David Read has a gallery at the Elwood City Art Museum.
| ||
|
||
| David Read | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Gender | Male |
| Animal | Aardvark[1] |
| Hair color | Brown[2] |
| Favorite color | Lemon yellow[3] Yellow[4] |
| Residence | Arthur's House, Elwood City |
| Family | Thora Read (mother) Jane Read (wife) Arthur Read (son) D.W. Read (older daughter) Kate Read (younger daughter) Thora's mother's great-uncle (maternal great-great-granduncle) Thora's father (maternal grandfather) Thora's mother (maternal grandmother) Thora's brother 1 (maternal uncle) Thora's brother 2 (maternal uncle) Thora's brother 3 (maternal uncle) David's brother (brother) Sean (brother ) Bonnie (sister or sister-in-law) Minnie Read (sister) George (nephew) Bud (brother or brother-in-law) Loretta (sister or sister-in-law) Monique (niece) Ricky (nephew) Loretta's daughter (niece) Ryder Read (nephew) Theodore Read (granduncle) Dave (father-in-law) Richard (co-brother-in-law) Jessica (sister-in-law) Cora (step-niece) Fred (brother-in-law) Lucy (sister-in-law) Lucy's husband (co-brother-in-law) |
| Job | Catering chef |
| Book debut | Arthur's Nose |
| Cartoon debut | "Arthur's Eyes" |
| Voiced by | Bruce Dinsmore (TV series) Tony Fardella (Living Books) Doug Boyd (ASCC) |
| “ | You know I'll do anything to help you if I can, but I'd prefer if you ask me, not tell me. That's how a family works. We cooperate with each other, right? | ” | |
—David Read, "Dad's Dessert Dilemma" | |||
| |||
David L. Read[5] is the husband of Jane Read, the father of Arthur, D.W. and Kate and the son of Grandma Thora. He is a chef who runs a catering business from home.
Physical appearance
In short, he looks like an older version of his son Arthur, just without the glasses. His usual outfit is a light blue top with darker blue borders, corduroy pants, and brown loafers. He was originally bald-headed in the earlier books but was later given clumps of hair that were brown in the books, although it was restricted to black lines in the cartoon in order to simplify animation process. For sleepwear, he has been seen wearing green pajamas. In the summer, for summer clothes, he wears a white t-shirt with aqua green on the top, bottom and tip of the sleeves, blue shorts, and brown sandals. In "Cast Away," he is shown wearing an orange checkered shirt and brown shorts.
Personality
In the first season, David was noticeably somewhat stricter than he is now (probably a bit more strict than his wife back then), and was able to get serious a little bit easily. An example is in the opening of "Arthur's Tooth," where he got a little bit more serious than Jane when Arthur was trying to get his tooth out using the "door method," and he strictly told his son "No more horsing around; I mean that!" Another time is in "Arthur's Almost Boring Day," when he, due to all the ruckus happening, got serious enough to yell, "EVERYBODY, FREEZE!", which literally caused Arthur, D.W., and even Kate to fully pause what they were doing. By Season 2, his strictness and minor temper seem to have gone down considerably, making him a bit more lenient than his wife. However, he still tends to come across as hard on Arthur and D.W. a lot of times, but that's only because he only wants them to do their best in life.
As a catering chef, David takes his profession very seriously. He often acts assertive towards Arthur and D.W. to try new foods that he bakes; the foods are usually weird and exotic ones that Arthur and D.W. find unappetizing. David is also disgusted at his kids' preference towards sweets and junk food, claiming it to be no prize, as it will bring them dental problems. ("Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest".) David values his creations with pride, which is evident in "Arthur's Family Feud," where he becomes very crestfallen and depressed when both Arthur and D.W. accidentally ruined his perfect soufflé. Conversely, seeing his kids enjoy the meals he prepares is enough to bring him satisfaction. David is also willing to prepare any meals per his kids request, as seen in "Dad's Dessert Dilemma."
Despite his roles as a father and a professional chef, David can be a bit carefree and goofy at times. As seen in "Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto," he can sometimes make jokes towards other parents, who usually don't find them amusing or funny.
