Michael J. Smollin

Michael J. Smollin (b. 1925) is an illustrator whose scratchy, distinctive style was one of the defining Sesame art styles in the 1970s, alongside Joe Mathieu and Michael K. Frith. Smollin's first Sesame storybook, the 1971 Little Golden Book The Monster at the End of This Book, was an immediate sensation, selling two million copies in its first year of publication.

Biography
Michael Smollin was born in 1925, and grew up in East Hampton, Long Island. He attended Cornell University, and served in the infantry in World War II. He was awarded a Purple Heart for shrapnel wounds, and returned to the United States to study advertising design at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

Smollin worked as an ad executive for many years, but left the industry in order to become a freelance illustrator. He was a frequent contributor to TV Guide, providing humorous illustrations for articles throughout the 1970s and 80s.

Sesame Street work
Smollin provided the artwork for the covers and gatefolds of several early Sesame record albums, including The Muppet Alphabet Album and The Official Sesame Street 2 Book-and-Record Album in 1971, Havin' Fun with Ernie & Bert in 1972 and Merry Christmas from Sesame Street in 1975. Smollin also drew pictures for five Sesame calendars between 1976 and 1982.

Smollin did not participate in any of the "Sesame Street Storybook" anthologies of the early 70s. Instead, the versatile Smollin seemed to specialize in the unusual formats -- the large-format Big Bird's Blunder Book and The Amazing Mumford and His Amazing Subtracting Trick; the rounded Cookie Monster's Circle Book; and a set of small die-cut storybooks published by Playskool in 1975. Smollin illustrated cloth books, waterproof books, small "chunky" books and even books with wheels.

Smollin also illustrated several items of Sesame spin-off merchandise, including paper cups, Colorforms playsets, a collectible plate and a toy instrument kit.

Smollin's involvement in Sesame Street illustration tailed off in the mid-80s, although he returned to illustrate two books in the mid-90s -- Mother Grouch Nursery Rhymes in 1995, and Another Monster at the End of This Book in 1996, a sequel to the classic storybook that he illustrated 25 years previously.

In addition to his varied Sesame work, Smollin also worked on a Bob and Ray storybook by Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding; a set of joke books based on The Electric Company, and a set of Strawberry Shortcake storybooks. In 1999 and 2000, Smollin collaborated with his son Mark to create a set of Lego activity books published in Europe. This was Smollin's last professional work; he is now retired.