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Don Freeman was born on August 11, 1908 in San Diego, California. He attended high school in St. Louis, Missouri. Freeman to New York City, following his fellow trumpet playing brother Harold, where Don found a job playing trumpet in a production of “The Beautiful People” at the Lyceum Theater. Don studied graphic design and lithography at the Art Students League with Ashcan artist John Sloan and Harry Wickey. In 1930 he finished his first complete lithograph and, in 1931, found professional lithographer George C. Miller’s 14^th Street studio. He worked with Miller for many years.

Freeman's subjects included Broadway theater, politics, and the circus. He was known for carrying a sketchbook with him wherever he went. His images depicted New York City, and the faces of the people he observed on the streets, in the theaters, and in the subways. They often included images of showgirls, Bowery Boys, drunks, apple sellers, window washers and numerous citizens of the city that were down on their luck. Freeman was also a jazz musician and the brother of hotel en

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Oral history interview with Don Freeman, 1965 June 4

Transcript

Preface

The following oral history transcript is the result of a tape-recorded interview with Don Freeman on June 4, 1965. The interview was conducted at Don Freeman's home in Santa Barbara, California by Betty Hoag for the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Interview

BETTY HOAG: This is Betty Hoag on June the 4th, 1965, interviewing the artist, Don Freeman, that’s spelled D-O-N-F-R-E-E-M-A-N, in his home in Santa Barbara. Mr. Freeman is an illustrator and an easel artist and he has a very unusual talent with chalk powder and is very busy with these all the time I understand. Mr. Freeman, I wanted to ask you first of all if you use the whole Donald and the middle initial at all?

DON FREEMAN: No, just Don.

BETTY HOAG: And before we talk about your work on the project in New York, would you tell me when and where you were born? And where you were educated and something about yourself?

DON FREEMAN: I was born in San Diego, California, and I lived there with a guardian until I was 11 years old

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Don Freeman was born in San Diego, California, in 1908. At an early age, he received a trumpet as a gift from his father. He practiced obsessively and eventually joined a California danceband. After graduating from high school, he ventured to New York City to study art under the tutelage of Joan Sloan and Harry Wickey at the Art Students' League. He managed to support himself throughout his schooling by playing his trumpet evenings, in nightclubs and at weddings. Gradually, he eased into making a living sketching impressions of Broadway shows for The New York Times and The Herald Tribune. This shift was helped along, in no small part, by a rather heartbreaking incident; he lost his trumpet. One evening, he was so engrossed in sketching people on the subway, he simply forgot it was sitting on the seat beside him. This new career turned out to be a near-perfect fit for Don, though, as he had always loved the theater. He was introduced to the world of Childrens' Literature, when William Saroyan asked him to illustrate several books. Soon after, he began to write and illustr