Uncle Wiggily

How about some more Little Golden Book goodness? I've been meaning to scan this for months now. Finally found some time to do it. And it's a beaut:


Uncle Wiggily, by Howard R. Garis. Pictures by Mel Crawford. 1953.

Let's just say that Mel Crawford is THE MAN. This is a fantastic LGB, with gorgeous illustrations by Mel. One of my favorite children's books in my collection. Oh, and yes, this is the book that I'm holding in my icon image over there on the right.

For the record, Mel Crawford is still alive and doing well. He's got a blog, even.

Here's his official site: MelCrawford.com.

He's listed on this site for Little Golden Books illustrators: Collecting Little Golden Books: Illustrators - Authors.




One thing I noticed on this book is that there are a great deal of two-page spreads. This gives the book a greater sense of landscape and wider scope. Like the film industry's push to go wide screen in the '50's with Cinescope and Cinerama to attract more viewers, I almost get the sense that Mel was doing the same here in this book. Notice how almost all of the pages are two-page spreads -- it opens the book up considerably. (I know that these 400 pixel wide images don't do it justice. I'm allowing larger downloads of these pages for a short while on my Flickr. Just click on the images below and then click on "All Sizes" right above each image to get the full effect.)




I love how he went completely yellow for the main background color, instead of white. Nice overall tone here.














This is the last page. Lovely stuff. What a jolly guy.


Here's the full endpapers for Uncle Wiggily. In excellent condition. Well, I should say that I Photoshopped out the name that was written there on the left. Thought that everyone should get a nice glimpse of this artwork. Not sure who did this, but it's wonderful.

I've started up a new Flickr set: My LGB's. I'll be adding more to this set shortly. Stay tuned.

And oh, yes. I have to plug my Flickr group once more...if you like this sort of stuff, definitely check out The Retro Kid.

Gay Purr-ee

Gay Purr-ee, Adapted by Carl Memling. Pictures by Hawley Pratt, Harland Young and Herb Fillmore. 1962. This Little Golden Book is based off the UPA motion picture, which was released in the same year. I was taken aback by this book since I never knew that they had even made a book for the film. And strangely enough, this is not the only one. There was another LGB published, but features Mewsette's storyline. Click here to check it out.

Hawley Pratt was Friz Freleng's layout artist for many years, working at Warner Bros. and DePatie-Freleng. I should say that Hawley should not be confused with Pete Hawley, who was a well-renowned illustrator. Harland Young is still alive and paints for a living. Not sure if Herb Fillmore is still alive, but I did find a few prints of his paintings (scroll down a bit).

The colors are a little washed out on this book, thanks in part to both age and my terrible scanner. I'm currently scouring the market for a decent one.


Gay Purr-ee on IMDB.
Gay Purr-ee on Wikipedia.

Here are some scans of the book for you to enjoy:












Oh man, I love those trees. Nice work on this page.


I love that guy there. Tell me that all French gardeners dress and look like this, please?




This is a nice page here. Love the layout and deep colors.









More fun vintage goodies like this can be found at The Retro Kid. I've got another LGB ready to upload and post about probably later on tonight. Stay tuned. You'll dig it. Very fun.