by Philip Nel
16. Syd Hoff to author, 15 July 2001; Redfield, “‘When the Locomotive’”; Magil, interview.
CHAPTER 7
1. RKA, 5.
2. Lapsley, Margaret Mead, 275; NS to author, [Mar. 2001?].
3. RKA, 6.
4. Ibid., 7; “Where,” 98, 99.
5. RKA, 7–8.
6. Benedict, “Primitive Freedom,” 760, 762; Caffrey, Ruth Benedict, 291.
7. Columbia University in the City of New York: Directory Number for the Sessions 1939–1940, 162, 76, Columbiana Library, Columbia University Archives; Columbia University in the City of New York: Catalogue Number for the Sessions of 1940–1941, 207, Columbiana Library, Columbia University Archives; “Between Ourselves,” 28 Mar. 1939, 2; Rovere, “What Every Appeaser Should Know,” 5–6; “Why the Pact Was Signed,” 10–12.
8. RKA, 5–6.
9. Beckwith, “Barnaby,” 33; “Wife of Barnaby’s Creator Is Baltimore Authoress,” Baltimore Sun, ca. 1 Oct. 1944, RK Papers-HC; Hahn, interview.
10. Mischa Richter, interviews; Sparber, interview.
11. “This Little Gag”; Mischa Richter, interview. Richter remained at New Masses until late 1941, when he became a New Yorker cartoonist.
12. Though officially untitled, the comic strip is known by the name Little Man with the Eyes.
13. Norris, “Meet the Man,” 24; original drawing dedicated “To Ben Gray Moore with Thanks,” and CJ to Ben Gray Moore, 20 Mar. 1942, in possession of Ben Gray Moore Jr.; CJ, “Watch Ford in ‘48.” I thank Mark Newgarden for his help in figuring out CJ’s method of composition.
14. “Between Ourselves,” 2 Apr. 1940.
15. Gurney Williams, Collier’s Collects Its Wits, 80; FBI-CJ, 11 May 1951.
16. Columbia University in the City of New York: Supplement to the Directory Number 1941, 22, Columbiana Library, Columbia University Archives; 1941 New York phone book; “Crockett Johnson,” in Major Authors, ed. Collier and Nakamura, 1436; “Leisk, David Johnson,” in Something about the Author (1971), 141; “Leisk, David Johnson,” in Something about the Author (1983), 141; “‘A Hole Is to Dig? Harold Should Know,” 2; “Johnson, Crockett,” 347; “Wife of Barnaby’s Creator”; New York Office of the FBI, 11 May 1951, FBI-CJ; Heinrich, interview; RKA, 6.
17. New York Office of the FBI, 11 May 1951, FBI-CJ; World War Two Bonds Cartoons, Terry-D’Alessio Collection. Ruth was enrolled at Columbia University in the fall of 1941, although she was not a degree student, and there is no record of what classes she took.
18. World War Two Bonds Cartoons, Terry-D’Alessio Collection. Johnson’s cartoon featuring Hitler and the clock and the globe was reprinted in the 24 February 1942 issue of New Masses, his first drawing to appear in that publication since May 1940.
19. “Where,” 44–46.
20. Colored Comic Continuities stock certificate, 10 May 1941, signed George Annand, George Annand Papers, in possession of Alice McMahon; Alice McMahon to author, 3 July 2001; McMahon, interview; Norris, “Meet the Man”; Tom Hopps to author, 9 Apr. 2000; Raymond, Rowayton, 86, 88.
21. Norris, “Meet the Man”; Fisher, “Barnaby”; Mischa Richter, interview.
22. “The Saga of Barnaby,” Barnaby Quarterly 1.1 (July 1945): 25; Norris, “Meet the Man.”
CHAPTER 8
1. “The Saga of Barnaby,” Barnaby Quarterly 1.1 (July 1945): 25; “Cushlamochree!”; Fisher, “Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley.”
2. Milkman, PM, 49, 43, 1, 41; Nevins, “Pulp and Adventure Heroes: J”; Nevins, “Pulp and Adventure Heroes: P.”
3. Geisel, qtd. in Ralph Ingersoll, “Memo to the Staff,” 24 Mar. 1942, 2–3, MSS 0230, box 18, folder 27, Dr. Seuss Collection, Mandeville Special Collections, University of California at San Diego. For nine months, PM ran cartoons by both Johnson and Geisel. Although they knew each other’s work and may have met socially, they were not friends, and Johnson disliked Geisel’s style of illustration (NS, interview).
