Albert Pick Hotels • Louis Grell • Walt Disney

FERDINAND the BULL and the Purple Cow Murals

The story of the only known surviving Ferdinand mural by Louis Grell

Introduction

For decades following Louis Grell’s death in 1960, the Grell family knew only of four small Purple Cow watercolors accompanied by humorous poems:

• POSITIVELY MERRY
• RATHER SHY
• TO HER HOME INVITES YOU
• CHARMING DATE

Little else was known. The family simply referred to them as “the Purple Cow paintings.”

Everything began to change in 2012 when research into Grell’s career began in earnest.

Among the discoveries was a remarkable May 1948 issue of Pick Topicks, the official publication of the Albert Pick Hotels Corporation. Inside appeared the only known interview in which Louis Grell publicly discussed his work for the Pick Hotels.

The article, “Meet Mr. Grell,” identified Grell as the artist responsible for the corporation’s Public Room murals and Purple Cow decorations.

This single publication transformed what had once seemed a handful of whimsical watercolors into one of the largest known mural programs of Grell’s career.

Today, nearly one hundred individual Purple Cow panels have been documented, with many more believed lost.

None of the surviving or documented Purple Cow murals are signed (see the signed mural study below).

May 1948 Pick Topicks cover and “Meet Mr. Grell” article

The Discovery of Ferdinand (late 2025)

One Purple Cow character, once discovered many years later, quickly distinguished itself from all the others.

His name was FERDINAND.

Research has now documented Ferdinand murals at multiple Pick Hotel locations, including:

• Hotel Miami, Dayton, Ohio (1940)
• Hotel Jermyn, Scranton, Pennsylvania (1945)
• Hotel Kansan, Topeka, Kansas (1947)
• Hotel Roosevelt, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (1948)

Additional examples may once have existed elsewhere throughout the Pick Hotels system.

Unlike virtually every other Purple Cow subject, Ferdinand appears repeatedly at different hotels with the same basic composition while the surrounding scenery changes from location to location.

This pattern mirrors Grell’s established practice throughout the Purple Cow series, where successful scenes were adapted and repainted for multiple hotels rather than copied exactly.  No two murals are alike – Grell always changed the scenery surrounding the cows.

At present, the Hotel Miami photograph, discovered in early 2026, is the earliest known contemporaneous image showing a Ferdinand mural installed inside an operating Purple Cow Shop.

The Hotel Jermyn fragment presented here remains the only known surviving Ferdinand mural by Louis Grell.

Hotel Miami Purple Cow interior showing Ferdinand mural (1940)

Currently the earliest known photograph documenting a Ferdinand mural installed inside a functioning Purple Cow restaurant.

Hotel Jermyn Ferdinand mural fragment. – The only known surviving Ferdinand mural by Louis Grell.

Ferdinand and Walt Disney

One of the most intriguing questions raised during this research concerns the possible inspiration for Grell’s Ferdinand.

In November 1938 Walt Disney released his Academy Award-winning animated short.  It won the 1939 Academy Award for Short Cartoon.

Ferdinand the Bull.

Within approximately one year, Grell’s first documented Ferdinand mural appears inside the Hotel Miami Purple Cow.

No surviving document presently states that Grell intentionally based his Ferdinand on Disney’s famous character.

Nevertheless, the visual similarities are remarkable.

Disney Ferdinand and Grell Ferdinand (head comparison)

Several characteristics deserve careful attention.

Unlike every other documented Purple Cow character, Grell painted Ferdinand with a black coat rather than purple.

His hair is carefully parted down the center, remarkably similar to Disney’s Ferdinand.

Both characters possess:

• large expressive eyes
• broad rounded muzzles
• gentle facial expressions
• peaceful personalities

Even the distinctive hairstyle appears unusually close.

Individually, none of these observations proves artistic influence.

Taken together, however, they invite comparison.

Disney Ferdinand beneath the cork tree compared with Grell’s Ferdinand beneath his tree

The similarities extend beyond appearance.

Disney’s Ferdinand is happiest beneath his famous cork tree surrounded by flowers.

Grell likewise places Ferdinand beneath a tree surrounded by flowers and lush vegetation.

Rather than depicting a fighting bull, Grell imagines Ferdinand living peacefully within the whimsical world of the Purple Cow.

Instead of entering the bullring, Grell’s Ferdinand marries a Purple Cow.

The humorous jingle beneath the mural reads:

FERDINAND THE LUCKY BULL
HAS WED A SPLENDID SPOUSE
IF WE HAD A PURPLE COW BACK HOME
I NEVER WOULD KEEP HOUSE

Rather than copying Disney’s story, Grell appears to have continued it—imagining what Ferdinand’s peaceful life might become after happily avoiding the bullfight.

Hotel Miami close-up showing Ferdinand and original jingle

The Flowers, Trees and Daisies

For many years researchers wondered why Grell repeatedly filled his Purple Cow murals with flowers, daisies, and unusual trees bearing human food.

These motifs appear throughout the Purple Cow series regardless of location.

Disney’s Ferdinand is famous for quietly sitting beneath his cork tree while smelling flowers, particularly daisies.

Likewise, Grell consistently surrounded many Purple Cow scenes with flowering plants while placing his characters beneath distinctive trees.

