In his various ventures, the designer, inventor and illustrator worked on cartoons, children’s books, mechanical toys, advertising and of course, window displays and balloons.

Snoopy. Bart Simpson. Betty Boop. The annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will soon bring together an unrivaled cast of balloon characters, along with floats, musical acts and people of all ...

Other early balloons included a 20-foot-long elephant, a 60-foot-long tiger and an enormous hummingbird. In 1928, the parade culminated with a release of the now-helium-filled balloons into the ...