A Scout Is Helpful, 1939 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) Oil on canvas After successfully illustrating the new Boy Scout Hike Book in the fall of 1912, Rockwell was retained for the permanent staff of Boys' Life. The weekly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America had just expanded to national circulation. Six months later, Rockwell was promoted to art editor and he continued to work for Boys' Life until 1917. In gratitude for this early break and the valuable experience he gained, Rockwell made a lifelong commitment to the Boy Scouts of America, producing their annual calendar illustrations from 1925 to 1976.
Painted in 1939, Rockwell's 1941 Boy Scout calendar illustration of a Scout rescuing a child in a swollen river was inspired by the Great New England Hurricane of 1938.* Both that storm and the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 affected towns in New England as far north as Rockwell's Arlington, Vermont, home town.
Of all Rockwell's clients, the Boy Scouts of America demanded the most in changes to his work. Rockwell often had to redraw studies or repaint portions of canvases, necessitating shipping the artwork from the publisher to Rockwell, back and forth, until it was perfect. A Scout Is Helpful was no exception. Rockwell's first version showed the Scout in long pants, which were wet from the knees down. The Boy Scouts' editor asked Rockwell to put the boy in short pants, as Scouts were always to be shown neat, and wet pants would not appear neat.
Odds & Ends: Neither Rockwell nor any of his three sons were Boy Scouts. The National Weather Service did not begin naming hurricanes until 1950
Painting for Boy Scouts of America calendar, 1941 34 x 24 inches Norman Rockwell Museum Collection, NRM.1988.10 Licensed by Norman Rockwell Licensing Company, Niles, IL.