A Little Golden Book: DOCTOR DAN THE BANDAGE MAN by Helen Gaspard and Corinne Malvern

If you are going to do a Little Golden Book that ties in with Johnson and Johnson's Band-Aids products, then you are going to have to draw some kids getting hurt. It's gonna get rough. There's gotta be a little blood.

And DOCTOR DAN THE BANDAGE MAN by Helen Gaspard, with illustrations by Corinne Malvern, accomplishes this harsh job. The nice thing is that when the book was published (in 1950, and it's copyright that year by Simon and Schuster, New York) there was a cache of a half dozen Band-Aids pasted onto the cover page. Those Band-Aids have been long gone from this edition.

I was surprised to see the Eric Carle Museum put it in its list of top five bestsellers. That told me that DOCTOR DAN has survived his boo boo ridden life and is still in print.

Here are a few samples from this book:

Little Dan falls a couple of times. 

Ironically, one time, he cuts his finger against the gun as he takes a spill. 

Even dear old dad, home from work and ready to mow the lawn, stupidly cuts his hand on the mower blade. So, you see, Dan comes by his accident-prone life legitimately.

The nice thing is that all of the injuries tend to be minor and Corinne Malvern discreetly has the characters holding their bloody injuries away from the viewer.

Through a mishap, sister's dolly is tossed to the ground. Another injury! Another Band-Aid to apply!

Sis wants to be in the injury club and get some attention here. She shows a little leg when looking for a place where her brother may put a Band-Aid.  She has a wee cut that doesn't really require a Band-Aid, but Dan plays along and obliges.

The dog getting one is just ridiculous. Thirty minutes later, this Band-Aid will be eaten and barfed back up. Mom is gonna be cleaning this up off of the living room rug and cursing.

And, of course, dad gets one too. But, hey, TIME TO CALL YOUR MALPRACTICE LAWYER, DAN!!!

If you notice, in the previous drawing at the top of the page, dad cut his right hand. Now it's his left that gets the Band-Aid. Hmm.

So, there we have it: blood, shock and Band-Aid. A best seller since 1950.