Filed Under: "Fabulous Firework Family"

The work isn’t titled, and there’s no specific reference to Independence Day, but this unpublished 1990s acrylic on canvas suggests celebratory patriotism and civic pride, so we’ll offer it as tribute to our nation’s founding 236 years ago today. P.S. This non sequitur works too. Illustration from The Fabulous Firework Family, Flora’s first (1955) children’s book.

Black ink on vellum overlay of illustration from Flora’s first children’s book, The Fabulous Firework Family (1955). One of numerous such artifacts donated by Flora to the Dr. Irvin C. Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota Libraries. Overlays were used to indicate colors for printing. Flora’s books were published over a 27-year span, during which printing processes underwent a number of developments. However, all Flora’s books pre-date digital printing techniques.

Flora’s first children’s book, published in 1955, was adapted for animation by UPA‘s Terrytoons in 1959. It was directed by Al Kousel and produced by Flora’s longtime friend Gene Deitch. Jerry Beck of Cartoon Brew posted it to YouTube and wrote about the project at his blog here. We agree with Jerry’s assessment: “Though Flora was involved with adapting the story to the screen, the final result wasn’t entirely successful in translating the charm of…

Draft illustration, The Fabulous Firework Family, 1955(published that year by Harcourt, Brace) note: reposted from 2007

Not the artist’s title, but a descriptive one nevertheless:Detail from The Fabulous Firework Family (1955) first draft, a hand-drawn image from the Kerlan Collection, University of Minnesota. Oddly, these two critters had nothing to do with the story, and do not figure in the published edition. (Rumor has it they were dropped from the FFF project after a pay dispute.) They appear to be wearing costumes fashioned from tablecloth scraps.

“Next [Amelia and Pepito] went to the puppet show, and then they watched the acrobats. Best of all they liked the toy vendor. Pepito finally decided to buy a jumping jack. Amelia bought a rag doll and named it after her best friend Rosita because both of them had red cheeks.” Draft illustration, The Fabulous Firework Family, Flora’s first published children’s book (1955). Image from the James Flora Papers, Archives & Special Collections at the…

Detail, draft manuscript, The Fabulous Firework Family (1955)