Some trees even bear pancakes, doughnuts, sausages, cookies and other breakfast foods, transforming ordinary landscape elements into whimsical visual jokes appropriate for a coffee shop.

Whether these recurring themes originated independently or were inspired in part by Disney’s enormously popular film remains unknown.

They nevertheless form an interesting visual dialogue between two artists working only a short time apart.

HOW SHE CAN COOK (Heart-shaped cookies)

Beyond Ferdinand

The Purple Cow murals were far more than simple restaurant decorations.

Research now indicates that Louis Grell created an extensive visual identity system for the Albert Pick Hotels Purple Cow Shops.

Recurring characters, repeated compositions, local city references, humorous poems, and hotel-specific adaptations combined to create a unified decorative program installed throughout the Pick Hotels chain.

Ferdinand represents only one recurring character within this much larger artistic achievement.

The Only Known Survivor

The mural presented here once hung inside the Hotel Jermyn Purple Cow Shop in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Installed in 1945, it survived when nearly every other Purple Cow mural disappeared during later renovations.

Today it remains the only known surviving Ferdinand mural and one of the very few surviving Purple Cow murals attributable to Louis Grell.

Its survival provides an extraordinary glimpse into one of the most ambitious yet least-known mural programs created for an American hotel chain during the 1940s.

Conclusion

Current evidence does not establish a direct personal relationship between Walt Disney and Louis Grell concerning the Purple Cow murals.

Likewise, no surviving document states that Grell consciously based Ferdinand upon Disney’s celebrated character.

What the evidence does demonstrate is that:

• Disney’s Ferdinand became a national cultural phenomenon beginning in late 1938.
• Grell introduced a character named Ferdinand into the Purple Cow murals shortly thereafter.
• Grell’s Ferdinand is uniquely painted black, unlike every other documented Purple Cow.
• Numerous visual characteristics—including the hairstyle, facial expression, flowers, trees, and peaceful personality—invite careful comparison.
• The Hotel Jermyn fragment preserves the only known surviving example of this remarkable mural.
• Grell taught at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts while Disney attended.

Whether this represents an intentional artistic tribute, an affectionate adaptation of a beloved popular character, or simply reflects the widespread popularity of Disney’s Ferdinand during the late 1930s remains an open question.

It is a question deserving continued research.

Sources

• Pick Topicks, Albert Pick Hotels, May 1948, Vol. 6, No. 5, including Friedl Grell’s handwritten inscription identifying Louis Grell as the painter of the Pick Hotel murals.
• Pick Topicks, various issues, 1940–1953.
• Interior photograph, Hotel Miami Purple Cow Shop, Dayton History.
• Interior photograph, Hotel Jermyn Purple Cow Shop, Lackawanna Historical Society.
• Interior photograph, Hotel Pick-Ohio Purple Cow Shop, Luther College Archives.
• Hotel Miami menu featuring the Ferdinand jingle.
• Ferdinand the Bull (1938), Walt Disney Productions; adapted from the story by Munro Leaf with illustrations by Robert Lawson.
• FERDINAND the BULL, Louis Grell, oil on canvas mural fragment, approximately 48 × 60 inches, c. 1945, professionally conserved, private collection.
• Walt Disney’s Chicago Academy of Fine Arts student transcripts authorized release to Richard Grell by Diane Disney Miller in 2012.

Further Reading

Below is the menu with the first FERDINAND (discovered in 2023) clue handwritten by a customer during a visit.

This promotional card from the Fountain Square, Cincinnati is strikingly similar to Walt Disney’s 1938 FERDINAND the BULL animated cartoon movie that won the 1939 Academy Award for animated short cartoon and is evidence that a FERDINAND mural was installed at this Purple Cow location.  In the movie, FERDINAND refused to fight the Matador, instead licked him after he exposed a tattoo of a daisy on his chest.  Interesting note; Walt Disney is the Matador caricature in this Disney animated short cartoon.

below – a signed Louis Grell watercolor (PEGASUS) installed in the Hotel Raleigh, Waco, TX in 1944

Above – Dayton Daily News article credits a “John” Grell from the Chicago Art Institute as the muralist.  Getting Grell’s first name wrong was understandable since he didn’t sign the Purple Cow murals and he likely never visited this hotel (June 4, 1940 page 4).

The above left image is a production sketch for the FERDINAND movie from Walt Disney Productions.

Disney’s FERDINAND was “very happy” underneath the ‘cork tree’ and loved sniffing flowers.  Grell’s FERDINAND and other Purple Cow murals were typically pictured under odd trees, often with human food hanging from them while surrounded by flowers and many daisies.

Above – Two Grell watercolors partial views of the many flowers and daisies. Below – Grell’s SHE DOOD IT mural formerly inside the Pick-Ohio, Youngstown.

The above three shots depict the amount of daisies Grell incorporated into many of Grell’s Purple Cow murals; FERDINAND’s obsession.

Research Philosophy

The Louis Grell Digital Archive is committed to presenting documentary evidence as accurately as possible. New discoveries are evaluated using primary sources whenever available, and interpretations are revised as additional evidence emerges. Where questions remain unresolved, they are identified as subjects for continued research rather than presented as established fact.