4. Norris, “Meet the Man.”
5. Fisher, “Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley.”
6. Norris, “Meet the Man,” 24.
7. Columbia University Bulletin of Information: Announcement for the Division of Philosophy, Psychology, and Anthropology for the Winter and Spring Sessions 1942–1943, 38–39, Columbiana Library, Columbia University Archives; RK to Miss Coker, 27 Mar. 1944, RK Papers-HC; “Where,” 24.
8. Benedict and Weltfish, Races, 3, 16, 18; Caffrey, Ruth Benedict, 298.
9. Ellington, “He Trusts”; Parker, “Mash Note.”
10. Norris, “Meet the Man,” 24; FBI-CJ, 11 May 1951.
11. Foster, This Rich World, rear dust jacket, 143, 125.
12. Hahn, interview.
13. Charlotte Zolotow, interview; Charlotte Zolotow, speech at RK memorial service, July 1993, cassette tape provided by Maureen O’Hara; Bader, “Ruth Krauss,” 416.
14. Mickenberg and Nel, Tales, intro. to sec. 7. See also Mickenberg, Learning, chaps. 3, 5, 7.
15. Norris, “Meet the Man,” 24; McNell and McNell, interview.
CHAPTER 9
1. “Wife of Barnaby’s Creator Is Baltimore Authoress,” Baltimore Sun, ca. 1 Oct. 1944, RK Papers-HC; Norris, “Meet the Man,” 24; Mischa Richter, interview; David Johnson Leisk and RK marriage certificate, Estate of RK, Cohen & Wolf, Bridgeport, Conn.
2. “Where,” 114.
3. UN to RK, 16 Nov. 1943, RK to UN, 1 Jan. 1944, both in RK Papers-HC.
4. Kent, Benét, Untermeyer, McKenney, qtd. in CJ, Barnaby, back dust jacket; Parker, “Mash Note”; S[eaver], “Books,” 14, Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI.
5. Philadelphia Record, 18 Oct. 1943, Henry Holt and Company advertisement, New York Times Book Review, 12 Nov. 1943, both in Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI; Publisher’s Weekly clipping, 22 Nov. 1943, photograph and handwritten note by Elenore Lust, both in Elenore Lust Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; “Speaking of Pictures”; “Cushlamochree!,” 102; “Tonight,” New York Times, 9 Nov. 1943.
6. Charles Frederick Lehmann to managing editor of PM, 27 May 1944, Pvt. Daniel H. Distler to CJ, 22 Nov. 1944, George A. Elliott III to CJ, 30 Sept. 1944, “The Things to Do,” Wilmington (Del.) Experiment Station Beacon, 4 Feb. 1944, Joseph H. Firman to CJ, 19 May 1944, “O’Malley Foiled by Crown Zippers,” Life, 10 Apr. 1944, 82, Hannah Baker to Lillian Schwartz, 28 June 1944, 21 Jan. 1946, all in Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI; Bob Miller, “Mr. O’Malley’s March” (sheet music) (1944), CJ Papers-SI.
7. RK to UN, 12 Jan., 27 Feb. 1944, both in RK Papers-HC.
8. “Ruth Krauss: Let Me Tell You a Story,” 3; “Krauss, Ruth (Ida) 1911–,” in Something about the Author, 135; unsigned letter to RK, RK to UN, [Oct. 1944?], both in RK Papers-HC.
9. RK to UN, n.d., RK Papers-HC.
10. Korff, “Children’s Books”; RK to UN, 25 Aug. 1960, RK Papers-HC; Bader, “Ruth Krauss,” 418.
11. “Wife of Barnaby’s Creator”; Sparber, interview.
12. Sparber, interview. The first strip to use type was George Herriman’s The Dingbat Family of 26 July 1910 (notable for the debut of Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse), but Herriman abandoned the experiment, preferring hand-lettering (McDonnell, O’Connell, and de Havenon, Krazy Kat, 55). I thank Chris Ware for pointing me to this Herriman strip. My description of Futura owes a debt to Burke, Paul Renner, 96–98, 113.
