Leonard Marcus is back with a new podcast episode of What Becomes a Classic? This time he’s heading to the Museum of the City of New York to meet with Morgen Stevens-Garmon, curator of A City for Corduroy: Don Freeman’s New York. The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of CORDUROY! Morgen shows us some of Don Freeman’s amazing artwork and offers insight into the way his time in New York City forever shaped his work and storytelling. Watch this episode of What Becomes a Classic? About the Book Don Freeman’s classic character, Corduroy, is even more popular today then he was when he first came on the scene in 1968. This story of a small teddy bear waiting on a department store shelf for a child’s friendship has appealed to young readers generation after generation. About Leonard Leonard’s pathfinding writings and exhibitions have earned him acclaim as one of the world’s preeminent authorities on children’s books and the people who create them. He is the author of more than 20 award-winning biographies, histories, interview collections, and inside looks at the making of children’s literature’s enduring classics. His reviews and commentary have been featured in the New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, The Horn Book, and on numerous radio and television programs including Good Morning America, All Things Considered, PBS NewsHour, BBC Radio 4, CBC As It Happens, Beijing Television, and Radio New Zealand, among others. From The Museum of the City of NY: A CITY FOR CORDUROY: DON FREEMAN’S NEW YORK Best known today as the creator of the lovable teddy bear Corduroy, Don Freeman (1908–1978) spent over 20 years depicting New York City and its residents before becoming a children’s book author. He moved to New York from California in 1928—just shy of his 20th birthday—with little more than a few sketching supplies and a trumpet. Soon he was using his income from trumpet gigs to fund his studies at the famous Art Students League. Freeman sketched everything he saw, wherever he was. His eye was profoundly democratic, embracing the varied characters and street life of New York. He was also a lifelong lover of the stage, and his theater sketches launched his illustration career when his first drawing was published in the New York Herald Tribune’s drama section on October 14, 1928. After the Depression hit, Freeman found work as an artist for the Works Progress Administration’s Federal Art Project. He created his own magazine, Newsstand, to serve as a more personal outlet for his drawings and lithographs of the city. In 1951 Freeman published his first children’s book, co-authored with his wife and fellow artist, Lydia Cooley. Freeman would go on to author and illustrate nearly 40 books for children, including the groundbreaking Corduroy. A City for Corduroy: Don Freeman’s New York documents the artist’s love for his adopted home. Focused on moments of quiet and clamor, drama and humor, Don Freeman illustrated the humanity of the great metropolis—a big place where even a small, stuffed bear can find a friend. CITY LIFE When he first arrived in New York in 1928, Don Freeman eked out a living playing trumpet at night and took classes at the Art Students League during the day. At the League, he studied under famed Ashcan School artist John Sloan, who became a lifelong friend and mentor. He also took his first class on lithography and immediately fell in love with the printing process. Freeman found that “the lithographic medium fitted my temperament to a T-square… it set me to work translating into...