Native New Yorker Robert Tallon was born in 1932 in Astoria, Queens. With parents who were as artistic as they were passionate, Tallon and his brothers and sister received an adventuresome upbringing, moving from house to house and town to town as necessity dictated. While overcoming some unusually precarious times, the talented Tallon children performed as a means of supporting the family, and with great success. At the age of twelve, after being chosen for an exclusive scholarship to the Metropolitan Opera, it seemed that young Robert’s fate as a singer was set. But when bulbar polio paralyzed his throat, Tallon, during convalescence, turned to art.

After a stint in the Army, Tallon trained at the School of Visual Arts, though had to leave before finishing when his father became fatally ill. He took a job with an advertising agency, while continuing to freelance, and the success from both sides quickly made him in demand. Socialites and stars of stage and screen gathered in New York City and Hampton galleries to talk about, ruminate on, and barter for Tallon’s artwork. As an illustrator for hire for such companies as Hanes, American Express, and Playboy, Tallon caught the eye of Bobbs-Merril editor Miriam Chaiken, who would later strike up a life-long working relationship, editing one of Tallon’s greatest children’s book successes, Zoophabets, in 1971.