How Curious George Escaped the Nazis

It was a manuscript called "The Adventures of Fifi" based on the life of a little monkey.  Not even a world war would stop its publication.  It had a long journey to America:  a 133-kilometre bike ride, a long train ride, and two long boat rides.  But it made it in one piece and now is available for everyone to enjoy as Curious George.

Hans Augusto Reyersbach, born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, loved to draw.  He would sketch the animals at the zoo and the horses in the park.  He fought in World War I and returned to his hometown.  In the mid-1920's, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he donned a large yellow hat and sailed up and down the Amazon River, sketching and photographing monkeys and other wildlife.

Margarete Waldstein courtesy http://www.holocaustmuseumswfl.org/education/teachers/teachers-portal/elementary-school-ideas-curriculum/curious-george-escaped-holocaust/.

An acquaintance of Hans' named Margarete Waldstein also grew up in Hamburg.  She, too, dreamed of being an artist, attending Germany's famous Bauhaus School.  In 1935, she followed Hans to Rio de Janeiro where the two spent months sketching and photographing.  Later that year, they married.

In 1936, the young couple moved back to Europe, this time to Paris, France.  They were both Jewish and wanted to avoid Germany due to Hitler's anti-Semetic laws.  They set up a cozy home in an apartment at the Terrass Hotel.  The couple would sketch the fishermen on the River Seine, the booksellers on the quay and the animals at the zoo.

Hotel Terrass courtesy http://www.terrass-hotel.com/l-hotel/un-peu-d-histoire.

Paris is where the Reyersbach's started writing their children's books.  The late 1930's was a difficult time to get a book published:  typesetters had joined the army, paper was scarce and the laws were strict (propaganda).  Nevertheless, the artists-turned-authors managed to get an advance from a Paris Publisher for three manuscripts including "The Adventures of Fifi".

However, while their manuscript was being typed, World War II was brewing.  News spread quickly that the Nazis were "goosestepping" their way across France.  Paris filled with refugees from the north:  Belgian farm carts and horses passed Dutch cars with mattresses tied to the roofs; taxis, trucks and green city busses whizzed by the Reyersbach's window.  It was time for the couple to join the ranks of the two million refugees.

Family flees Paris circa 1940 courtesy http://cdn.theatlantic.com.

Hans made several trips to government agencies to get their passports in order.  THUMP!  THUMP!  He also tried to purchase train tickets out of the French capital but the trains were no longer running.  Hans purchased a tandem bicycle, but he and Margarete tried to pedal it on Paris' cobblestone streets but "sans succes".  He returned the bike, bought spare bicycle parts for 1600 francs, and assembled two separate bikes.  He also bought four large baskets, two to hold bread, cheese and meat, and two to hold clothes and their precious manuscripts.


Finally, the Reyersbach's were ready for their journey.  Under the drone of the German scout planes, they left the Terrass Hotel and pedalled through the streets of Paris, part of the largest motorized evacuation in history.  As rain pattered their bicycles, Hans was relieved that their manuscript was clean and dry under his winter coat inside one of the baskets.  The first day, they rode 48 kilometres.  A gracious farmer's wife offered them shelter in her house on that first night.  On the second day, they rode 26 kilometres and were offered a spot to rest their weary limbs in a farmer's stable.  On the third day, they pedalled 32 kilometres.  They reached Etampes, France not a moment too soon for it was bombed only two days later.

The map outlining the Reyersbach's flight from Nazi-occupied France courtesy https://www.amazon.com/Journey-That-Saved-Curious-George/dp/0547417462.

At Orleans, they boarded a train with their bicycles which steamed south to Bayonne as they stretched their weary limbs.  They disembarked at Bayonne and remounted their bikes bound for Hendaye.  There, they caught a second train, this one headed through Spain to Portugal.  Hans sold their "bicyclettes" for 650 francs at the train station, money that would come in handy soon.

At Lisbon, they bought tickets for a trans-Atlantic passage to South America.  One official thought Hans might be a spy, given his attire and his briefcase.  However, all was well once he opened the case and revealed his "livre pour les enfants".  The Reyersbach's boarded a ship named "Angola" which safely took them across the Atlantic to Brazil.  They waited two months for their papers to be in order.  THUMP!  THUMP!

Finally, in October of 1940, four months after they pedalled out of wartime Paris, they sailed into peacetime New York, with the Statue of Liberty in full view.  Only a year later, the former Fifi landed on American bookshelves as Curious George.  And the Reyersbach's became the Rey's.  What a journey for the little monkey and the man with the yellow hat!

