On this episode of Our American Stories, “Genius,” wrote poet Charles Baudelaire, “is only childhood recalled at will.” Few people have given more credence to this notion than Maurice Sendak, who was—in the words of The New York Times—“widely considered to be the most important children’s book artist of the 20th century.” Here’s Greg Hengler with the story of children's book author and illustrator, Maurice Sendak.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people genius, wrote poet Charles Bonelaire, is only childhood recalled
at will. Few people have given more credence to this
notion than Maurice Sendak, who was, in the words of
(00:30):
the New York Times quote, widely considered to be the
most important children's book artist of the twentieth century. Here's
Greg Hengler with the story of children's book author and
illustrator Maurice Sendak.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Philosopher Gaston Baschelard once remarked that each childhood is a
nightlight in the bedroom of memories. In Maurice Sendak's case,
it was the catalyst for more than one hundred illustrated
children's books that have sold more than thirty million copies
in the United States alone. Some titles include The Little
(01:07):
Bear Books, Pierre Chicken, Soup with Rice, Where the Wild
Things Are, and In the Night Kitchen. Maurice Sendak was
the third and youngest child born into a Jewish family
on June tenth, nineteen twenty eight, in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
My father would talk about watch she be get born.
You said, you were the happiest baby I ever. The
other kids didn't. You came out almost laughing. And then
he wrote me once and said, I'll never forget those
early days when I would come in in the dark
room and the crib and you just be laughing all
(01:44):
by yourself, like a little bell, like a little bell ringing.
Oh wow, wow, what a starter had, What a good beginning,
What a hopeful sign that one? What did they do
break the belle?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
His sister Natalie was nine and his brother Jack was
five when he was born. Until he was about six,
Maurice was a very sick child and spent most of
his time in his room watching the world through his window.
The window became my movie camera, my television set, he said.
He would illustrate what he saw through the window, and
(02:20):
his brother Jack would write the stories. Both of Maurice's
parents were Polish immigrants and had many relatives still living
in Poland during the rise of Hitler and his Nazi Party.
They managed to rescue a few to the United States,
but in nineteen forty one, on the morning of his
bar Mitzvah, which is a special ceremony for Jewish boys
(02:43):
when they turned thirteen, Maurice learned every one of his
relatives back in Poland had been killed by the Nazis.
In the days after the war ended, Maurice found himself
a job in Manhattan as an artist with a company
that created displays for storefronts. He was so good that
he quickly earned himself for promotion, but his new coworker's
(03:06):
dissatisfaction with their jobs caused Maurice to quit, and he
moved back in with his family in Brooklyn, picking up
where he left off, Spending his time staring out the
window sketching. He became particularly interested in a little girl
named Rosie. With his window open, he could hear her
(03:26):
talking to other children. She would make up games and
stories and bully them into playing along. Once he heard
her gleefully describing her own grandmother's death in great detail
until the grandmother herself appeared on the steps. Another time,
she described a fight between her parents as if she
(03:48):
were a radio announcer. She was always the center of attention, but,
as Maurice said, save the other children from their worst enemy, boredom. Later,
Rosie would become his favorite character, the heroine of his
nineteen sixty book This Sign On Rosie's door.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I didn't have a lot of friends. I mostly observed children,
I'd said at my window, and I draw them even
when I was a child, and I would tell their stories.
As their stories floated up to the window, I would
write what their stories were. Today, Rosie decided to wear
her long red dress. I filled gallons of sketch books
with Rosie stories and other kids' stories, and I kept
(04:31):
the journal a very bad luck.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Everybody who saw my work, he only used to say
word like it's European. We all look at America and
children's books say so you see that cute up turned
noses and little puff of blonde hair in the front.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
And I was thinking, I never knew a kid it
looked like that.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Never they all had swashed heads and thumby, lumpy bodies.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
That summer in nineteen forty eight, Maurice's brother Jack was
also out of work and living at home together. The
brothers came up with an idea to make money. They
created boxes with tiny wooden figures that moved and acted
out scenes from fairy tales. Here's Maurice in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Speaking of toys.
Speaker 7 (05:16):
I have some here.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
Which were made by my brother and myself in nineteen
forty eight. My brother is mechanical genius and put them together.
And these are little fairy tales which I'm sure you're
all very well acquainted with. This little Red riding hood
it has a lever which, when pulled out, causes little
Red riding her to collapse in mortal terror, the wolf
(05:40):
to rare his hideous head above the blanket, and when
pushed back again, the world is back to normalcy. She's
now standing expectantly, all ready to go through the same
routine the rest of eternity. We spent the whole summer
summer of nineteen forty eight making these toys, until my
father was a pall that having three grown children spending
(06:01):
the summer making toys in the house, so we were
all dumped out of the house to earn a living.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
They took them to the most famous toy store in
the world, Fao Schwartz in Manhattan. The buyer there loved
their toys, but they were much too complicated to be
mass produced and sold. Still, the buyer was so impressed
that he offered Maurice a job creating window displays.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hangler tell
the story of the most important children's book artists of
the twentieth century, or at least one of them. Maurice
Sendak certainly my favorite, and what a story that we're hearing.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family, and
he was the family of Polish immigrants. And in nineteen
forty one, on the day of his boh Mitzvah, that
(06:49):
being his thirteenth birthday, he learned his relatives in Poland
all of them had been killed by Nazi And then, well,
life began really by looking out of his window. I
didn't have a lot of friends. I mostly observed them,
and then I started to sketch and write about them,
(07:13):
and ultimately, well that job doing window displays at the
greatest toy store in the world. When we come back.
