For Amelia fans …
February 14th, 2013 by jules
Anyone else remember Sally O’Malley from Saturday Night Live (circa late ’90s, I believe)? She was one of Molly Shannon’s best characters (in my SNL-fangirl opinion). Sally O’Malley is fifty years old, and she can still kick and stretch and shimmy and shake. And such. (You can see, briefly, some of her impressive moves here.)
Sallly’s got nothing on Peggy Parish’s creation, Amelia Bedelia, who turns fifty herself this year. Amelia’s still putting clothes on the chicken, sketching the curtains, and—as Herman Parish, Peggy’s nephew who today is carrying on Amelia’s stories, said—still “baking her way out of difficult situations.” Amelia Bedelia debuted in Peggy’s 1963 picture book with the same name, illustrated by Austrian émigré Fritz Siebel. Last week at Kirkus, I wrote a bit about Amelia, as well as chatted briefly with Herman. That is here, if you missed it last week and are so inclined to read.
Today, I’ve got some images from the book — some of the original illustrations, as well as some images from early dummies of the book, whose art was pre-separated. These early images are part of the additional materials at the back of the 50th anniversary edition of the book, which Greenwillow just released in January. The anniversary reissue also closes with a look at Peggy’s and Fritz’s careers and includes some of Fritz’s editorial illustrations, as well as a note about his iconic 1938 World War II poster, “Someone Talked!”
Amelia fans, enjoy the rest of the art below.
AMELIA BEDELIA: FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION. Copyright © 2013 by HarperCollins Publishers, New York. Images used with permission of the publisher.
Love, love, love.
The dressed chicken cracks me up every time.
I love Amelia Bedelia! She’s always been a favorite of mine.
these are great! Thank you so much. Hope your flu is good and gone and you are back. How was House of Cards?
Flu’s gone. House of Cards is kind of addictive and very entertaining.