May 8th, 2001
Arthur's 25, But He'll Always Be a Kid
By Deirdre Donahue
USA Today
The night of Arthur Read’s conception was a rocky one.
Arthur’s progenitor, Marc Brown, had just learned that Garland Junior College, his place of employment, was shutting down. The soon-to-be-unemployed art professor had little desire to tell a story to his young son Tolon. But Tolon persisted, asking for a story about "a weird animal." Brown came up with the idea of an aardvark named Arthur.
"That moment changed my life," says Brown, 53, reached at his home in Hingham, Mass. Twenty-five years and 50 million books later, Arthur is a global icon. His show and books are enjoyed in 60 countries.
Tolon Brown, now 28, is his father’s licensing manager. "Arthur is part of his destiny," says his father. Tolon doesn’t remember that first Arthur story, because "every night we got a great story." (Finding where Brown has drawn in Tolon’s name as well those of his brother, Tucker, and sister Eliza is one of the pleasures of reading the books.)
Bizarre and often-unwholesome fads constantly wash over children, yet the public TV series that focuses on a nice, rather anxious third-grader coping with everyday issues like homework, birthday parties and getting lost is the No. 1 children’s show in the USA with 15 million viewers.
Arthurian experts know this: Arthur looks less and less like an aardvark. He made his first appearance when Brown published Arthur’s Nose in 1976. (An updated edition has been released this spring to mark its 25th anniversary.) The book focuses on an aardvark coping with his inconveniently long nose. (Today, that nose qualifies as positively snub.) Fans will spot the outspoken Francine.
Arthur’s best friend, a daffy rabbit named Buster, shows up in the 1979 book, Arthur’s Eyes. According to Brown, children are divided: Some favor the diligent Arthur, others the irrepressible Buster.
"And D.W. has a cult following," Brown says. Arthur may star in the books, but in the Read family, it is D.W. (Dora Winifred), his bossy, opinionated little sister who dominates every family scene. She is the quintessential middle child hungering for attention because baby Kate out-cutes everyone, except Pal the dog. Arthur’s parents (Dad’s a caterer and Mom’s an accountant) are pillars of parental probity.
Much of Arthur’s story comes directly from Brown’s own childhood in Millcreek, Pa. His 75 Arthur and D.W. books are "a form of personal therapy," Brown says with a laugh.
It was his grandmother Thora who encouraged his art. (Tolon’s name is a variation on Thora’s maiden name, Toulon.) A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Art, Brown recalls his astonishment as a child when his grandmother showed him a drawer full of his artwork. He marvels "that anyone thought this stuff was worth saving."
Buster is based on Terry Johnson, Brown’s best friend in elementary school. Sue Ellen honors a brown-eyed beauty named Patricia DelPorto.
Arthur’s implacable teacher, Mr. Ratburn, is based on Gary Rathbun, Brown’s seventh-grade algebra teacher. "I could never forget him," Brown recalls. "He would stop at nothing" in his drive to teach. Kim Croissant, one of Brown’s three younger sisters, does presentations billed as "The Real D.W."
Never mean-spirited, Arthur navigates the shoals of preachiness. "Kids learn best through humor," says Brown. The show has addressed head lice—the bane of the elementary school set—as well as shoplifting and asthma. George will handle dyslexia next season.
As regular viewers know, Elwood City is not Columbine. The third-grade gang gathers sans parents at the Sugar Bowl (Brown hung out as a child at the Millcreek Sugar Bowl). Big, bad academic underachiever Binky Barnes has some bullying tendencies, but a secret softness as well. Arthur, at 8, has been known to take the bus unaccompanied.
But certain societal changes are evident: Buster’s mom is single and is dating a sportswriter. Brown wants to write more about kids dealing with divorce.
"I’ve had divorce in my own family," says Brown. Divorce was "the worst thing I’ve been through in my life."
Brown found the books available at the time to be particularly hideous: "Things like Daddy Lives in a Downtown Hotel Room."
(Brown and his second wife, Laurie Krasny Brown, have co-authored non-fiction books such as Dinosaurs Divorce and What’s the Big Secret?: Talking About Sex With Girls and Boys.)
Early on, Brown learned that writing a children’s book is much more difficult than people realize. "Instead of two paragraphs, you need one well-crafted sentence." Brown particularly admires the work of the late children’s writer and illustrator James Marshall.
Over the past 25 years, Brown has gone from writing a book a year about Arthur to brainstorming with TV writers and animators. As creative producer, Brown reads every script. He turned down various TV treatments for Arthur but accepted a WGBH Boston offer from Carol Greenwald in 1993. It premiered in 1996. And TV has boosted the book sales. Out of the 50 million Arthur books sold in the USA, 45 million have been sold in the past five years.
Just as Arthur’s nose has shortened, so has his home become more comfy. Brown draws his own home as the Read residence. Fixing up old houses is a passion. He and his wife also have a home on Martha’s Vineyard. "Arthur’s World" which re-creates the Read residence, is a traveling exhibit visiting 10 children’s museums around the country.
Although Arthur is on PBS, there are 50 promotions and licensed commercial licensing products. Tolon Brown and one of Marc Brown’s neighbors oversee the licensing. "My father was really nervous about getting involved in licensing," says Tolon. "With every new license we take on, we consider the impact on Arthur."
"Arthur may be charming, but it is also a commercial effort to sell toys to kids," says Gary Ruskin, director of Ralph Nader’s Commercial Alert, which opposes excessive advertising and marketing. "Kids are probably better off playing away from the TV set than watching it. Arthur is part of the merchandising madness and tawdry commercialism that has taken over PBS."
Arthur will celebrate his birthday on May 25 at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, but he will be 8 years old forever.
"Arthur will never take the SATs," promises Brown.