The story of Maurice Sendak continues here on Our American Stories.
Here at our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith, and love. Stories from a
(07:35):
great and beautiful country that need to be told. But
we can't do it without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love our stories in America, like we do. Please
go to our American Stories dot com and click the
donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help us
keep the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories
(07:56):
dot Com. And we continue with our American Stories and
the story of Maurice Sendak, perhaps the most important children's
book artist of the twentieth century. We last left off
(08:18):
with the two unemployed Sendak brothers, Maurice and Jack, returning
to their parents' Brooklyn home and spending the summer of
nineteen forty eight making toys that were based on well
known fairy tales and nursery rhymes. They even drafted their
sister Natalie to knit the toys clothes. Here again is
(08:38):
Greg Hengler.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Maurice excelled and in his oft time would hang out
in the toy stores book section, where he became friends
with the woman in charge of buying books. One day,
Harper and Brothers book editor Ursula Nordstrom, the woman responsible
for the books of authors Laura Ingalls, Wilder, E. B. White,
and shel Silverstein, was expected to visit Fao Schwartz. Maurice's
(09:03):
drawings were spread out all over the book department. Maurice
said it was like putting a huge hook in the
water and waiting for a fish to be caught. Maurice
caught his fish. Ursula Nordstrom saw Maurice's drawings and the
next day offered him a job illustrating a book. They
(09:23):
became lifelong friends.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Her name was Ursula Nordstrom. She made me who I am.
She gave me a book every year.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
She kept me working.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I mean, can you imagine mentorship from her publishing house.
She intended that I should be an important illustrator. She
knew I could be in bad habits. I never went
to art school. I drew in a clumsy fashion, but
she could see beneath that.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Over the next five years, Maurice developed his own style.
He wanted to add something new. The best illustrated books
are the books where the text does one thing in
the the pictures say something just a little off center
of the language, so they're both doing something. The most
boring books are where the pictures are restating the text,
(10:11):
he said in an interview. After Rosie, he wrote The
Nutshell Library, a set of four tiny books in a
box that included Chicken Soup with Rice and Pierre. By
nineteen sixty three, Maurice had written seven books and illustrated
more than forty five of the books he illustrated had
(10:31):
won the coveted Caldecott Honor Medals. At this point, all
his books were illustrated in only two or three colors,
because full color printing was very expensive. But now Maurice
felt ready to.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Do his first full color book, Where the Wild Things Are,
But before he began drawing, he wanted to be sure
the words were absolutely perfect.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The final story has only three hundred and thirty eight words,
but he wrestled over every one of them. Here's Maurice
in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 9 (11:07):
Well, the Wild Things was the big challenge in terms
of it was going to be my first picture book,
and I was very feeling imperiled about doing this book
because full color book picture book form. I'd love the
picture book form, but I hadn't done it yet. I'd
illustrated other people's.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Picture books, but I hadn't done my own.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
So it had to be a significant work, and only
that it had to come thoroughly out of myself.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I had to be a subject that was passionately.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
Close to my heart. So what was passionately close to
my heart? Was a kid and a kid doing something,
and whatever that something was was what the book was
going to be about. It was cooled where the wild
horses Are for a very long time until I discovered
horrifyingly that I couldn't draw horses, so I had to
change the title. I changed the title various times. The
(11:55):
things that I could draw on. Finally, the best thing
was things, because that could be anything, and so my
drawing ability wouldn't be challenged by anybody. And then what
do the things look like? Or I went back into
my head as to who were monsters in my life?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
While they were all my uncles.
Speaker 9 (12:13):
And aunts, bloodshot eyes and big, huge noses and bad teeth,
and they would grab you by the cheek and pummel
you and say all.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
The conventional banal things I'd all.
Speaker 9 (12:24):
Say, like how cute you are, and you look so good.
We could eat you up, and knowing them, they probably
could and would. The real problem in that book was
the writing of the book, and how difficult the writing
of the book was. Why would a child turn a page?
A child is polite, I mean, adults will conscientiously read
(12:45):
a book they dislike because they feel they should.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Children don't feel any such compulsion.
Speaker 9 (12:50):
If they hate the first two pages, swamo against the wall.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
That's the end of the book.
Speaker 9 (12:55):
They don't care if it's one eighteen called the cut Awards, right, okay,
So you've.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Got to catch them.
Speaker 9 (13:01):
You've got to catch them in a kind of rhythmic
pattern and the kind of syncopation that makes them turn
that page.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
The night Max wore his wolf.
