“.. a memorable hero, a compelling setting and a story that captivates multiple generations.” Jane Bayard Curley Discusses the Carle’s Ferdinand Exhibit

It’s not that Ferdinand hasn’t been exploited.

Sure he has. Anyone as sweet and docile as that pacifist bull who first appeared 90 years ago on the pages of a mere picture book was bound to be taken advantage of at some point. The funny thing is, it doesn’t seem to touch him. First there was the Disney animated short based on the book. Then the full-length feature movie in 2017. And yet when we think of Ferdinand, what we think of is his picture book by Munro Leaf and Robert Lawson.

This spring, a special exhibition at The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art celebrates the 90^th anniversary of Ferdinand. Opening May 9, Under the Cork Tree: The Story of Ferdinand features the original drawings and manuscript of this legendary work, as well as materials from the Disney animated film and Ferdinand memorabilia. The exhibition gives a rare look at the original drawings, which showcase views of the Spanish landscape, characters like the preening matador, and the cinematic drama of an ill-timed bee sting.

Today, I have a chance to talk with guest curator Jane Bayard Curley about Ferdinand’s legacy, the exhibit itself, and why this quiet bull has become an icon for almost a full century.

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Betsy Bird: Jane, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us today. 90-year-old The Story of Ferdinand has a staying power that any picture book might envy. What drew you to curating this particular book for this particular show? 

Jane Curley: I had suggested that The Carle might want to do an exhibition on Robert Lawson, and they wisely simplified what would have been a complex production into a one-book version. This is a more focused show, the very best of Lawson and Leaf’s work together. This book sits on my imaginary shelf where I keep my “UPPBs”: utterly perfect picture books, alongside Ludwig Bemelmans’ Madeline, Wanda Gag’s Millions of Cats, and Robert McCloskey’s Make Way for Ducklings. Leaf’s gentle humor and Lawson’s equally amusing response – remember those clusters of corks on Ferdinand’s tree? – have universal and lasting appeal.

BB: Noted. And I will be stealing the acronym UPPB from here on in. Now having curated a fair number of shows over the years, what special considerations had to be taken into account with this work?

Jane: Doing a deep dive into the history of just one book was a new experience for me. I still had to do the same amount of research, but this was laser focused. And here’s the thing: there’s always more work to be done. When you put on a show like this one, you get lots of publicity, and then people come out of the woodwork with great material you didn’t know about. Delightful and frustrating, but that’s the way it is.

BB: Sounds like book fodder to me. But tell us a little bit about the original book dummy. How does it differ from the final product? 

Jane: The book dummy lays the story out pretty much as it is in the finished version. There is one big edit, an entire do-over, however, that took me by surprise. The illustration for the page of “All the lovely ladies had flowers in their hair” had to be entirely redrawn. Why? Because Lawson, in a naughty moment, showed several of the lovely ladies waving a banana and a hot dog in a most suggestive way. I can just see May Massee, the editor at Viking, shaking her finger at Lawson and saying, “No, this will NOT do for children!”

BB: I have never wanted to see an image of a banana in a children’s book more in my life. Oh! And, impressively, you managed to obtain a cel from the Disney animated short based on this book. Why was it important to include this element of Ferdinand’s larger story, and how difficult was it secure this image? 

Jane: Finding a cel was not difficult – there are plenty of them out there from the 1938 Disney film – but finding one in good condition was tough. Cels are extremely fragile, and museums don’t like to lend them for that reason. I was lucky to know a private collector, Bob Forbes, who offered me a choice from his Disney collection, so the show features two cels and a line production drawing in pencil of Ferdinand talking to his mother. There’s also a lot of Disney merchandise on display: games; costume jewelry; records of the Ferdinand song; mechanical toys, even a bar of Castile soap. Disney had a marketing genius, Kay Kamen, who licensed all this. As much as the Academy Award-winning short film made Ferdinand a celebrity, the toys and games took his character to the next level, making him as famous as Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck.

BB: I think it’s also worth noting that the aforementioned Bob Forbes is a Carle Honor winner this year as well. Where do the original manuscript and the book dummy normally live when not on display?

Jane: Both the manuscript and the book dummy are housed in the rare book department of the Philadelphia Free Library. The complete suite of finished drawings in the show comes from the Morgan Library’s collection. I have to say, I’ve never had it easier, pulling works together for this exhibition. Usually, you can find me down in the weeds hunting for artwork. I found an entire bistro by Ludwig Bemelmans in Paris, another one on Long Island, and a third in upstate New York when I did a show on Madeline. The long-lost original Eloise of the Plaza portrait by Hilary Knight I discovered hidden in a cardboard tube with his wrapping paper. Just call me Nancy Drew.

BB: Oh, that portrait has such a fascinating history! But before I’m distracted, there’s something I’ve been curious about when it comes to Ferdinand for years. I’ve seen reports claim that Gandhi loved Ferdinand and Hitler hated him. Is there any truth to those claims that you know of, or are they just convenient stories that were embellished over the years?  

Jane: Think of a much-loved object like a bronze statue of a saint that has had its foot touched so often that it shines like gold. The details have gotten fuzzy from so much polishing. The Story of Ferdinand is like that. Has it really been translated into over sixty languages? No, according to the publishers at Curtis, Brown, it’s probably more like two dozen. Did Hitler ban the book? No, but the Nazi office that oversaw publications of foreign books did, calling it degenerate propaganda. Gandhi may have mentioned admiring Ferdinand – certainly his founding principle of ahimsa, or nonviolence, was in tune with the story, but there is no record of Ferdinand in his writing.

BB: Thank you. I adore clarification. Finally, what do you hope attendees take away from this exhibit? And what, to your mind, gives Ferdinand his longevity? 

Jane: For me, a great picture book is one that has a memorable hero, a compelling setting and a story that captivates multiple generations. Ferdinand rings all those bells. I’d like to think that as visitors exit the show, they will leave with a smile on their faces – and a determination to read more classic picture books.

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A better sentiment I could not myself devise.

Huge thanks to Jane Bayard Curley for taking the time to answer all my questions today. As mentioned before, the exhibit Under the Cork Tree: The Story of Ferdinand opens May 9th at the Eric Carle Museum until November 8th. It is the finest paean to our favorite pacifist bull to date. And final thanks to Amanda Domizio who helped to pull this interview together.

Filed under: Interviews