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[I wrote this back in December 2006 for Uni Watch. It was actually my first piece as Uni Watch Intern, so naturally I chose a topic near and dear to my heart: Brownie the Elf. It’s been almost three years since it ran and I’m sure there are plenty of people who never read the original post or simply don’t know, or never wondered about, the history of our little elf. Reprinted with some minor edits for your edification.]

The story of Brownie the Elf the logo begins long before the Cleveland Browns adopted the little creature — long before the team even existed, in fact. “Brownies” date back to folklore, where they were elf-like creatures who helped out with household chores as long as you left them little goodies to eat (further background is available here, here, and here, and the cover illustration from a children’s tale entitled “Brownie and the Cook” can be seen here). Palmer Cox was one of the first artists to illustrate Brownie on a consistent basis in his cartoons. He began drawing and using the elves in advertising work that he produced for different companies, including Kodak.

All of which brings us, finally, to the Cleveland Browns.

The association of the elf and the gridiron Browns begins in the late 1940s with Arthur McBride, who was the team’s owner at the time. During a string of four incredibly successful seasons from 1946-49 (each of which resulted in an All American Football Conference championship), McBride sought to make his team more recognizable and marketable with music, parades, marching bands, and so on. He also asked for submissions for mascot logos, and after careful consideration chose Brownie as the new face of the team.

Brownie got an update around 1950 and looked like this until 1969. Alternate logos included an orange elf from 1950-69, and a halfback elf from 1960-69. After the Browns won the NFL title in 1964 (yes, it was that long ago, Cleveland fans), Brownie was often depicted with a crown signifying the team’s achievement.

Even representatives from the Cleveland Browns are befuddled as to the exact origin, date, and key figures in the creation of the logo (which made its first appearance in an ad for tickets to the 1946 opening game against the Miami Seahawks). However, many of the earliest versions of the elf are credited to Dick Dugan, who became the sports cartoonist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and often depicted Brownie in battle against the team’s opponents, like the Broncos.

Cleveland fans loved the athletically inclined little creature with pointed shoes, whose image could be seen adorning various publications and advertisements (from both the team and the public), such as in this 1949 Media Guide.

So, what do you do with a logo that the fans love?

Well, if you’re Art Modell, you get rid of it. Apparently, Modell, who became the team’s owner in 1961, was completely embarrassed by the elf and hated it so much that in the mid-1960s he began to phase it out. Yes, in addition to taking the team from Cleveland, Modell also was responsible for putting the lovable Brownie on the unemployment line.

Thankfully, when the Browns were resurrected in 1999, Brownie got a new lease on life. New owner Randy Lerner has made a big push to use the elf logo more and more for the organization. “I think it’s a great anchor for our tradition and for the look and feel of the Browns,” he has said. “But I also understand that there is something to freshening up the act, so I think that’s a balancing act we’re having right now.”

As you can see from the team’s sideline ponchos, the organization is using Brownie in more ways than just for merchandise sales (although it’s clearly evident from the hats and shirts and fleeces that there is a definite push in that direction too). In fact, the Browns have used the elf logo on the 2006 Training Camp Patch celebrating the franchise’s 60th anniversary, and a throwback elf logo appears on the front of their 2006 Media Guide (here’s a close-up view). Fans have embraced Brownie, too — one guy has gotten permanent reminder of his allegiances.

While Brownie’s revival is welcome news, there’s one place that the elf should never appear, on the helmet (and thankfully, Lerner agrees). Paul Brown actually proposed this idea in 1953, but dismissed the idea after seeing mock-ups created by then trainer Leo Murphy. Good thing too, because the only thing that should ever be added to the team’s helmets are uniform numbers, like the ones the team wore with for a throwback game against the Bengals.

We’re generally pleased with Brownie’s reappearance. It adds a great traditional aspect to the team’s imagery, which meshes nicely with the more recent addition of the “Dawg” logo (but please, let’s not have them mesh like this, ideas that belong in the same graveyard as this one).

Three other Brownie items of note:

• Brownie was also pressed into mascot duty by the St. Louis Browns baseball team just prior to their move to Baltimore (where they became the Orioles). During this brief run, Brownie appeared on the team’s jersey sleeve , on the cover of the team’s 1952 schedule, and even on the door to owner Bill Veeck’s office.