Speaker 9 (13:08):
And it builds and it builds, and you trap them.
I mean, they can't get out of the book.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
The night Max wore his wolf suit had made mischief
of one kind and another.
Speaker 10 (13:28):
My mother called him a wild thing, and Max.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
Said, I'll eat you up. So he was sent to
bed without eating anything.
Speaker 9 (13:43):
It was published to a lot of noise, which I'll skip.
I don't think that's very interesting. Criticism and rages and
carryings on. That this would frighten children. Well I knew
it wouldn't because it didn't frighten me, and I trusted myself.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
And my own instinct, and it didn't frighten children.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
And if it did frighten some children, well okay, perhaps
it had to. Perhaps, I mean, why would any one
book be good for all children?
Speaker 5 (14:08):
That's silly. I mean, no grown up book is good
for all people.
Speaker 9 (14:12):
So we mustn't assume that even a book that wins
the Caldecott is appropriate for every child reading it.
Speaker 7 (14:18):
And Max, the King of all wild things, was lonely
and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.
Then all around, from far away across the world, he
smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being
(14:38):
king of where the wild things are.
Speaker 10 (14:41):
But the wild things cried, oh, please don't go, we'll
eat you up, we love you so, and Max said no.
The wild things frawd they're terrible roars, and nashed to
(15:06):
their terrible teeth, and rolled their terrible eyes and sold
their terrible claws. But Max stepped into his private boat
and waved goodbye.
Speaker 11 (15:28):
And sailed back over a year, and in and out
of weeks, and through a day, and into the night
of his very own room, where he found his supper
waiting for him, and it was still hot.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hengler share
the story of Maurice Sendak, and what a story it is. Indeed,
here he is, having sort of weaseled his way in
through hustle and grit to being a decorator of store
displays and windows, and in comes Ursula Orstrom from Harper Brothers,
(16:15):
and of course Sendak's ready. His illustrations are everywhere. And
as he put it, she made me who I am.
I never went to art school and drew in a
clumsy fashion, but she could see beneath that. And by
the way, that's the story of Irving Berlin and so
many of American artists. They weren't highly trained. They came
(16:38):
from the ground up. They came from the people up,
like the country ourself governed by us, the democratization of
our art. This is one of these kinds of stories
we cherish here on the show. And then he gets
that shot, the first picture book that he fully illustrates
and writes, and it's full color, but he has to
(17:02):
have it be about something that he is thoroughly engaged
with as any good piece of art. And out came
where the wild Things are, and it started with where
the wild horses are. But he couldn't draw horses, thank
goodness for all of us. But he could make up
things and base those characters that we all love, or
so many of us love, on his aunts and uncles
(17:25):
and just sort of those hants and uncles into these monsters. Essentially.
The critics, well, many of them were worried about the
fact that it would frighten the kids. And it may
have frightened some, not this kid. When I was a kid,
this was my favorite book. I could be put to
sleep to this still tonight by this book. When we
(17:46):
continue more of the story of Maurice Sendak here on
our American stories. And we continue with our American stories
(18:11):
and the story of Maurice Sendek, Let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Where the Wild Things Are helped change picture books forever.
Before it came out, most children's books only talked about
nice feelings. After Where the Wild Things Are was released,
people started to realize that it was good for a
picture book to deal with other feelings like anger and fear.
One little boy sent him a fan letter, and Maurice
(18:39):
sent back an original drawing of a wild thing. But
soon after Maurice got a letter from the boy's mother.
Jim loved your card so much he ate it, the
mother wrote. Maurice always said this was one of the
best compliments he ever received.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Then after a while, things the next picture book, In
the Night Kitchen was nineteen seventy.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
The reason it.
Speaker 9 (19:08):
Took the form of a comic book was because I
loved comic books. When I was a child, I didn't
have children's books. I didn't even know there were children's
books until I went to school, and we had to
sit in the auditorium and hear Pinocchio read to us
and Winnie the Pooh read to us. I hated them
because I didn't like my teachers, and I didn't like
being told stories where I had to have my hands
clasped in my lap. Anyway, Night Kitchen was going to
(19:31):
be a comic book, and that was that.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
In the Night Kitchen was based on Maurice's memory as
an eleven year old with his older sister Natalie. Here's
Maurice in two thousand and.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Eight, nineteen thirty nine World's Fair. I was screaming to
be taken. I had to go with an older person
and she had a new boyfriend, and somehow she talked
to me to accept the idea that they would take
me along the Seventh Heaven. I just loved it. And
(20:03):
we stopped at these Sunshine Bakers, little fat bakers, and
they were all steading in tears on white platforms. That
whole place was so like a nineteen thirties movie, White White,
Caroleol barred white, and all the little bidgets came out.
A little tubby guy has a little black mustaches, and
(20:24):
the aroma of fresh baking came out of the building,
probably pumping it out into the air. And I just
stood there breathing the swelling bread, and I love the
swell of baking bread. And I was just waving.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Back, here's Maurice making one more point on in the
night kitchen.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
And it was going to be simple. It was going
to look by Windsor McKay a little bit. It was
going to look like Mickey Mouse a little bit. It
was going to look like everybody I loved.
