O3321

American Illustrators

Br'er Rabbit by A.B. Frost

Subscriber-only Edition

This is not part of O3301-O3320 set

Collins Cover Announcement 

A. B . Frost

Subscriber-Only Limited-Edition

Arthur Burdett Frost is best remembered for his charming illustrations for The Uncle Remus Tales by Joel Chandler Harris. The style of Frost will be realistically presented on his cover in my "American Illustrators" set, which has recently begun. This special cover — produced just for subscribers — gives me a chance to expand on Frost's creativity as I pay tribute to Walt Disney's adaptation in the 1940s of the beloved Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and Brer Bear. Seeing them at an early age, the earliest movie I can remember is Song of the South, which captured their antics and adventures. The lyrics of the feature song, Zippidy Do Dah still runs through my mind, and I like to think that "Mr. Bluebird" has perched on my shoulder and that "Plenty of Sunshine" has come my way.

In 1946, Walt Disney wrote the following. "The pranks of Brer Rabbit have become a real part of American folklore... .During the preparation of material for the motion picture Song of the South, a great quantity of the early Remus tales were studied and adapted by the Disney staff." The adaptations that Mr. Disney spoke of included the illustrations of A. B. Frost, and I think that, in order to pay full tribute to A. B. Frost, these later images deserve to be honored on a First Day Cover.

In the preface for the 1896 edition of The Uncle Remus Tales, Joel Chandler Harris wrote of Frost, "You have conveyed into their quaint antics the illumination of your own inimitable humor." In the 1946 edition of Uncle Remus Stories, Walt Disney wrote in the foreword, "We present them (The Remus Tales) here in the hope that the boys and girls of today will chuckle with Brer Rabbit as their parents, their grandparents, and their great-grandparents chuckled, long ago."

By presenting the original style drawings on the Frost "American Illustrators" cover, and by presenting the 1940s adaptation style on this limited-edition subscriber-only cover, the artistic humor of Arthur Burdett Frost that both Joel Harris and Walt Disney recognized and wrote about will be represented philatelically from his earliest sketches to the present-day adaptations. May the antics of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear live forever in the hearts of young and old alike. A. B. Frost limited edition. Collins #O3321 - $11.75.

Autum 2019 Mail Sale Commentary 

Lot 29 03321 — A. B. Frost's "Uncle Remus Tales" — 2/1/01

This "feel good" Collins has always been a personal favorite. It is the only subscriber-only cover I did for the extremely popular American Illustrators set of twenty stamps. As a young child, I remember going to the movies and seeing "Song of the South" based on the Uncle Remus characters Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, and Brer Bear. The wise rabbit was constantly outwitting his good-natured adversaries — the fox and bear. Brer Rabbit would find safety in the briar patch. If you like Disney, comics, and animated art, this one is for you. If your Collins collection is missing it, now is an opportunity. In addition to the large hand painted cachet, there is a smaller vignette done in silhouette at lower right beneath the stamp and first day postmark. The final touch! In that movie I saw the hit song was "Zip-adee-doo-dah." I still sing it in the car when I'm by myself and love the verse "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-adee-ay; My, oh, my, what a wonderful day; Plenty of sunshine headin' my way; Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-deeay!" Strum that banjo, Brer Rabbit.