''Droodles'' was a syndicated

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

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 of a cowboy in a

Port-a-john A portable or mobile toilet (colloquial terms: thunderbox, portaloo, porta-john or porta-potty) is any type of toilet that can be moved around, some by one person, some by mechanical equipment such as a truck and crane. Most types do not require ...

."Price, Roger. ''Droodles'', Simon & Schuster, 1953.

Origins

The trademarked name "Droodle" suggests " doodle", "

drawing Drawing is a visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface. The instruments used to make a drawing are pencils, crayons, pens with inks, brushes with paints, or combinations of these, and in more mod ...

" and "

riddle A riddle is a 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 allegorical language that requi ...

".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 of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousan ...

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

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written 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 politics, business, sport ...

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 is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

, ''Droodles'', on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

in 1954.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 288. There was also a droodle-based game called "Mysteriosos" on HBO's '' Braingames''. Series of newspaper advertisements for the News and

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of 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 musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of A ...

's 1982 album '' Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch''. Price's other captions for that drawing include "Mother pyramid feeding her baby." Pictures in a similar style feature in ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 a ...

'' by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

References

External links

{{commons category, Droodle
Roger Price bio

Online edition of Estonian droodles

American game shows Cartooning Illustration

Form

Origins

Appearances in art and popular culture

See also

References

External links