Speaker 9 (20:52):
And it was going to tell a story that obsessed me,
which is a story about food, Which is a story
about why those little creatures of the nineteen thirty nine
World's Fair, those Sunshine Bakers with their advertisement that says
we cook while you sleep, why did they do that?
Why didn't they wait till I was up? I mean,
why did everything good happen when children went to bed?
(21:14):
So this was going to be a book about a
kid who gets up at night here's what's going on
and investigates. It just feels wonderful because it has all
the energy and zest that a Mickey Mouse cartoon had
for me, and.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
The irresistible little boy hero from in The Night Kitchen
is named Mickey after his favorite cartoon character, Mickey Mouse.
Here's actor James Gandolfini, best known for his role as
Tony Soprano, the mafia boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos.
Speaker 12 (21:48):
Awoke this small good evening. My name is James Gandolfini.
I have the pleasure today to read The Night Kitchen
by Morris Sendek. Did you ever hear of Mickey? How
we heard a racket in the night and shouted quiet
(22:08):
down there and fell through the dark, out of his clothes,
passed the moon and his mama and Papa sleeping tight.
Mickey the Milkman dived down to the bottom, singing, I'm
in the milk, and the milk's in me. God bless milk,
and God bless me. Then he swam to the top,
(22:30):
pouring milk from his cup into batter below. So the
bakers they mixed it and beat it and baked it.
Milk in the batter. Milk in the batter, we bake cake,
and nothing's the matter now. Mickey in the night kitchen
cried cockoo and slid down the side straight into bed.
(22:52):
Cake free and dried. And that's why, thanks to Mickey,
we have cake every morning.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
In nineteen sixty seven, Maurice suffered a serious heart attack.
He was only thirty nine years old. He began to
think he needed to live someplace calmer than New York City.
Eventually he settled into a farmhouse in the Connecticut countryside.
When Maurice was a small child, a picture of his
(23:24):
dead grandfather hung over his bed. One day, his mother
came in to find him trying to climb into the picture.
He had a high fever and was speaking in Yiddish.
His grandfather had spoken in Yiddish, but little Maurice didn't
know how to speak the language. His mother thought her
father's ghost was trying to lure son back into the
(23:45):
spirit world. To stop him, she tore the picture into
little pieces. Years later, Maurice found them. He took the
pieces to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where someone spent
months putting them back together. From then on, the picture
hung over Maurice's bed someday, he told people, I'm going
(24:07):
to go through the picture. On May eighth, twenty twelve,
at eighty three years of age, he did.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
It's a very good books, which mostly is an isolationist
form book life, doing books, doing pictures. It's sublime. Just
go into another room and make pictures. It's magic time
where all your weaknesses of character and old blubbish is
(24:41):
of personality and whatever else torments you phase away. You're
doing the one thing you want to do, and you
do it well, and you know you do it well,
and you're happy. I think what I've offered different, but
(25:05):
not because I drew better than anybody or wrote better
than anybody, though, because I was more honest than anybody.
And in the discussion of children and the wives of children,
and the fantasies and children and the language of children,
I said anything I wanted because I don't believe in children.
I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that this
(25:25):
is demarcation. You must have told them that, You must
tell them that. You tell them anything you want, Just
tell them if it's true, if it's true, you tell them.
I have adult thoughts that I had experiences, but I'm
never going to talk about that. I'm never gonna write
about them. Why is my needle stuck in childhood? I
(25:49):
don't know what.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
I guess that's where.
Speaker 9 (25:55):
My heart is.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And my goodness, what a joy,
what a privilege to get to hear Maurice Sendak. And
we do that often on this show, bring the actual
voices of folks alive, and they're still living in the
hearts of so many millions of people, the words and
(26:20):
the works of writers and illustrators like Sendak, But to
hear his actual voice, it's just something special. And we
go to great efforts to do these things. And again,
a terrific job by Greg. And what a story we
heard here. And by the way, hearing James Gandolfini Reid
in the Night Kitchen was worth everything. This tough guy
(26:44):
who played the lead in the Sopranos, who played Tony Soprano,
has this beautiful sensitive side. He has a heart attack
in nineteen sixty seven, Sendak does and moves to Connecticut
to the countryside to do what he does and that
story about the picture of his grandfather over his bed,
(27:04):
and then he takes that torn up picture, puts it
back together, puts it over his bed because he says,
one day I'm going to go through that picture. I
don't believe in children or childhood. He said, tell them
anything you want, if it's true, tell them why the
story of Marie sendak here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories,
the show where America is the star and the American
people genius, wrote poet Charles Bonelaire, is only childhood recalled
at will. Few people have given more credence to this
notion than Maurice Sendak, who was, in the words of
(00:30):
the New York Times quote, widely considered to be the
most important children's book artist of the twentieth century. Here's
Greg Hengler with the story of children's book author and
illustrator Maurice Sendak.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Philosopher Gaston Baschelard once remarked that each childhood is a
nightlight in the bedroom of memories. In Maurice Sendak's case,
it was the catalyst for more than one hundred illustrated
children's books that have sold more than thirty million copies
in the United States alone. Some titles include The Little
(01:07):
Bear Books, Pierre Chicken, Soup with Rice, Where the Wild
Things Are, and In the Night Kitchen. Maurice Sendak was
the third and youngest child born into a Jewish family
on June tenth, nineteen twenty eight, in Brooklyn, New York.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
My father would talk about watch she be get born.
