenomenon was expanded with the introduction of radio, movies and television. These new means of communication generated a whole new cast of characters and the impact on Golden Books was significant. A license with Walt Disney granted Little Golden Books the right to publish stories about some of Disney’s earliest creations, including favorites such as Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty. Moreover, the books began to feature television personalities like Howdy Doody, Roy Rogers and Captain Kangaroo, as well as popular Saturday morning cartoon characters like Woody Woodpecker, Bugs Bunny and Huckleberry Hound. These new partnerships with Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera significantly reduced the development of original stories and instead the books featured stories taken from children’s television shows. This opened the flood gates to create consumer products associated with popular movie and cartoon personalities. This practice continues today and proves to be a very lucrative endeavor.

Original artwork, of page 19, from the book Howdy Doody's Lucky Trip, written by Edward Kean with illustrations by Harry McNaught, and published by Simon & Schuster in New York, New York, in 1953.

In addition to Howdy Doody's Lucky Trip, Harry McNaught illustrated several Little Golden Books, including the Wizard of Oz series from the 1950s, the popular Animal Babies and several Big Golden Books on nature and science. More recently, he created the images for two Little Golden Books on the characters from the Muppets.

From 1947 to 1960, the Howdy Doody Show was the leading children’s TV program in the United States. The creator of the Howdy Doody character, “Buffalo” Bob Smith, first performed him as a radio character. When the show transitioned to TV, Frank Paris created the new puppet, but left the show (with the puppet) in 1948 to disputes over merchandising rights. Velma Dawson created the now ubiquitous Howdy Doody that debuted in 1949. This Howdy Doody became popular spokes character, hawking sponsored products on the show or in print.

side 1: Joe Sullivan Quartet. Panama; side 2: Joe Sullivan. The Chimes (Disc 6004), from the album, Joe Sullivan Quartet (Disc 701).
78 rpm.

Album cover illustration was by David Stone Martin (born David Livingstone Martin, 1913-1992). Martin was an American artist best known for his illustrations on jazz album covers for labels including Mercury, Asch, Disc, and Dial. Many of his commissions were from Martin’s longtime friend, American jazz record producer and concert promoter Norman Granz (1918-2001).

Original artwork, of page 24, for the book, Gaston and Josephine, written by Georges Duplaix with illustrations by Feodor Rojankovsky, and published by Simon & Schuster in New York, New York, in 1949.

At an early age, Latvian-born Feodor Rojankovsky (1891-1970) discovered his passion for drawing and was captivated with animals an d the natural world. He entered the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts but was drafted into the Russian Army during World War I, where he worked as a sketch artist documenting the war. In 1927, he moved to Paris to continue his study of art and became interested in fashion, theatrical set design and illustrating children’s books.

Rojankovsky’s keen sense of observation and his vivid imagination, coupled with his love for nature, was a major source of inspiration for his artwork. Flat, richly detailed, colorful illustrations evoked the fanciful drawings of the folklore tradition of European fairy tales. When the Nazi influence spread through Europe, Rojankovsky fled to the United States. His talents were quickly recognized and, like many of the other Golden Book illustrators, he was hired to work for the Artists and Writers Guild in New York. He created illustrations for numerous Little Golden Books, including The Three Bears and Farm Favorites.

Most of Feodor Rojankovsky’s characters were animals who took on human traits and characteristics. Gaston and Josephine are two French pigs who decide to run away from their home in the French countryside. The story follows their escapades as they make their way to the docks to board an ocean liner and embark on their journey to the United States.

side 1: The Baby Dodds Trio. Albert's Blues; side 2: Don Ewell and Baby Dodds. Manhattan Stomp (Circle J-1002) from the album, A Session With Baby Dodds (Circle S-17).
78 rpm.

Album design was by Jimmy Ernst (born Hans-Ulrich Ernst, 1920-1984), a German-born American painter.