Babar

The death in Switzerland last October of a pleasant Parisian gentleman named Jean de Brunhoff ended the adventures of one of the world's most endearing elephants. Jean de Brunhoff was the creator of Babar, the elephant whose life and high times he illustrated in a series of picture books read by children the world over. Babar, his Queen Celeste, his kindly adviser Cornelius, his mischievous little cousin Arthur and his friend the Old Lady, were all invented during bed-time stories told by Artist de Brunhoff to his three little boys. Between 1932 and 1937, five Babar books were published in France, translated into English. A few months before he died at 37, M. de Brunhoff designed costumes and sets for Babar's debut on the Paris stage.

Last week the Manhattan galleries of Durlacher Bros, displayed 66 of the original Babar water colors in an exhibition arranged with the aid of Jean de Brunhoff's widow and his brother, Michel, the Paris editor of Vogue. Priced from $25 to $100, these bland, lively and unworldly little drawings, colored with surprising delicacy, made the most successful show of its kind Manhattanites have seen in many a day.

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