13. Sparber, interview.
14. Skelly, interview; Christopher Skelly to author, 13 July 2007; Stroud, “Crockett Johnson’s Geometric Paintings,” 78–79; E. H. C. Hildebrandt to CJ, 3 Mar. 1944, Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI; Gray, “Engineering Research Associates.”
15. Miles H. Wolff to Harry Elmlark, 10 July 1944, Mary E. O’Malley to editor, Baltimore Evening Sun, ca. 23 June 1944, Stephen G. May et al. to editor, Baltimore Evening Sun, ca. 24 June 1944, all in Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI.
16. Beckwith, “Barnaby.”
17. Jo Davidson to CJ, 17 Jan. 1944, Barnaby Fan Mail I, CJ Papers-SI; President’s Speech, Hugo Gellert
Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
18. Hannah Baker to Norman Dine, 26 Sept. 1944, “Ex-Rep. O’Malley’s Program: Woolgathering,” PM, 25 Oct. 1944, both in Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI.
19. Mallet, “Godfather,” 9; Mallet, “Cartoonists,” 7; Conroy, “Leisk,” 73; Binsse, “Children’s Books,” 127.
20. UN to CJ, 2 Nov. 1944, CJ to UN, 27 Nov. 1944, both in CJ Papers-HC.
21. “Events Today,” 21; “Dinner Will Honor Gropper,” 8; “Edward Chodorov Invites You to a Dinner Honoring William Gropper on Monday Evening, December Fourth at Six-Forty-Five” (program), Box 11, William Gropper Papers, Syracuse University Library, Special Collections Research Center.
22. FBI-CJ; Henrietta Buckmaster to Rockwell Kent, 6 Feb. 1945, reel 5169, frame 269, Kent Papers; Loewen, Lies across America, 246–50; Katherine Shryver to CJ, 18 Mar. 1944, Barnaby Fan Mail I, CJ Papers-SI; Hannah Baker to Katherine Shryver, 22 Mar. 1944, Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI.
23. Schallert, “Dorothy McGuire,” A10; “Musical Revivals,” 10; Denning, Cultural Front, 295–300.
24. “Nugent’s Comedy,” 16; Margolick, Strange Fruit, 40–41; Lyons, “Lyons Den,” 18; Sam Zolotow, “New Variety Show,” 17; Denning, Cultural Front, 115; “Jimmy Savo Celebrates First Anniversary, and a Comeback, at Café Society Uptown, Monday, May 22” (press release), 17 May 1944, Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI.
25. Deed of sale, 13 Feb. 1945, Probate Court, Norwalk, Conn., 307:198–99.
26. RK to UN, [Oct. 1944?], 27 Mar. 1945, both in RK Papers-HC; review of The Carrot Seed, Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service, 180; Buell, review of The Carrot Seed, 18.
27. Hopkins, “Ruth Krauss [and] Crockett Johnson,” 122; Raymond Eisenhardt to CJ, 27 Aug. 1945, RK Papers-HC; RK, untitled short story (about the writing of The Great Duffy), 29, box 7, folder 242, RK Papers-NCLC; “Krauss, Ruth (Ida) 1911–,” in Something about the Author, 135.
CHAPTER 10
1. CJ, Barnaby, 8 June, 6 Dec. 1944, both in Barnaby #4, 28, 183; American Statistical Association Bulletin 3.4 (Aug. 1944); “Small Cigaret Firms,” 8; CJ, Barnaby, 30 Jan. 1945, in Barnaby #5, 15; “Soap Opera”; Agnes Allen to CJ, 12 Apr. 1945, Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI.
2. Fisher, “Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley”; Norris, “Meet the Man,” 24.
3. RK, untitled short story (about the writing of The Great Duffy), box 7, folder 242, RK Papers-NCLC 1–2.
4. Ibid., 2, 3.
5. Antler, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, 322–23; Marcus, Margaret Wise Brown, 52.
6. Dan Richter, interview.
7. RK, untitled short story (about the writing of The Great Duffy), 22, 14, 13, 16–17.
8. Ibid., 26–27.
9. Baby Talk, in possession of NS.
10. NS, interview; RK to UN, [Feb. 1945], “Ruth Krauss, 1943–1950,” RK Papers-HC.
11. Ray and Stewart, Norwalk, 159, 212n; Elizabeth Ring Hennefrund to author, 11 Sept. 2004; Edwards, “Journalist and the G-Man,” 119, 152–54; Schnabel, interview; Marinsky, interview. Schwed, Pleasure Was Mine, 201, also uses the phrase “the Athens of South Norwalk.”