Past life
When David was a baby, he wore a pink shirt, white cloth diapers with a pin, and brown shoes. When he started dating Jane, as seen in a photo album in "Arthur's Eyes", he had a brown mullet hairstyle and a mustache and goatee and wore white and blue disco clothes that were fashionable between the late 1970s and early 1980s. He grew up in Elwood City with his two sisters, brother and his mother, Thora Read, who possibly raised them all by herself due to the fact that her husband is unknown and has been absent throughout the series and is possibly deceased.
Appearances
Other Media
In the Living Books computer games, he had a light brown complexion in Arthur's Teacher Trouble, and it was changed to pale in Arthur's Birthday. In these two games, he was voiced by Tony Fardella before the cartoon show replaced him with Bruce Dinsmore.
In the later games during the 32-bit era of computers and software, such as Arthur's Thinking Games, his appearance was the same as he looks in the cartoon show.
Career
Mr. Read is a catering chef. He has been shown to do all his work in part of a very large detached garage filled with expensive cooking and restaurant equipment. He has his own commercial vehicle with a mascot of a pot with a chef's hat painted on the body of the van. He delivers the food to his customers in the van. It is based on Harry Boyle's catering delivery company from the American adult animated sitcom Wait Till Your Father Gets Home. David's biggest customer is Ed Crosswire, whom he and Jane are very dependent on. If Ed were to cancel, David's business would be in jeopardy. Mr. Ratburn, his son's third grade teacher, enjoys David's cooking immensely, and will take any given opportunities to visit any of David's catering events usually for Ed, to try out one of the dishes he prepared. ("Dad's Dessert Dilemma", "The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies".)
Relationships
Family
The Read's family consist of 6 members of the household: David Read, Jane, Arthur, D.W., Kate and the family dog, Pal. His son Arthur always refers to him as "Dad", but D.W. usually refers to him as "Daddy", because D.W. is younger than Arthur. David has a mother also living in Elwood City, Thora Read. He has an older sister named Loretta whose only plot-relevant appearance is in the episode "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe", with all of her other appearances being cameos. His father was never seen, and it is likely that his father may be deceased. He also had three uncles, who are shown in a flashback in the episode "Clarissa is Cracked"; some or all of them may be deceased.
Friends
- Ed Crosswire - A friend and usual customer of both the Reads' businesses.
- Ramon Molina - They quickly become friends when they meet each other the first time. They both have a passion for cooking exotic foods.
- Tatsuya Matsumoto - Tatsuya used to be David's pen pal when the two were children. Given his nostalgic moment when he rediscovered one of Tatsuya's letters, it can be assumed that the two were good friends when they still wrote to each other.
- Nigel Ratburn - They went to high school together, he likes David's cooking, and was invited to stay with The Reads while the roof of his house was being fixed.
- Bailey - They went to high school together.
Trivia
- In "D.W. Aims High," David said he was Arthur's age when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, meaning he was born around 1960 or 1961.
- He and Jane met at a football game.[6]
- Like Jane's mother (Dave's wife), the series never reveals what happened to his dad (Thora's husband) but is likely he passed away some time ago. However it's later revealed Thora's maiden name is Read, implying Thora was a single mother even when she had David and his siblings.
- He and his family are Catholic.
Quotes
| “ |
Weird? When have I ever made anything weird? Oops, time to check on my turnip muffins! |
” |
| —David Read to Arthur, "Dad's Dessert Dilemma" | ||
Gallery
|
References
- ↑ http://www.pbs.org/parents/arthur/help/answers/faq_friends.html (archived page)
- ↑ As seen in flashback scenes in "Arthur's Eyes" and "Operation: D.W.!"
- ↑ Trading Cards
- ↑ Arthur Loses His Patience
- ↑ "Behold the David L. Read Super Soufflé." — David Read to Jane Read, "Arthur's Family Feud"
- ↑ "Question for ARTHUR: How did your parents meet? #ArthurWatchParty"
"At a football game!" — Vanessa @EducatorKeen and Arthur Read @arthurpbs, Twitter, 29 Apr 2020 (archived page)