Original cover courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

Source:  The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise Borden.

The History of Picture Books: The Illustrations

"Caldecott's work heralds the beginning of the picture book." 

(Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Grow)

Ralph Caldecott courtesy upload.wikimedia.org.

One hundred and thirty years ago, artist Randolph Caldecott was one of the first artists "to elevate the image into a storytelling vehicle" (http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/02/24/childrens-picturebooks/).  As Maurice Sendak explained:

"Caldecott's work heralds the beginning of the picture book.  He devised an ingenious juxtaposition of picture and word, a counter point that never happened before.  Words are left out -- but the picture says it.  Pictures are left out, but the words say it.  In short, it is the invention of the picture book."

The House That Jack Built and Ride a Cock Horse to Branbury Cross are but two of Caldecott's "toy books".  The precursor to the picture book, the toy book, popular in Victorian-era England, featured six illustrations, a small amount of text, and sold for six pence.

Caldecott's work was so influential that a picture book award was named in his honour.  The first Caldecott Medal, awarded in 1938 for "the most distinguishable American picture book for children", went to Animals of the Bible by Dorothy Lathrop.  It has been awarded every year since.

Walter Crane, another Victorian era illustrator, wrote toy books as well including Baby's Own Aesop, which included several fables, and The Alphabet of Old Friends, an early ABC book. 

According to blogger Maria Popova, picture books blossomed in the late 1800's and early 1900's thanks to the advances in print technology, the changing attitude towards children and the new class of artists.  

Picture books really came into their own in the 1920's.  The Story of Dr. Doolittle, which debuted in 1920, is about a man who discovers he can talk to animals.  It is one of twelve books written by Hugh Lofting.  The highly successful Millions of Cats, illustrated by painter Wanda Gag, appeared on bookshelves in 1928.  Gag penned over a dozen picture books.

While many successful picture books came out of Britain, we cannot neglect to talk about France. Cecile de Brunhoff used to tell her young sons a story at bedtime about an elephant who escapes from the zoo to a city which resembles Paris, marries and raises a family.  Her sons recommended to their dad, a painter, that he make the story into a picture book.  The result was Histoire de Babar which first appeared in print in 1931.  Two years later, it was translated into English as Babar the Elephant. 

Jean de Brunhoff, who wrote seven books, passed away in the 1940's, but his son Laurent took over the series, producing dozens more.

In 1937, Theodor Geisel debuted in the children's book field with his story And to Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street.  To learn how the former cartoonist broke into the children's book business, see my post "From Madison Ave to Mulberry St" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/04/april-29.html. Full of unmistakable rhythm and rhyme, Geisel's books were an immediate success.  While his earliest works were drawn with pencil, he used pen and ink after the Second World War.  Later books, like The Lorax, were filled with colour.  Under the nom de plume Dr. Seuss, he published over 60 books.

While World War II limited the supply of paper and manpower in the publishing houses, new children's books still rolled off the presses.  Curious George, the creation of the Reyersbach's, a Jewish couple who fled Paris immediately before the Nazi invasion, was based on a monkey and his mishaps.  To learn more about how the book came to be published, read "The Journey that Saved Curious George" at http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2012/10/october-21.html.  Still popular today, the series has sold 25 million copies.

The line between author and artist started to blur in the 1950's.  Paul Rand, a proponent of visual thinking, produced such books as Sparkle & Spin, Little 1, and Listen!  Listen!

British artists, known for their use of vibrant paint and colours, appeared in the 1960's.  Maurice Sendak produced his famous story Where the Wild Things Are (1963).  Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, Miroslav Sasek, a Czech immigrant to Germany, wrote Stone is Not Cold (1961) and This is Paris (1959) the first of 18 such books.  

Political subjects infiltrated the world of picture books with stories like The Butter Battle Book (1984), a Cold War tale, by Dr. Seuss, and No Hay Tiempo Para Jugar or No Time to Play (2004), based on child labourers in Mexico.  

Today, e-books are all over the Internet.  It's a Book (2010) by Lane Smith features a character examining a good old fashioned book and asking:  How do you scroll down?  Does it need a password?  Can it tweet?  But good old fashioned books continue to grace the shelves of our bookstores and libraries, full of beautiful artwork and compelling stories.

Note:  For more information, read Children's Picturebooks:  The Art of Visual Storytelling by Martin Salisbury & Morag Styles.