You said, you were the happiest baby I ever. The
other kids didn't. You came out almost laughing. And then
he wrote me once and said, I'll never forget those
early days when I would come in in the dark
room and the crib and you just be laughing all
(01:44):
by yourself, like a little bell, like a little bell ringing.
Oh wow, wow, what a starter had, What a good beginning,
What a hopeful sign that one? What did they do
break the belle?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
His sister Natalie was nine and his brother Jack was
five when he was born. Until he was about six,
Maurice was a very sick child and spent most of
his time in his room watching the world through his window.
The window became my movie camera, my television set, he said.
He would illustrate what he saw through the window, and
(02:20):
his brother Jack would write the stories. Both of Maurice's
parents were Polish immigrants and had many relatives still living
in Poland during the rise of Hitler and his Nazi Party.
They managed to rescue a few to the United States,
but in nineteen forty one, on the morning of his
bar Mitzvah, which is a special ceremony for Jewish boys
(02:43):
when they turned thirteen, Maurice learned every one of his
relatives back in Poland had been killed by the Nazis.
In the days after the war ended, Maurice found himself
a job in Manhattan as an artist with a company
that created displays for storefronts. He was so good that
he quickly earned himself for promotion, but his new coworker's
(03:06):
dissatisfaction with their jobs caused Maurice to quit, and he
moved back in with his family in Brooklyn, picking up
where he left off, Spending his time staring out the
window sketching. He became particularly interested in a little girl
named Rosie. With his window open, he could hear her
(03:26):
talking to other children. She would make up games and
stories and bully them into playing along. Once he heard
her gleefully describing her own grandmother's death in great detail
until the grandmother herself appeared on the steps. Another time,
she described a fight between her parents as if she
(03:48):
were a radio announcer. She was always the center of attention, but,
as Maurice said, save the other children from their worst enemy, boredom. Later,
Rosie would become his favorite character, the heroine of his
nineteen sixty book This Sign On Rosie's door.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I didn't have a lot of friends. I mostly observed children,
I'd said at my window, and I draw them even
when I was a child, and I would tell their stories.
As their stories floated up to the window, I would
write what their stories were. Today, Rosie decided to wear
her long red dress. I filled gallons of sketch books
with Rosie stories and other kids' stories, and I kept
(04:31):
the journal a very bad luck.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Everybody who saw my work, he only used to say
word like it's European. We all look at America and
children's books say so you see that cute up turned
noses and little puff of blonde hair in the front.
Speaker 5 (04:45):
And I was thinking, I never knew a kid it
looked like that.
Speaker 4 (04:48):
Never they all had swashed heads and thumby, lumpy bodies.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
That summer in nineteen forty eight, Maurice's brother Jack was
also out of work and living at home together. The
brothers came up with an idea to make money. They
created boxes with tiny wooden figures that moved and acted
out scenes from fairy tales. Here's Maurice in nineteen sixty six.
Speaker 6 (05:15):
Speaking of toys.
Speaker 7 (05:16):
I have some here.
Speaker 6 (05:19):
Which were made by my brother and myself in nineteen
forty eight. My brother is mechanical genius and put them together.
And these are little fairy tales which I'm sure you're
all very well acquainted with. This little Red riding hood
it has a lever which, when pulled out, causes little
Red riding her to collapse in mortal terror, the wolf
(05:40):
to rare his hideous head above the blanket, and when
pushed back again, the world is back to normalcy. She's
now standing expectantly, all ready to go through the same
routine the rest of eternity. We spent the whole summer
summer of nineteen forty eight making these toys, until my
father was a pall that having three grown children spending
(06:01):
the summer making toys in the house, so we were
all dumped out of the house to earn a living.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
They took them to the most famous toy store in
the world, Fao Schwartz in Manhattan. The buyer there loved
their toys, but they were much too complicated to be
mass produced and sold. Still, the buyer was so impressed
that he offered Maurice a job creating window displays.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hangler tell
the story of the most important children's book artists of
the twentieth century, or at least one of them. Maurice
Sendak certainly my favorite, and what a story that we're hearing.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family, and
he was the family of Polish immigrants. And in nineteen
forty one, on the day of his boh Mitzvah, that
(06:49):
being his thirteenth birthday, he learned his relatives in Poland
all of them had been killed by Nazi And then, well,
life began really by looking out of his window. I
didn't have a lot of friends. I mostly observed them,
and then I started to sketch and write about them,
(07:13):
and ultimately, well that job doing window displays at the
greatest toy store in the world. When we come back.