• “Elf Brownie” is also the name of a typeface.

• Need a last-minute Christmas gift? Live near northeastern Ohio? You can get plenty of Brownie-related merchandise at the GPS Gift Gallery in Rocky River, Ohio, the self-proclaimed “Home of the Brownie Elf.”

This article appears in Nov 18-24, 2009.

Vince Grzegorek has been with Scene since 2007 and editor-in-chief since 2012. He previously worked at Discount Drug Mart and Texas Roadhouse.

16 replies on “A Little History of Brownie the Elf”

  1. Vince,
    Thank you very much for the kind words. I am the owner of GPS and we do carry many EXCLUSIVE Elf items. We’re proud to carry on the tradition. It’s impossible to find the Elf anywhere.
    If anyone has any questions please call us at 440-333-3123 or visit our website at gpsgiftgallery.com
    We look forward to seeing you in the store. Mention you read this on Cleveland.com and receive 20% ANY Elf item.
    Happy Holiday’s.

  2. Vince, nice story. Love the pop-up links, but several of your conventional hyperlinks (e.g. the one to the elf typeface) are broken.

    I’d love to see Brownie become a sleeve decoration a la the Viking man on the Vike’s uniforms. He could certainly displace the Al Lerner “AL.” Al’s was certainly not an auspicious ownership, and his son has been even worse.

  3. Great article…thanks for sharing the information. I am glad the Browns brought the elf back in 1999, I just wish they would use it more. For instance the icon used to represent the Browns is usually that 3-D picture of the helmet. While I love the plain orange helmets it seems pretty generic to use as a logo. The elf would be much cooler to relate to. Might even attract some younger fans who have nothing to root for as far as the team’s play on the field.

  4. I too am a Brownie fan, but some of my fondness for the Elf is actually my utter embarrasment at the Browns primary logo, which is nothing more than the side of an awkwardly positioned helmet (football logos must be 2D only – haven’t they heard of that rule?).

    The Halfback Elf is by far my favorite. It looks tough and streetwise, and not as smart alecky as the standard Elf. It actually might look good on the side of a helmet. At least he’s not lounging back begging to get knocked on his keester like good’ol Standard Elf is.

    The Browns should use helmet numbers all the time – it really fills a void on the Browns otherwise unadorned helmet.

    Lastly, I think the single white stripe on the throwback helmets looks better than the triple brown/white/brown, which is hard to look at for more than a second or two .

  8. The Brownie elf appeared earlier in St. Louis Browns history than the 1950s. Although the elf on the side of the uniform (known as Louie the elf) was drawn in the 50s.

  12. I grew up seeing the Brownie in the 1960’s, and so he will ALWAYS be Cleveland’s one and only symbol. While the organization moved away from him in the 70’s, and some fans adopted junk like a dog (“dawg”), I’ve always remembered the Brownie fondly. He is simply the greatest mascot in the history of sports, any era, any teams, any sport (football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, etc). As for WHICH Brownie, I’ve always liked the “standard” one with the hands on the hips (and the Championship variation wearing the crown), but also the earlier “half-back” tough-looking Brownie stiff-arming as he runs. Either one should be on the helmet (or AT LEAST on the sleeve, a la the Viking man, as an earlier poster said. Say, does anyone remember the “concept” helmet that the Browns almost adopted in 1965? Same colors, but with a “CB”.? It even appeared in some artwork of the time, but never ended up being used. At that time, instead of the “CB”, they should have adopted the standing Brownie on the helmet. But what can you expect from that stinkin’ pole-cat and TRAITOR, Art Modell?

  13. Tough talk from behind a keyboard, John? Have you ever been here?
    You must be from Shit-town…AKA Shit-cawgo…

    Chuckles the Clown

  14. I’m from Cleveland and this is the most embarrassing representative for a football team. Football is a masculine sport and teams are supposed to exude strength and power. How is a cute lil elf supposed to represent a football team? I can’t believe these idiots in marketing. There is no CUTE in football and the Browns by their lousy play and embarrassing elf and uniforms is why they will never change their image as the joke of the NFL.

  15. Says the man with a smiling cartoon on his shirt. Get a grip, John… not everything is a reflection of your micro penis.

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