''Droodles'' was a syndicated

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...

feature created by Roger Price and collected in his 1953 book ''Droodles'', though the term is now used more generally of similar visual riddles.

Form

The general form is minimal: a square box containing a few abstract pictorial elements with a caption (or several) giving a humorous explanation of the picture's subject. For example, a Droodle depicting three concentric shapeslittle circle, medium circle, big squaremight have the caption "

Aerial view A bird's-eye view is an elevated view of an object or location from a very steep viewing angle, creating a perspective as if the observer were a bird in flight looking downward. Bird's-eye views can be an aerial photograph, but also a drawing ...

of a

cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...

in a Port-a-john."Price, Roger. ''Droodles'', Simon & Schuster, 1953. Aerial view of a cowboy from a Port-a-john

Origins

The trademarked name "Droodle" suggests "

doodle A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract art, abstract lines or shapes, generally w ...

", "

drawing Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...

" and "

riddle A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, alleg ...

".Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhoj, ''Riddles: Perspectives on the use, function and change in a folklore genre'', Studia Fennica Folkloristica, 10 (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2001), p. 62, http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/detail/12/riddles/. However, the form of the droodlea riddle expressed in visual formhas earlier roots, for example in a drawing (''indovinelli grafici'') by the Italian painter Agostino Carracci (1557–1602), and the term is widely used beyond Price's work.Piret Voolaid, 'Preface', ''Estonian Droodles'', http://www.folklore.ee/Droodles/saatesona ''Droodles'' are (or were) purely a form of

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and Interest (emotion), interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but it is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have deve ...

like any other nonsense cartoon and appeared in roughly the same places (

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s, paperback collections, bathroom walls) during their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. The commercial success of Price's collections of ''Droodles'' led to the founding of the publishing house Price-Stern-Sloan, and also to the creation of a Droodles-themed

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

, ''Droodles'', on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

in 1954.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 288. Series of newspaper advertisements for the News and

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

brands of cigarettes featured cigarette-themed Droodles.

Appearances in art and popular culture

One of Price's original ''Droodles'' serves as the cover art for

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...

's 1982 album ''

Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch ''Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'' is the 35th album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991. It features five tracks composed by Zappa, and one song, "Valley Girl", co-written with ...

''. Price's other captions for that drawing include "Mother pyramid feeding her baby." In the classic book

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (, ) is a novella written and illustrated by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 and was published po ...

, written by

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, vicomte de Saint-Exupéry (29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), known simply as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ), was a French writer, poet, journalist and aviator. Born in Lyon to an French nobility, aristocratic ...

, a notable Droodle appears as part of one of the most iconic illustrations in the work. During one of the conversations between the Little Prince and the narrator, an intriguing drawing of a snake that swallowed an elephant is presented. Droodles gained popularity in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

through a famous TV show called

El Chavo del Ocho ''El Chavo'' ("The Kid/The Boy", Spanish also meaning " cent"), also known as ''El Chavo del Ocho'' ("The Kid/Boy from Number Eight") during its earliest episodes, is a Mexican television sitcom series created by Roberto Gómez Bolaños (Che ...

. In one episode, characters draw figures similar to Droodles, creating iconic scenes in the show. By the end of

Roberto Bolaño Roberto is an Italian, Portuguese and Spanish variation of the male given name Robert. Notable people named Roberto include: * Roberto (footballer, born 1912) * Roberto (footballer, born 1977) * Roberto (footballer, born 1978) * Roberto (footb ...

's long novel The Savage Detectives the mysterious works by the lost poetess Cesárea Tinajero turn out to be a short series of Mexican culture visual puns, similar to Price's Droodles. There was also a droodle-based game called "Mysteriosos" on HBO's '' Braingames''.

References

External links

Roger Price bio
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051112162923/http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,0_1000021030,00.html?sym=BIO , date=2005-11-12
Online edition of Estonian droodles

American game shows Cartooning Illustration

Form

Origins

Appearances in art and popular culture

See also

References

External links