The story of Maurice Sendak continues here on Our American Stories.
Here at our American Stories, we bring you inspiring stories
of history, sports, business, faith, and love. Stories from a
(07:35):
great and beautiful country that need to be told. But
we can't do it without you. Our stories are free
to listen to, but they're not free to make. If
you love our stories in America, like we do. Please
go to our American Stories dot com and click the
donate button. Give a little, give a lot, help us
keep the great American stories coming. That's our American Stories
(07:56):
dot Com. And we continue with our American Stories and
the story of Maurice Sendak, perhaps the most important children's
book artist of the twentieth century. We last left off
(08:18):
with the two unemployed Sendak brothers, Maurice and Jack, returning
to their parents' Brooklyn home and spending the summer of
nineteen forty eight making toys that were based on well
known fairy tales and nursery rhymes. They even drafted their
sister Natalie to knit the toys clothes. Here again is
(08:38):
Greg Hengler.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Maurice excelled and in his oft time would hang out
in the toy stores book section, where he became friends
with the woman in charge of buying books. One day,
Harper and Brothers book editor Ursula Nordstrom, the woman responsible
for the books of authors Laura Ingalls, Wilder, E. B. White,
and shel Silverstein, was expected to visit Fao Schwartz. Maurice's
(09:03):
drawings were spread out all over the book department. Maurice
said it was like putting a huge hook in the
water and waiting for a fish to be caught. Maurice
caught his fish. Ursula Nordstrom saw Maurice's drawings and the
next day offered him a job illustrating a book. They
(09:23):
became lifelong friends.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Her name was Ursula Nordstrom. She made me who I am.
She gave me a book every year.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
She kept me working.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I mean, can you imagine mentorship from her publishing house.
She intended that I should be an important illustrator. She
knew I could be in bad habits. I never went
to art school. I drew in a clumsy fashion, but
she could see beneath that.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Over the next five years, Maurice developed his own style.
He wanted to add something new. The best illustrated books
are the books where the text does one thing in
the the pictures say something just a little off center
of the language, so they're both doing something. The most
boring books are where the pictures are restating the text,
(10:11):
he said in an interview. After Rosie, he wrote The
Nutshell Library, a set of four tiny books in a
box that included Chicken Soup with Rice and Pierre. By
nineteen sixty three, Maurice had written seven books and illustrated
more than forty five of the books he illustrated had
(10:31):
won the coveted Caldecott Honor Medals. At this point, all
his books were illustrated in only two or three colors,
because full color printing was very expensive. But now Maurice
felt ready to.
Speaker 8 (10:44):
Do his first full color book, Where the Wild Things Are,
But before he began drawing, he wanted to be sure
the words were absolutely perfect.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
The final story has only three hundred and thirty eight words,
but he wrestled over every one of them. Here's Maurice
in nineteen eighty five.
Speaker 9 (11:07):
Well, the Wild Things was the big challenge in terms
of it was going to be my first picture book,
and I was very feeling imperiled about doing this book
because full color book picture book form. I'd love the
picture book form, but I hadn't done it yet. I'd
illustrated other people's.
Speaker 5 (11:22):
Picture books, but I hadn't done my own.
Speaker 9 (11:24):
So it had to be a significant work, and only
that it had to come thoroughly out of myself.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
I had to be a subject that was passionately.
Speaker 9 (11:33):
Close to my heart. So what was passionately close to
my heart? Was a kid and a kid doing something,
and whatever that something was was what the book was
going to be about. It was cooled where the wild
horses Are for a very long time until I discovered
horrifyingly that I couldn't draw horses, so I had to
change the title. I changed the title various times. The
(11:55):
things that I could draw on. Finally, the best thing
was things, because that could be anything, and so my
drawing ability wouldn't be challenged by anybody. And then what
do the things look like? Or I went back into
my head as to who were monsters in my life?
Speaker 5 (12:12):
While they were all my uncles.
Speaker 9 (12:13):
And aunts, bloodshot eyes and big, huge noses and bad teeth,
and they would grab you by the cheek and pummel
you and say all.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
The conventional banal things I'd all.
Speaker 9 (12:24):
Say, like how cute you are, and you look so good.
We could eat you up, and knowing them, they probably
could and would. The real problem in that book was
the writing of the book, and how difficult the writing
of the book was. Why would a child turn a page?
A child is polite, I mean, adults will conscientiously read
(12:45):
a book they dislike because they feel they should.
Speaker 5 (12:48):
Children don't feel any such compulsion.
Speaker 9 (12:50):
If they hate the first two pages, swamo against the wall.
Speaker 5 (12:54):
That's the end of the book.
Speaker 9 (12:55):
They don't care if it's one eighteen called the cut Awards, right, okay,
So you've.
Speaker 5 (12:59):
Got to catch them.
Speaker 9 (13:01):
You've got to catch them in a kind of rhythmic
pattern and the kind of syncopation that makes them turn
that page.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
The night Max wore his wolf.