12. Fay, interview; Schwed, Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?, xii, 19, 20.
13. CJ, Barnaby, 21, 25 Feb., 24, 25, 9 Apr. 1945, all in Barnaby #5, 34, 38, 87, 88, 74.
14. New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 27 Feb. 1952, 8. FBI-CJ; The Independent, 13 Feb. 1946, 2, Reel 4625, Carl Zigrosser Papers (microfilm), Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution; For the People’s Health.
15. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Review, 41; Ben Goldstein to sponsor, 18 Aug. 1945, reel 5167, frames 669, 670, Kent Papers; letterhead and list of sponsors, Milton Wolff to Shirley Johnson, 6 Dec. 1945, reel 5155, frame 181–182, Kent Papers; Stamford Shopper, 9 Aug. 1945; New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 27 Feb. 1952, 8, FBI-CJ.
16. RK to UN, [early July 1945], RK Papers-HC.
17. RK, “Suggestion for a Movie for Adults from a Book for Children, The Great Duffy,” 1, 2, 3, 6, RK Papers-NCLC.
18. UN, “File Ruth Krauss,” 2 Nov. 1945, “Ruth Krauss 1943–1950,” RK Papers-HC.
19. Hannah Baker to CJ, 2 Nov. 1945, Barnaby Fan Mail II, CJ Papers-SI; “Escape Artist,” 49–50; CJ to Theodore E. Ferro, 16 Dec. 1946, CJ to Jack Morley, 16 Dec. 1946, both in CJ Papers-ERK.
CHAPTER 11
1. CJ, “Assorted Facts about Crockett Johnson,” Barnaby (Pocket Books, 1946), 362.
2. “Ickes for Free Speech,” 14; “Noted Professionals Back May Day,” 4.
3. Lieberman, Strangest Dream, 10; New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 28 July 1950, 5–6, New York Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 31 July 1950, 2, both in FBI-CJ; “New Yorkers Are Moving”; “Win the Peace for Whom?”; Shielfs, “600 at Win-Peace Parley,” 7.
4. CJ, Barnaby, PM, 26 Aug. 1946, 19.
5. Barney Josephson to CJ, 4 May 1946, CJ Papers-ERK; “RKO Will Produce ‘Barnaby,’” 9; “Two Plays Tonight,” 34.
6. Barney Josephson to CJ, 4 May 1946, CJ Papers-ERK; Hamilton, interview; “Two Plays Tonight,” 34; Seeley, “Barnaby’s Coming to Town,” 14; Jerome Chodorov, Crockett Johnson’s Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley (script, 1946), I-39, 2–58, in possession of Thomas Hamilton.
7. “Plan of the Book (The Following Aren’t Titles; Just Contents),” n.d., RK Papers-HC.
8. Little, “For Small Children,” 4; Fischer, review of The Great Duffy, 3; review of The Great Duffy, Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service, 490; RK, untitled short story (about the writing of The Great Duffy), 29, box 7, folder 242, RK Papers-NCLC.
9. Hamilton, interview; Sam Zolotow, “Canada Lee,” 10; Jerome Chodorov to Terry Josephson, 15 Apr. 1992, in possession of Terry Josephson; Hamilton, interview; unidentified clipping, 7 Oct. 1946, in possession of Thomas Hamilton; CJ to Barney Josephson, ca. Sept. 1947, CJ Papers-ERK.
10. RK to UN, [first half of 1947?], RK Papers-HC; “Where,” 91, 6, 103, 111; Greenwich Time, 27 Dec. 1946, qtd. in New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 28 July 1950, 4, New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 28 July 1950, 5, both in FBI-CJ; “Plans Reception,” 12; “Increase Seats,” 1, 12; “Debate on Peace Formula, 1, 12; “Wallace Raps,” 1, 6.
