Season’s greetings! Here’s a special Yuletide gift: an unproduced children’s book written and illustrated by Art Davis!
Steven Marshall, the husband of Art’s granddaughter, Sharon Davis, provided a manuscript entitled “Curly Q. Ball” from Davis’s holdings. Its main character, Algernon Quincy Ball, boasts the nickname “Curly” after the brown curls atop his head. As Curly grows older and becomes more arrogant from the attention his hair receives, he finds that his curls are slowly falling out and seeks a quick solution to avoid humiliation.
Art’s picture book includes an autobiographical element: Davis began losing hair at a young age and remained bald for much of his life. The Davis collection contained several surviving gag drawings from Art’s time at Screen Gems, dating from the mid-thirties and early forties, which poke fun at his bald pate. (click to enlarge)
There is little information about this unknown venture in Davis’s career, though Steven had mentioned finding paperwork in Art’s collection that an unknown publisher had declined his proposed book. Therefore, the book (75 pages, below) only exists in partially colored pages and rough illustrations. While it is hard to determine precisely when Davis worked on the book, the fashion sensibilities of its characters—short skirts, wide ties, and long-haired classmates—evoke the 1970s.
Enjoy!
DEVON BAXTER is a film restoration artist, video editor, and animation researcher/writer currently residing in Pennsylvania. He also hosts a 
Those drawings of Davis are downright flattering compared to his grotesque caricature in The Way of All Pests.
I agree that “Curly Q. Ball” has a strong 1970s vibe, especially since the ’70s were a decade when being bald was extremely uncool. Men were wearing their hair longer, styling it, blow-drying it, combing and spraying it into groovy perfection. Men who were losing theirs bought hairpieces or, like many of my teachers in high school, grew their hair long on one side only and combed it over their bald spot, an effective piece of subterfuge as long as the day wasn’t windy. It all seems rather quaint today, when half the men you meet have shaved heads, and so many sex symbols in Hollywood proudly sport the glabrous look. When was the last time you saw a guy with a combover? I think it’s been at least forty years.
I’m not surprised that Davis was unable to interest a publisher in this book, as its subject matter — going bald — would hardly have been relatable to young readers. It’s a shame that he put so much effort into a project that ultimately went nowhere; but, as a great admirer of Art Davis, I’m all the happier to discover it today. Davis was a great story man, and these 75 pages read almost like a storyboard for a projected half-hour prime-time animated TV special. Maybe he could have interested Friz Freleng in producing it.
Uhhh, turn on the news. You’ll see the worst comb-over ever on our worst president.
“When was the last time you saw a guy with a combover?”
When he renamed the Kennedy Center?
Pretty cute, delightful drawings done by Davis for “Curly Q. Ball”. Shame it didn’t get published, but that’s okay.
Jerry, there’s always something on this site that comes from out of nowhere and is a delight to see. This is yet another example.
Thanks to Devon for the mounds of research he’s carrying out.
These are absolutely delightful. Especially page 73. The warmth and charm are evident on each page. Thanks for posting!