Speaker 9 (13:08):
And it builds and it builds, and you trap them.
I mean, they can't get out of the book.
Speaker 7 (13:17):
The night Max wore his wolf suit had made mischief
of one kind and another.
Speaker 10 (13:28):
My mother called him a wild thing, and Max.
Speaker 7 (13:33):
Said, I'll eat you up. So he was sent to
bed without eating anything.
Speaker 9 (13:43):
It was published to a lot of noise, which I'll skip.
I don't think that's very interesting. Criticism and rages and
carryings on. That this would frighten children. Well I knew
it wouldn't because it didn't frighten me, and I trusted myself.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
And my own instinct, and it didn't frighten children.
Speaker 9 (14:00):
And if it did frighten some children, well okay, perhaps
it had to. Perhaps, I mean, why would any one
book be good for all children?
Speaker 5 (14:08):
That's silly. I mean, no grown up book is good
for all people.
Speaker 9 (14:12):
So we mustn't assume that even a book that wins
the Caldecott is appropriate for every child reading it.
Speaker 7 (14:18):
And Max, the King of all wild things, was lonely
and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.
Then all around, from far away across the world, he
smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being
(14:38):
king of where the wild things are.
Speaker 10 (14:41):
But the wild things cried, oh, please don't go, we'll
eat you up, we love you so, and Max said no.
The wild things frawd they're terrible roars, and nashed to
(15:06):
their terrible teeth, and rolled their terrible eyes and sold
their terrible claws. But Max stepped into his private boat
and waved goodbye.
Speaker 11 (15:28):
And sailed back over a year, and in and out
of weeks, and through a day, and into the night
of his very own room, where he found his supper
waiting for him, and it was still hot.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
And you've been listening to our own Greg Hengler share
the story of Maurice Sendak, and what a story it is. Indeed,
here he is, having sort of weaseled his way in
through hustle and grit to being a decorator of store
displays and windows, and in comes Ursula Orstrom from Harper Brothers,
(16:15):
and of course Sendak's ready. His illustrations are everywhere. And
as he put it, she made me who I am.
I never went to art school and drew in a
clumsy fashion, but she could see beneath that. And by
the way, that's the story of Irving Berlin and so
many of American artists. They weren't highly trained. They came
(16:38):
from the ground up. They came from the people up,
like the country ourself governed by us, the democratization of
our art. This is one of these kinds of stories
we cherish here on the show. And then he gets
that shot, the first picture book that he fully illustrates
and writes, and it's full color, but he has to
(17:02):
have it be about something that he is thoroughly engaged
with as any good piece of art. And out came
where the wild Things are, and it started with where
the wild horses are. But he couldn't draw horses, thank
goodness for all of us. But he could make up
things and base those characters that we all love, or
so many of us love, on his aunts and uncles
(17:25):
and just sort of those hants and uncles into these monsters. Essentially.
The critics, well, many of them were worried about the
fact that it would frighten the kids. And it may
have frightened some, not this kid. When I was a kid,
this was my favorite book. I could be put to
sleep to this still tonight by this book. When we
(17:46):
continue more of the story of Maurice Sendak here on
our American stories. And we continue with our American stories
(18:11):
and the story of Maurice Sendek, Let's pick up where
we last left off.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Where the Wild Things Are helped change picture books forever.
Before it came out, most children's books only talked about
nice feelings. After Where the Wild Things Are was released,
people started to realize that it was good for a
picture book to deal with other feelings like anger and fear.
One little boy sent him a fan letter, and Maurice
(18:39):
sent back an original drawing of a wild thing. But
soon after Maurice got a letter from the boy's mother.
Jim loved your card so much he ate it, the
mother wrote. Maurice always said this was one of the
best compliments he ever received.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Then after a while, things the next picture book, In
the Night Kitchen was nineteen seventy.
Speaker 5 (19:07):
The reason it.
Speaker 9 (19:08):
Took the form of a comic book was because I
loved comic books. When I was a child, I didn't
have children's books. I didn't even know there were children's
books until I went to school, and we had to
sit in the auditorium and hear Pinocchio read to us
and Winnie the Pooh read to us. I hated them
because I didn't like my teachers, and I didn't like
being told stories where I had to have my hands
clasped in my lap. Anyway, Night Kitchen was going to
(19:31):
be a comic book, and that was that.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
In the Night Kitchen was based on Maurice's memory as
an eleven year old with his older sister Natalie. Here's
Maurice in two thousand and.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
Eight, nineteen thirty nine World's Fair. I was screaming to
be taken. I had to go with an older person
and she had a new boyfriend, and somehow she talked
to me to accept the idea that they would take
me along the Seventh Heaven. I just loved it. And
(20:03):
we stopped at these Sunshine Bakers, little fat bakers, and
they were all steading in tears on white platforms. That
whole place was so like a nineteen thirties movie, White White,
Caroleol barred white, and all the little bidgets came out.
