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| from the Rosenbach Museum |
I have already confessed to having a notoriously bad memory, so it won’t surprise you to know that I don’t remember the names of my elementary school teachers, can’t bring to mind what I did on family vacations and have trouble recalling old addresses. I do remember, with frightening clarity, all the lyrics from the score of ‘Really Rosie’, a musical, and TV special, written in 1975 by Maurice Sendak (story and lyrics) and Carole King (music) - with a pair like that it would be hard to go wrong. The musical features the indomitable Rosie and the stories came from Sendak’s books set entitled the ‘Nutshell Library’.
My favorite songs from the album are ‘Chicken Soup with Rice’ and ‘Pierre’. If you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing ‘Pierre’ you must take a minute to listen, I promise it will bring you a little joy and remind you to care (especially about important things like the library). Maurice Sendak knows the heart and souls of kids...he captures their exuberance, determination and frustration and mixes them with whimsy before reflecting it back to us in stories, illustrations, movies, and now, a mural.
The mural is a revelation, even to Sendak fans. It was made public when the announcement came that it would be moved from a 13th floor apartment in N.Y.C to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia (more on the Rosenbach tomorrow). Apparently, Sendak painted the mural on the wall of his friend’s apartment in 1961 when he was 33 years old. The wall was in the room of Nina and Larry Chertoff, two very lucky children that grew up with a happy gang of Sendak’s characters marching across their bedroom. I saw several old friends in the parade participants... Jennie leads the way, she would become Max’s intended victim in Where the Wild Thing Are, published two years later in 1963. Rosie follows along with Little Bear (from Elsie Minarik’s lovely stories) and I wonder if the boy and the lion in the parade were precursors to Pierre (published in 1962). The lucky “kids” are now in their 50s and donated the mural, saving it for posterity, to the Rosenbach in their parent’s honor. Now we are all lucky enough to enjoy the mural and to remember the magic that Maurice Sendak dispensed.
My favorite songs from the album are ‘Chicken Soup with Rice’ and ‘Pierre’. If you haven’t had the pleasure of hearing ‘Pierre’ you must take a minute to listen, I promise it will bring you a little joy and remind you to care (especially about important things like the library). Maurice Sendak knows the heart and souls of kids...he captures their exuberance, determination and frustration and mixes them with whimsy before reflecting it back to us in stories, illustrations, movies, and now, a mural.
The mural is a revelation, even to Sendak fans. It was made public when the announcement came that it would be moved from a 13th floor apartment in N.Y.C to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in Philadelphia (more on the Rosenbach tomorrow). Apparently, Sendak painted the mural on the wall of his friend’s apartment in 1961 when he was 33 years old. The wall was in the room of Nina and Larry Chertoff, two very lucky children that grew up with a happy gang of Sendak’s characters marching across their bedroom. I saw several old friends in the parade participants... Jennie leads the way, she would become Max’s intended victim in Where the Wild Thing Are, published two years later in 1963. Rosie follows along with Little Bear (from Elsie Minarik’s lovely stories) and I wonder if the boy and the lion in the parade were precursors to Pierre (published in 1962). The lucky “kids” are now in their 50s and donated the mural, saving it for posterity, to the Rosenbach in their parent’s honor. Now we are all lucky enough to enjoy the mural and to remember the magic that Maurice Sendak dispensed.
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