The Cowboy Gathering is honored to have the artwork of Bob Brown to be representing our 10th year Anniversary poster, "Frontier Justice."

Bob was also the creator of our Big Bear Cowboy Gathering Logo and the artist for our first gathering poster. What an amazing talent he was. Bob has passed on his skills as a leather craftsman to our committee’s Co-Founder and Director, Richard Hillberg, who himself has made some beautiful pieces. You can see one of Bob Browns works of art on a saddle displayed at the Big Bear Valley Museum.

It is difficult to encapsulate the life of a man who has done so many remarkable things. The following merely touches on the highlights of that life.

Of Irish descent, Robert E. Lee "Bob" Brown was born May 22, 1910 in Geneva, Indiana, the youngest of five children. Both his father and uncle were oil drillers, a trade learned from their father. Bob's interest in art had begun when, as a child, he whittled his own toys.

In the summer of 1931, Bob was awarded a scholarship to the famous Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles. There he studied layouts, lettering, and composition, etc. under "Tink" Adams.

In 1933, Bob became a commercial artist for Spielman and Conners in the Bendex Building. While there, he designed logos for Max Factor and packaging for Coca Cola.

A few weeks after leaving his job as a commercial artist, Bob was out for a walk, he had walked from Monrovia (where he then lived) to Arcadia — a couple of miles. As he passed a shop on 125 North First Street, he stopped to watch a silversmith through the window. It was Frankie Paul, and sensing the youth was very interested in what he was doing, he invited him in. Brown informed him he was a commercial artist. Paul told him that he needed an eagle with its wings spread out as if in flight and within five minutes Bob drew him one. In gratitude, Paul made him a belt... and hired him. This was to be the beginning of his career as a leather artist.

In 1936, he was almost signed by Paramount as an Art Director. One of Bob's peripheral interests was law enforcement, and in 1936, he joined the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as a Reserve Deputy Sheriff, which meant that he worked unpaid. In 1937, Frankie Paul moved his shop to Whittier, California, so Bob set up shop on 5910 Hollywood Blvd. near the corner of Bronson Ave., renting window space from the Hollywood Boot Maker. One of his first jobs was to create the tunic, belt, shoes and cap for Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robin Hood. Other famous owners of Bob’s work are John Wayne, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Tex Williams and many many more. There is a story saying that Bob Brown was the one who taught John Wayne his famous walk. Even though Bob had his own shop it did not prevent him from working as a staff artist for Brown and Bigelow, the world-famous calendar company. Salesmen would come down to his shop with orders for leather billfolds, key cases and desk sets. Norman Rockwell also worked for the company, and would later confer on him the title of "the Leonardo of Leather."

In 1952, the sheriff of Los Angeles County, Gene Biscailuz, persuaded Bob to join the Sheriff's Department as a paid official instead of unpaid reserve officer. Bob From that time on, all his leather craft work was done in his home. Bob remained with the Sheriff's Department until his retirement in 1970. He was the Psycho Ward Bailiff for a time, one of his famous inmates being Bela Lugosi, who died in his presence. After retiring, he and his wife Jolly moved to Big Bear City. His wife passed away in 1997. Among his closest friends were the late actor Robert Bray, outlaw Al Jennings, and Norman Rockwell.

In April 2001, just a month prior to his 91st birthday, Bob was inducted into the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City.

In September 2005, Bob passed away peacefully at his home in Big Bear, CA. He was 95 years old.

For more info on Bob Brown go to: http://www.geostan.ca/brown.html