Editing Droodles

{{Short description|Television series}}
{{italic title}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
[[File:Four-elephants-and-orange.svg|thumb|Four elephants examine an orange ''or'' a dead point position by a billiard game]]
'''''Droodles''''' was a syndicated [[cartoon]] feature created by [[Roger Price (comedy)|Roger Price]] and collected in his 1953 book ''Droodles'', though the term is now used more generally of similar visual riddles.

==Form==

The general form is minimal: a square box containing a few abstract pictorial elements with a caption (or several) giving a humorous explanation of the picture's subject. For example, a Droodle depicting three concentric shapes{{snd}}little circle, medium circle, big square{{snd}}might have the caption "[[Aerial photography|Aerial view]] of a [[cowboy]] in a [[Port-a-john]]."<ref name=price>Price, Roger. ''Droodles'', Simon & Schuster, 1953.</ref>

[[File:Aerial view of a cowboy from a Port-a-john.png|thumb|Aerial view of a cowboy in a Port-a-john]]

==Origins==

The trademarked name "Droodle" suggests "[[doodle]]", "[[drawing]]" and "[[riddle]]".<ref>Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhoj, ''Riddles: Perspectives on the use, function and change in a folklore genre'', Studia Fennica Folkloristica, 10 (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2001), p. 62, http://oa.finlit.fi/site/books/detail/12/riddles/.</ref> However, the form of the droodle{{snd}}a riddle expressed in visual form{{snd}}has earlier roots, for example in a drawing (''indovinelli grafici'') by the Italian painter Agostino Carracci (1557–1602), and the term is widely used beyond Price's work.<ref name=Voolaid>Piret Voolaid, 'Preface', ''Estonian Droodles'',  http://www.folklore.ee/Droodles/saatesona</ref>

''Droodles'' are (or were) purely a form of [[entertainment]] like any other nonsense cartoon and appeared in roughly the same places ([[newspaper]]s, paperback collections, [[graffiti|bathroom wall]]s) during their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. The commercial success of Price's collections of ''Droodles'' led to the founding of the publishing house [[Price Stern Sloan|Price-Stern-Sloan]], and also to the creation of a Droodles-themed [[game show]], ''Droodles'', on [[NBC]] in 1954.<ref name=etvs>Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0-7864-6477-7}}. P. 288.</ref> Series of newspaper advertisements for the News and [[Kent (cigarette)|Max]] brands of cigarettes featured cigarette-themed Droodles.<ref name=price/>

==Appearances in art and popular culture==

One of Price's original ''Droodles'' serves as the cover art for [[Frank Zappa]]'s 1982 album ''[[Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch]]''. Price's other captions for that drawing include "Mother pyramid feeding her baby."

In the classic book [[The Little Prince]], written by [[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry]], a notable Droodle appears as part of one of the most iconic illustrations in the work. During one of the conversations between the Little Prince and the narrator, an intriguing drawing of a snake that swallowed an elephant is presented.<ref name=Voolaid />

Droodles gained popularity in [[Latin America]] through a famous TV show called [[El Chavo del Ocho]]. In one episode, characters draw figures similar to Droodles, creating iconic scenes in the show.

By the end of [[Roberto Bolaño]]'s long novel [[The Savage Detectives]] the mysterious works by the lost poetess Cesárea Tinajero turn out to be a short series of Mexican culture visual puns, similar to Price's Droodles.

There was also a droodle-based game called "Mysteriosos" on HBO's ''[[Braingames]]''.

==See also==
* [[Kilroy was here]]
* [[Leonard B. Stern]]
* [[Mad Libs]]

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* {{Cite journal | doi = 10.1111/j.0022-3840.1975.0901_20.x| title = Whatever Happened to Droodles? Whatever Happened to Roger Price?| journal = The Journal of Popular Culture| pages = 20–25| volume = 9| issue = 1 | date=Summer 1975| last = Bowman | first = David }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Droodle}}
* [http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,0_1000021030,00.html?sym=BIO Roger Price bio] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051112162923/http://www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,0_1000021030,00.html?sym=BIO |date=2005-11-12 }}
* [http://www.folklore.ee/Droodles/saatesona Online edition of Estonian droodles]
* [http://www.archimedes-lab.org/droodles.html A psychology of droodles]

[[Category:American game shows]]
[[Category:Cartooning]]
[[Category:Illustration]]