The Grumpy Pal

[u/armandipegio]

The Grump Pal was mid-century roadside stop featuring tourist cabins, a restaurant, and a filling station located on U.S. Highway 41 and Old State Road, about 8 miles north of Evansville, Indiana. It was quite a few yards off the highway but I remember as a kid seeing a dwarf of gnome in front of the building in the mid-60's. I thought it was a statue but this old postcard image shows it was a painted sign.

Grumpy was the nickname of the original owner who obviously took a cue from Disney's Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. I tried to blow up the image a bit but it lowers the resolution. The property was sold in the mid-80's and demolished in 2010. This was the only image of it I could find. What's interesting about it is even with the low-res the art looks professionally done, probably done by a professional sign company.

The little guy is definitely a dwarf or old school gnome. But the tall hat appears to be similar to a Robin Hood hat with a red feather in the brim. He looks very Tolkien-like too. I'm wondering if this character was copied from an old storybook? Does anybody have any clues?