Roger Martin Bradfield (September 22, 1924 – December 31, 2021) was an American children's books writer, illustrator, cartoonist, painter, and world traveller.

Early life

Bradfield was born in 1924 in White Bear, Minnesota,^[1] and was raised by his mother and grandmother.

Art

Roger Bradfield won several art contests as a child and had early encouragement from his high school art teacher to pursue a career in the arts. His preferred medium is watercolor, although he has also proven himself to be proficient in pencil, pen and ink, and acrylic.

Food products

Bradfield worked on the General Mills cereal boxes of the early 1960s. These included children's cereals, such as Kix, Trix, Wheaties and Jets, among other work. He also worked on Mr Bubble and some projects for the Pillsbury Company. In 1964, he did the spot illustrations for the Bisquick Cookbook for the Bisquick baking product. In 1968 Roger created the first Keebler elves for a series of commercials for FilmFair, an animation studio, which were commissioned by Chicago ad agency, Leo Burnett.

Children's books

"Jolly" Roger Bradfield is perhaps best known for his work as a children's book author and illustrator. He began his writing career when he was teaching himself how to type. Bored with the tutorials of his text book, Bradfield chose to practice his typing by writing something fun. Thus, his first book There's an Elephant in the Bathtub was created. Bradfield went on to write and illustrate several other titles including Pickle-Chiffon Pie, Benjamin Dilley's Thirsty Camel, Giants Come in Different Sizes, The Flying Hockey Stick, and Benjamin Dilley's Lavender Lion. The "Jolly" Roger books are known mostly for their colorful illustrations and wildly imaginative stories.

Bradfield illustrated some of the earliest Sesame Street storybooks, including The Together Book, the first Sesame Street book in the popular Little Golden Books line. He also illustrated Bert's Hall of Great Inventions, Big Bird's Birthday Party, and Sherlock Hemlock and the Great Twiddlebug Mystery.

His children's books have found a second life with Purple House Press—since 2004 the small press has reissued six of Bradfield's books.

Comics

From 1972 to 1978, Bradfield worked as a newspaper syndicate cartoonist creating the daily and Sunday comic strip Dooley's World. The strip featured stories centering on a boy and his collection of living toys. These comics featured many unique visual gags and puns. The strip was distributed by King Features Syndicate.

In addition to the little boy, Dooley, recurring characters were the Professor, a know-it-all wind-up toy figure, Norman, a sophisticated and reflective wind-up knight, Thelma, an unhappy and bullying rag doll, and Max, an introverted mouse.

Paintings

Bradfield created vibrant and colorful paintings. These paintings mostly depict subjects that he found on his world travels and playful and fun images that he conjured up with his imagination. His preferred medium was watercolor, but he also dabbled in acrylic, ink, and pencil.

World travel

He was also an extensive world traveller and visited and sketched in countries that include Greece, Norway, Portugal, France, Italy, Mexico, England, and Spain. On one trip to Mexico, Bradfield's plane had a minor accident resulting in some damage to the plane's wing tanks. So, he enlisted the help of some of the local children getting them to patch the damage up with large wads of bubble gum. The scheme did not work, as the gasoline melted the bubble gum, but the plane managed to reach its destination safely anyway.

Personal life and death

Bradfield and his wife, Joan, raised five children. He died on December 31, 2021, at the age of 97.^[2]

Select bibliography

References

External links

• Roger Bradfield's Home Page
• Interview with Bradfield
• Details of his work on cereal boxes
• Roger Bradfield's books at Purple House Press