Richard Scarry

Richard McClure Scarry (/ˈskæriː/; June 5, 1919 – April 30, 1994) was an American children's author and illustrator who published over 300 books with total sales of over 100 million worldwide. He is best known for his Best Ever book series that take place primarily in the fictional town of Busytown, "which is populated by friendly and helpful resident [animals...such as] Mr. Frumble, Huckle Cat, Mr. Fixit, Lowly Worm, and others..." The series spawned a media franchise.

Richard Scarry, the second-oldest of five children, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on 5 June 1919 to Mary McClure and John Scarry Sr.. His parents were of Irish-American ancestry, and ran a small department store chain. Scarry had four siblings: older brother John Jr., younger sister Barbara, and younger brothers Edward and Leo. The family enjoyed a comfortable life in the Dorchester neighborhood, even during the Great Depression.

Following high school, Scarry enrolled in Boston Business School, but dropped out in 1938. He then studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Archipenko Art School in Woodstock, New York, and the Eliot O'Hara Watercolor School in Goose Rocks, Kennebunkport, Maine. He was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942.

After entering the Army, Scarry was assigned to the military's radio repair school. After small success at that trade, he was chosen to paint a large sign and was then made an art director after receiving a medical dispensation "from strenuous physical activity." Later he became "Editor and Writer of Publications for the Information and Morale Services Section of the Allied Force Headquarters", served in North Africa, and was discharged from the Army in 1946. After the war, Scarry worked in magazine and advertising in New York City, including a very brief stint at Vogue. In 1949, he made a career breakthrough with Little Golden Books.

Scarry's most famous series of books was about Busytown and revolved around anthropomorphic animals. While his books are largely populated by common animal species, he proved to be quite adept at giving human characteristics to a seemingly endless number of creatures, machines, and creations. Many of his later illustrations feature characters in traditional Swiss clothing and show architecturally correct drawings of half-timber houses.

The fabric of Scarry's world was woven with a strong sense of community and cooperation. His characters work together, be it building a house or constructing a highway. And he endowed his characters with an honest humanity that underscores his tales. Scarry knew children needed to know that they did not have to be perfect all the time.

Scarry was a disciplined worker. Scarry was closely associated with mass-market children's publisher Ole Risom. They worked together on dozens of books, including I Am a Bunny, which Risom wrote and Scarry illustrated. First published in 1963, it remained in print into the 2000s. Risom and Walter Retan also co-wrote an illustrated biography, The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry. In the 1980s and 1990s, many of Scarry's Best Ever books were produced as animated videos and aired during TLC's now-defunct Ready Set Learn! block. The Busytown books were also adapted into an animated series, The Busy World of Richard Scarry, which was produced by Canada-based CINAR (now WildBrain) and Paramount Television and aired on the pay-TV channel Showtime from 1993 to 1997. It reran in the late 1990s on Nickelodeon and its sister channel Noggin (now Nick Jr.). A further animated series, Busytown Mysteries, was commissioned by CBC from the Cookie Jar Group (the successor to CINAR) in 2007, and it aired on the Kids' CBC morning programming block.

Busytown was featured at the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh from June 13 to September 8, 2002, in an interactive exhibit, Richard Scarry's Busytown. His books were popular with children throughout the world, with over 100 million copies sold.

Scarry's papers and drawings are collected in the University of Connecticut archives.

While working as a freelance illustrator, Scarry met Patricia "Patsy" Murphy, a writer of children's textbooks, when they collaborated on one of her books; they married in 1948. She wrote many of the stories in his subsequent children's books, such as Good Night, Little Bear; The Bunny Book; and The Fishing Cat. Before moving to Europe, the family lived on a farm in Ridgefield, Connecticut.

In 1972, Scarry and his wife moved to Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1974, they bought a chalet in nearby Gstaad, where Scarry enjoyed spending time with his adult son, Richard Scarry Jr., skiing, coin collecting, and sailing.

Scarry's son is also an illustrator, who sometimes works in his father's style, using the name Huck Scarry. He moved to Vienna, Austria, and has four children.

On April 30, 1994, in Gstaad, Switzerland, Scarry died of a heart attack, caused by complications from esophageal cancer, at age 74.