Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- W. Harrison Cady was a well-known illustrator for over 70 years. He illustrated for The Saturday Evening Post, Ladie’s Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, St. Nicholas Magazine and the Herald Tribune Syndicate. Cady was born in Gardner, Massachusetts and best known for his works in Bedtime Stories, a daily-newspaper created by book and magazine writer Thornton W. Burgess. Burgess conceived the character of Peter Rabbit (not to be confused with Beatrix Potters creation of the same name), and each of these Bedtime Stories was illustrated with a drawing by Cady, who had illustrated some of Burgess magazine stories as early as 1911.

Bill Peckmann has generously sent me an article on Cady and the illustrations from one of his books,

When I first came across Fritz Baumgarten, years ago, the first thing I thought was, that I was looking at the German Harrison Cady. Unfortunately, I only have this one book of Cady’s, it’s a reprint, but I also have a Cady article that appeared in Nemo magazine, together they’ll make a neat post.

Here are Harrison Cady’s illustrations from “Mother West Wind’s Neighbor’s”. There are eight color plates and the equal number of black and whites.

The book’s cover.

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What follows is an eight page Cady article by Richard Marshall;
it’s from Richard’s magazine, Nemo, No. 4, Dec. 1983.

A blow-up of one corner of the illustration to show the detailing.

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Finally, here is a CARTOONIST PROfiles article about Cady.

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- Back in May, 2010 I posted art from a German children’s book, Zwitschi. The book was loaned by Bill Peckmann and featured a group of birds in a beautiful little story. The drawings were gentle, humorus and exquisite. Since then I’ve meant to post another book by the author, Fritz Baumgarten. This also comes from Bill Peckmann’s collection, and I have to thank him for introducing me to the work of Mr. Baumgarten.

Again it features a cast of little birds operating out of a tree. The watercolors are delicate and I think you’ll enjoy seeing the book which dates back to 1900. It’s built on a famous German song written in the 18th Century.

Book’s cover

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Here’s a translation of the lyrics into English,

The Bird Wedding

A bird wanted to get married
In the green forest.
Vider-alla-la, vider-alla-la,
Vider-alla-la-la-la.

The blackbird was the groom,
The thrush was the bride.

The geese and the ducks
Were the musicians.

The eagle owl, the eagle owl,
Brings the bride her bridal shoe.

The cuckoo shrieks, the cuckoo shrieks,
It brings the bride her bridal dress.

The sparrow, the sparrow,
Brings the bride her ring.

The dove, the dove,
Brings the bride her headdress.

The lark, the lark,
Leads the bride to the church.

The black grouse, the black grouse,
Was the sacristan and the vicar.

The small bird, the small bird,
Brings the bride the dishes.

The peacock, with his colorful tail,
Dances with the bride the first dance.

Mrs. Shoescraper, Mrs. Shoescraper*,
Gives everybody a goodbye kiss.

The bride’s mother was the owl,
Takes her leave with hootings.

The eagle owl, the eagle owl,
Closes the window shutters.

The rooster horns “Good night!”
Now, the bedroom will be closed.

The bird wedding is now over,
All the birds fly home.

- Bill Peckmann recently introduced me to a fabulous German illustrator, Fritz Baumgarten, who’s created many beautiful children’s books. They feel as though they come from an earlier generation. Baumgarten died in 1966, so in a sense they are, but they feel more like the 30s and 40s – Snow White.

I’d like to post one of them, written by Liselotte Burger von Dessart. Zwitschi.

cover
(Click any image to enlarge.)

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I’ll have another book by Baumgarten soon. Thanks to Bill Peckmann.