Robert "Buck" Brown (February 3, 1936 – July 2, 2007) was an American painter and cartoonist best known for creating ''
Playboy'' magazine's toothless, saggy-breasted, highly-sexed, naughty "Granny" character.
Early life and education
Brown was born in
Morrison, Tennessee, in the 1930s and moved to
Chicago as a child after the separation of his parents. He graduated from
Englewood High School in 1954 and then joined the
United States Air Force. While he was in the Air Force, he became known among his fellow airmen for the cartoons and pin-ups he would hang in the barracks.
Brown later received a Bachelor of Arts degree in fine arts from the
University of Illinois 1966.
Playboy career
One day while Brown was taking art classes and driving a
Chicago Transit Authority Bus, he stopped by the Playboy Offices in Chicago to submit some ideas and sketches which ran the next year.
[Azam, Ahmed. "Robert 'Buck' Brown: 1936 – 2007; Cartoonist Behind 'Granny'; Artist Contributed More than 600 Cartoons to Playboy during 4 Decades with the Magazine." ''Chicago Tribune'': 11. Jul 13 2007. ''ProQuest. ''Web. 5 Nov. 2017] Brown's first cartoon in ''Playboy'', a black-and-white drawing of a boy holding a trumpet, ran in 1962. "Granny" was his first color work for the magazine published in 1966. His inspiration for the granny character came from people he would sketch during his hours driving the route and encountering situations that occurred on his bus: often, he noted, older women would board the bus and ask questions that could be interpreted as
double entendre, such as, "Do you go down?" and "Do you go all the way?"
In all, Brown had more than 600 cartoons published by the magazine.
[''Los Angeles Times'', "Robert 'Buck' Brown, 71; cartoonist created 'Granny' in Playboy" July 12, 2007](_blank)
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Other works and interests
Brown also had thousands of other drawings published by publications such as ''Esquire
Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title.
In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'', '' Ebony'' and ''Jet
Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to:
Aerospace
* Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines
** Jet airliner
** Jet engine
** Jet fuel
* Jet Airways, an Indian airline
* Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline
* Journey to Enceladus a ...
''. Many of his cartoons were filled with commentary on civil rights issues affecting African Americans. He created several album covers for the Chiaroscuro Jazz Record label, including The Red Holloway Quintet's ''Standing Room Only'', Frank Wess Quartet's ''Surprise, Surprise'', Jay McShann's ''My Baby With The Black Dress On'' and ''A Lindy Hop Compilation''. Brown was also a painter of what he described as "soul genre paintings" depicting humorous images of everyday life. Brown's daughter, Tracy Hill recalls that the Bill Cosby once bought one of his paintings.
References
External links
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Robert (cartoonist)
1936 births
2007 deaths
American cartoonists
20th-century American painters
American male painters
21st-century American painters
Artists from Chicago
Playboy cartoonists
People from Warren County, Tennessee
University of Illinois College of Fine and Applied Arts alumni
People from Olympia Fields, Illinois
United States Air Force airmen
Englewood Technical Prep Academy alumni
20th-century African-American painters
21st-century African-American artists
20th-century American male artists