He managed to support himself throughout his schooling by playing his trumpet evenings, in nightclubs and at weddings. After graduating from high school, he ventured to New York City to study art under the tutelage of Joan Sloan and Harry Wickey at the Art Students' League. He practiced obsessively and eventually joined a California dance band. At an early age, he received a trumpet as a gift from his father. He created many beloved characters in his lifetime, perhaps the most beloved among them a stuffed, overall-wearing bear named Corduroy.ĭon Freeman was the author and illustrator of many popular books for children, including Corduroy, A Pocket for Corduroy, and the Caldecott Honor Book Fly High, Fly Low.Don Freeman was born in San Diego, California, in 1908. I've never been happier in my life!'ĭon died in 1978, after a long and successful career. I work all the time, long into the night, and it's such a pleasure. Through his writing, he was able to create his own theater: 'I love the flow of turning the pages, the suspense of what's next. Soon after, he began to write and illustrate his own books, a career he settled into comfortably and happily. He was introduced to the world of children’s literature when William Saroyan asked him to illustrate several books. This new career turned out to be a near-perfect fit for Don, though, as he had always loved the theater. One evening, he was so engrossed in sketching people on the subway, he simply forgot it was sitting on the seat beside him. This shift was helped along, in no small part, by a rather heartbreaking incident: he lost his trumpet. Gradually, he eased into making a living sketching impressions of Broadway shows for The New York Times and The Herald Tribune. Don Freeman was born in San Diego, California, in 1908.

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