I posted this on my Prone to Wander Facebook page as well. I apologize to some of you who may have already seen it there.
"Dear Garth[Williams]:
I will write you a good letter soon.
But not today.
Today all I can say to you is why did you decide to put three sleeves on Frances' bathrobe on Page 15 and again on Page 18 of Bedtime for Frances.......????? I didn't notice the three sleeves. Neither did Russ[Hoban]. Or the salesmen to whom I showed the pictures at the Sales Conference.
...
Garth, badgers only have two arms in their bathrobes.
We realize that you are a very famous artist and if for the same price you will draw three sleeves instead of just two sleeves I guess we should be grateful. But three sleeves is one too many.
...
I sure as he** wouldn't go to bed and to sleep in a room with a bathrobe with three sleeves...... And I'm a very OLD badger."
"Dear Garth[Williams]:
I will write you a good letter soon.
But not today.
Today all I can say to you is why did you decide to put three sleeves on Frances' bathrobe on Page 15 and again on Page 18 of Bedtime for Frances.......????? I didn't notice the three sleeves. Neither did Russ[Hoban]. Or the salesmen to whom I showed the pictures at the Sales Conference.
...
Garth, badgers only have two arms in their bathrobes.
We realize that you are a very famous artist and if for the same price you will draw three sleeves instead of just two sleeves I guess we should be grateful. But three sleeves is one too many.
...
I sure as he** wouldn't go to bed and to sleep in a room with a bathrobe with three sleeves...... And I'm a very OLD badger."
~ Ursula Nordstrom, from Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom collected and edited by Leonard S. Marcus
I got our copy of the book out and asked two family members how many sleeves they saw in the illustration. They both said two. So I guess it depends on how you look at it!
ReplyDeleteMama Squirrel, excellent detective work! The rest of the letter that I didn't quote from goes on to say the following:
ReplyDelete"Well, I just went up to show the pictures to Dorothy Hagen and she thinks she can fill in a little white spot with benday so the third sleeve (which, seriously, is the bottom of the robe we all think) won't look quite so obvious."
So perhaps the Ben-Day trick worked! :)