The Journey That Saved Curious George

It was a manuscript called "The Adventures of Fifi" based on the life of a little monkey.  Not even a world war would stop its publication.  It had a long journey to America:  a 133-kilometre bike ride, a long train ride, and two long boat rides.  But it made it in one piece and now is available for everyone to enjoy as Curious George.

Hans Augusto Reyersbach, born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, loved to draw.  He would sketch the animals at the zoo and the horses in the park.  He fought in World War I and returned to his hometown.  In the mid-1920's, he moved to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he donned a large yellow hat and sailed up and down the Amazon River, sketching and photographing monkeys and other wildlife. 

Margarete Waldstein courtesy http://www.holocaustmuseumswfl.org/education/teachers/teachers-portal/elementary-school-ideas-curriculum/curious-george-escaped-holocaust/.

An acquaintance of Hans' named Margarete Waldstein also grew up in Hamburg.  She, too, dreamed of being an artist, attending Germany's famous Bauhaus School.  In 1935, she followed Hans to Rio de Janeiro where the two spent months sketching and photographing.  Later that year, they married.

In 1936, the young couple moved back to Europe, this time to Paris, France.  They were both Jewish and wanted to avoid Germany due to Hitler's anti-Semetic laws.  They set up a cozy home in an apartment at the Terrass Hotel.  The couple would sketch the fishermen on the River Seine, the booksellers on the quay and the animals at the zoo.

Hotel Terrass courtesy http://www.terrass-hotel.com/l-hotel/un-peu-d-histoire.

Paris is where the Reyersbach's started writing their children's books.  The late 1930's was a difficult time to get a book published:  typesetters had joined the army, paper was scarce and the laws were strict (propaganda).  Nevertheless, the artists-turned-authors managed to get an advance from a Paris Publisher for three manuscripts including "The Adventures of Fifi".

However, while their manuscript was being typed, World War II was brewing.  News spread quickly that the Nazis were "goosestepping" their way across France.  Paris filled with refugees from the north:  Belgian farm carts and horses passed Dutch cars with mattresses tied to the roofs; taxis, trucks and green city busses whizzed by the Reyersbach's window.  It was time for the couple to join the ranks of the two million refugees.

Family flees Paris circa 1940 courtesy http://cdn.theatlantic.com.

Hans made several trips to government agencies to get their passports in order.  THUMP!  THUMP!  He also tried to purchase train tickets out of the French capital but the trains were no longer running.  Hans purchased a tandem bicycle, but he and Margarete tried to pedal it on Paris' cobblestone streets but "sans succes".  He returned the bike, bought spare bicycle parts for 1600 francs, and assembled two separate bikes.  He also bought four large baskets, two to hold bread, cheese and meat, and two to hold clothes and their precious manuscripts.


Finally, the Reyersbach's were ready for their journey.  Under the drone of the German scout planes, they left the Terrass Hotel and pedalled through the streets of Paris, part of the largest motorized evacuation in history.  As rain pattered their bicycles, Hans was relieved that their manuscript was clean and dry under his winter coat inside one of the baskets.  The first day, they rode 48 kilometres.  A gracious farmer's wife offered them shelter in her house on that first night.  On the second day, they rode 26 kilometres and were offered a spot to rest their weary limbs in a farmer's stable.  On the third day, they pedalled 32 kilometres.  They reached Etampes, France not a moment too soon for it was bombed only two days later. 

The map outlining the Reyersbach's flight from Nazi-occupied France courtesy https://www.amazon.com/Journey-That-Saved-Curious-George/dp/0547417462.

At Orleans, they boarded a train with their bicycles which steamed south to Bayonne as they stretched their weary limbs.  They disembarked at Bayonne and remounted their bikes bound for Hendaye.  There, they caught a second train, this one headed through Spain to Portugal.  Hans sold their "bicyclettes" for 650 francs at the train station, money that would come in handy soon.

At Lisbon, they bought tickets for a trans-Atlantic passage to South America.  One official thought Hans might be a spy, given his attire and his briefcase.  However, all was well once he opened the case and revealed his "livre pour les enfants".  The Reyersbach's boarded a ship named "Angola" which safely took them across the Atlantic to Brazil.  They waited two months for their papers to be in order.  THUMP!  THUMP! 

Finally, in October of 1940, four months after they pedalled out of wartime Paris, they sailed into peacetime New York, with the Statue of Liberty in full view.  Only a year later, the former Fifi landed on American bookshelves as Curious George.  And the Reyersbach's became the Rey's.  What a journey for the little monkey and the man with the yellow hat!

Original cover courtesy http://upload.wikimedia.org.

Source:  The Journey that Saved Curious George by Louise Borden.