11. UN to RK, 11 July 1947, RK to UN, [early July 1947], both in RK Papers-HC; Dorothy A. Bennett to RK, 26 June 1947, box 2, folder 46, RK Papers-NCLC.
12. CJ to Barney Josephson, ca. Sept. 1947, CJ, draft of telegram to Barney Josephson and James Proctor, [Feb. or July?] 1947, CJ to Kay Van Riper, 4 Sept. 1947, all in CJ Papers-ERK.
13. “Where,” 117–18; “This Is the Kind of Book I Like”; Waugh, Comics, 306, 309, 310.
14. NS to author, [Mar. or Apr. 2001]; “Where,” 119; Baby Talk, in possession of NS.
15. “Where,” 47; McMahon, interview. For some of the 1947–52 period, Johnson appears to have left all or most of the work to Morley. In February 1949, for example, the strip is credited only to Morley.
16. Becker, review of The Growing Story, 14; Darling, review of The Growing Story, 16A; Gerard, review of The Growing Story, 42; review of The Growing Story, Virginia Kirkus’ Bookshop Service, 335.
CHAPTER 12
1. Nona Brown, “It’s Been a Tough Winter,” E9; “City’s Snow Costs,” 28; Tracy, “Climatological Data,” Dec. 1947, 94, Jan. 1948, 23, Feb. 1948, 23; “Where,” 2; James, qtd. in Perry, Thought and Character, 355.
2. “Where,” 1, 11, 37.
3. Ibid., 9, 10, 12.
4. Ibid., 4–6, 7, 7a–c, 25, 93.
5. Ibid., 94, 41, 42, 44, 45.
6. McNell and McNell, interview; “Where,” 29, 27.
7. “Where,” 64–65.
8. Ibid., 20, 21.
9. Jackie Curtis and O’Hara, interview; “Where,” 18.
10. �
�Where,” 18, 16, 17, 77–81, 109, 110.
11. “Where,” 22, 42, 55; Hopps, interview.
12. “Where,” 37.
13. Ibid., 49; Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson, 211; CJ, Barnaby, 8 Dec. 1948.
14. “Where,” 31, 35–36; “Wallace Returns,” 2; “Group from Connecticut,” 1; New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 28 July 1950, 5, FBI-CJ; “We Are for Wallace,” 32; Wallace, qtd. in Culver and Hyde, American Dreamer, 457.
15. “Where,” 87; Furman, “Johnston Stresses,” 32; “Aid to Family Life,” 22; Marcus, Golden Legacy, 79.
16. “Where,” 36–37, 83–86, 88, 89.
17. Furman, “Johnston Stresses,” 32; Truman, “President’s Speech,” 10; Truman, “Statement”; Masters and Masters, Barnaby: A Play for Children in Two Acts; Mabel McKee, “‘Barnaby’ Pleases in Its First Run,” Terre Haute Tribune, 3 May 1948, CJ Papers-ERK; “Agreement between Samuel French Incorporated 1899 and Robert and Lillian Masters,” CJ Papers-ERK.
18. Barnaby and Mr. O’Malley, presented by Ben Pearson (Radio Recorders, Hollywood, Calif.), acetate disc, CJ Papers-SI; Brown, interview.
19. Milkman, PM, 201, 198, 208; Harvey, “Introducing Walt Kelly,” v.
20. CJ, Barnaby, 29 May–2 June, 26 May 1948.
21. “Text of Wallace Letter,” 14; U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Un-American Activities, Review, 51.
CHAPTER 13
1. U.S. Code 2385 (Advocating Overthrow of Government); Michael Steven Smith, “Smith Act Trials, 1949,” 755–56.
2. “Text of the Platform,” 32; CJ, Barnaby, 21, 22 Sept., 27 Sept.–1 Oct., 11 Oct., 10 Nov. 1948.
3. New Haven Office of the FBI, “David Johnson Leisk, wa. Crockett Johnson,” 28 July 1950, 6, FBI-CJ.
4. CJ, Barnaby, 15, 16, 17, 31 Dec. 1948.
5. Dedman, “Celebrating,” 21; Bechtel, review of Bears, 6; Eaton, review of Bears, 11; Jordan, “Mid-Winter Booklist,” 33–34.
