David Johnson Leisk Childhood Home

104-11 39th Avenue
1906

Better known by his pen name, Crockett Johnson, Leisk (1906- 1975) was a beloved cartoonist and illustrator. (The name derives from his childhood love of the outdoors and Davy Crockett.) His most famous creations were Barnaby (1942-52), a daily comic strip that reached national syndication, and Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955), a series of beloved children’s books. Leisk first published his drawings in the Newtown High School student newspaper. After studying at Cooper Union, he held Art Editor positions including at the Communist-leaning New Masses, where he first began signing his drawings as Crockett Johnson. The Leisk family occupied the second story apartment of this house, then known as 2 Ferguson Street, from the early 1910s until around 1925.

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