A little tubby guy has a little black mustaches, and
(20:24):
the aroma of fresh baking came out of the building,
probably pumping it out into the air. And I just
stood there breathing the swelling bread, and I love the
swell of baking bread. And I was just waving.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Back, here's Maurice making one more point on in the
night kitchen.
Speaker 5 (20:45):
And it was going to be simple. It was going
to look by Windsor McKay a little bit. It was
going to look like Mickey Mouse a little bit. It
was going to look like everybody I loved.
Speaker 9 (20:52):
And it was going to tell a story that obsessed me,
which is a story about food, Which is a story
about why those little creatures of the nineteen thirty nine
World's Fair, those Sunshine Bakers with their advertisement that says
we cook while you sleep, why did they do that?
Why didn't they wait till I was up? I mean,
why did everything good happen when children went to bed?
(21:14):
So this was going to be a book about a
kid who gets up at night here's what's going on
and investigates. It just feels wonderful because it has all
the energy and zest that a Mickey Mouse cartoon had
for me, and.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
The irresistible little boy hero from in The Night Kitchen
is named Mickey after his favorite cartoon character, Mickey Mouse.
Here's actor James Gandolfini, best known for his role as
Tony Soprano, the mafia boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos.
Speaker 12 (21:48):
Awoke this small good evening. My name is James Gandolfini.
I have the pleasure today to read The Night Kitchen
by Morris Sendek. Did you ever hear of Mickey? How
we heard a racket in the night and shouted quiet
(22:08):
down there and fell through the dark, out of his clothes,
passed the moon and his mama and Papa sleeping tight.
Mickey the Milkman dived down to the bottom, singing, I'm
in the milk, and the milk's in me. God bless milk,
and God bless me. Then he swam to the top,
(22:30):
pouring milk from his cup into batter below. So the
bakers they mixed it and beat it and baked it.
Milk in the batter. Milk in the batter, we bake cake,
and nothing's the matter now. Mickey in the night kitchen
cried cockoo and slid down the side straight into bed.
(22:52):
Cake free and dried. And that's why, thanks to Mickey,
we have cake every morning.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
In nineteen sixty seven, Maurice suffered a serious heart attack.
He was only thirty nine years old. He began to
think he needed to live someplace calmer than New York City.
Eventually he settled into a farmhouse in the Connecticut countryside.
When Maurice was a small child, a picture of his
(23:24):
dead grandfather hung over his bed. One day, his mother
came in to find him trying to climb into the picture.
He had a high fever and was speaking in Yiddish.
His grandfather had spoken in Yiddish, but little Maurice didn't
know how to speak the language. His mother thought her
father's ghost was trying to lure son back into the
(23:45):
spirit world. To stop him, she tore the picture into
little pieces. Years later, Maurice found them. He took the
pieces to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where someone spent
months putting them back together. From then on, the picture
hung over Maurice's bed someday, he told people, I'm going
(24:07):
to go through the picture. On May eighth, twenty twelve,
at eighty three years of age, he did.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
It's a very good books, which mostly is an isolationist
form book life, doing books, doing pictures. It's sublime. Just
go into another room and make pictures. It's magic time
where all your weaknesses of character and old blubbish is
(24:41):
of personality and whatever else torments you phase away. You're
doing the one thing you want to do, and you
do it well, and you know you do it well,
and you're happy. I think what I've offered different, but
(25:05):
not because I drew better than anybody or wrote better
than anybody, though, because I was more honest than anybody.
And in the discussion of children and the wives of children,
and the fantasies and children and the language of children,
I said anything I wanted because I don't believe in children.
I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that this
(25:25):
is demarcation. You must have told them that, You must
tell them that. You tell them anything you want, Just
tell them if it's true, if it's true, you tell them.
I have adult thoughts that I had experiences, but I'm
never going to talk about that. I'm never gonna write
about them. Why is my needle stuck in childhood? I
(25:49):
don't know what.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
I guess that's where.
Speaker 9 (25:55):
My heart is.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
And a terrific job on the production editing and storytelling
by our own Greg Hengler. And my goodness, what a joy,
what a privilege to get to hear Maurice Sendak. And
we do that often on this show, bring the actual
voices of folks alive, and they're still living in the
hearts of so many millions of people, the words and
(26:20):
the works of writers and illustrators like Sendak, But to
hear his actual voice, it's just something special. And we
go to great efforts to do these things. And again,
a terrific job by Greg. And what a story we
heard here. And by the way, hearing James Gandolfini Reid
in the Night Kitchen was worth everything. This tough guy
(26:44):
who played the lead in the Sopranos, who played Tony Soprano,
has this beautiful sensitive side. He has a heart attack
in nineteen sixty seven, Sendak does and moves to Connecticut
to the countryside to do what he does and that
story about the picture of his grandfather over his bed,
(27:04):
and then he takes that torn up picture, puts it
back together, puts it over his bed because he says,
one day I'm going to go through that picture. I
don't believe in children or childhood. He said, tell them
anything you want, if it's true, tell them why the
story of Marie sendak here on our American Stories
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.