By Kathy Kovach
Kids today have never experienced the thrill of opening a magazine or book to find a toy within the pages. Paper dolls to be cut out had been popular for ages, but just how far back do they go?
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| Pantins |
Paper dolls have been a form of art from ancient Japanese purification rituals, featuring origami figures in kimonos, to jointed pantins or Jumping-Jack puppets in 18th century France. The latter were popular amongst those in high society and the royal courts. They were often used to satirize nobility.
Around that time, in the mid-1700s, paper dolls as we know them today, with separate clothing and accessories, made their way to the fashion circles of Vienna, London, Berlin, and Paris. Used to showcase the latest trends, wealthy adults entertained themselves, using the dolls not only as a fashion plate but, also, to lampoon popular figures at the time.
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| Marie Antoinette |
The Winterthur Museum of Winterthur, Delaware has an exhibit of French hand-painted figures that showcased coiffures and headdresses for sale at the shop of Denis-Antoine on Rue St. Jacques, Paris. These are dated in the 1780s.
Mass produced dolls were introduced in 1791 with The English Doll, sold in London and a similar one sold in Germany. She was eight inches high and came with a stylish set of underclothes, including a corset, headdresses, and six complete outfits.
The largest producer of paper dolls was the United States manufacturer McLoughlin Brothers, founded in 1828. These were fashioned from wood blocks and engraved in the same way as metal plates. Sets were sold for ten cents each. They were the first to add tabs as opposed to wax to attach the clothing. McLoughlin Brothers was eventually sold to the Milton Bradley company in 1920.
Enjoy a relaxing step back in time as the McLoughlin dolls are showcased in this video:
In November 1859, Godey’s Lady’s Book set a precedent when it included a black and white doll on one page and another with costumes for children to color. Other women’s magazines followed suit for many years afterward.
The famed American artist Anna Mary Robertson Moses, known as Grandma Moses (1860-1961) also got into the game when, as a child, she would paint her own dolls and dress them. Many children created their own play, especially during hard times, but I imagine Anna Mary’s were spectacular.
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| 1881 |
The paper doll trend continued with smaller enterprises in the 1880s. Dennison Manufacturing Company added crepe paper to create dimension.
Newspapers also saw the potential to draw readers in by engaging creative play. The Boston Herald offered two adult women dolls, one blonde and one brunette. Additional fashion dolls could be ordered. Subsequent issues contained additional costumes that fit the previous dolls. That’s one way to keep your readership up!
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| Mrs. Higgerson Ladies Home Journal |
By the early 20th century, it was clear the paper doll trend was not going away soon, and both European and American publishers offered books with cut-out dolls. Children would enjoy the stories and then act them out using the dolls. Magazines such as Ladies Home Journal, Pictorial Review, and Good Housekeeping created beloved characters that became popular throughout the early 1900s.
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| Kewpie |
Cartoonist with the Ladies Home Companion Rose O’Neill had a dream one night that spawned a popular trend in the “Kewpie” doll. The name is derived from Cupid and resembles a darling pixie with a cherub face. Besides a comic strip and physical toys, the Kewpie Kutout also became a paper doll within the pages of the magazine where Rose worked.
Just as the Europeans had done in the 1800s, America picked up the advertising trend of using paper dolls in magazines to creatively hock their wares. Lyon's coffee, Pillsbury flour, Baker's chocolate, Singer sewing machines, Clark's threads, and Hood's sarsaparilla utilized the paper doll in the early 20th century. From 1930 to mid-century, the practice continued with such goods as nail polish, underwear, Springmaid fabrics, Ford cars, the soaps Fels Naphtha and Swan, Carter's clothing for children, and many more.
In the 1940s-1950s, comic books got into the act. Early comics were full of adventure and appealed to boys, but with the popularity of paper dolls, publishers saw an untapped market. Storylines were created to accommodate cutouts with decidedly feminine plots. Introduced in 1945 was Patsy Walker, the Patsy and Hedy series in Atlas Comics, as well as, the Millie the Model series which ran to 1973. A Date with Judy came out in National Periodical Publications beginning in 1947 and ran to 1960. And so cut-out paper dolls continued throughout the 20th century with D.C. Comics, Fawcett, and Archie Comics.
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| Queen Holden designs |
Having been born at the end of said Golden Age, I remember playing with paper dolls only a little, but by the ‘60s, Colorforms had replaced the paper with vinyl. My favorite was the weather-themed one, where I could dress the child in the appropriate clothing for each of the seasons. And of course, my Barbie couldn’t be matched for keeping up with the fashion trends. Now, all of this has probably been replaced by an app on a tablet. It’s a shame that those simpler times are gone. But should we lose our electricity for a while, we need only to draw a doll on paper and create our own fun.
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I grew up playing with paper dolls! I recognized the Campbell's Soup kid one and had that very paper doll! As I got a little older, I made my own paper dolls, too. I'd paste them onto the cardboard that came in my daddy's shirt from the cleaners. Oh, how thi spost took me back!
ReplyDeleteI loved paper dolls. I played with them through the early sixties. You can still find them at museum giftshops. Historical figures, their families and clothes are available as paper dolls. But of course, as my paper dolls in the early sixties, you punched them out along perforations rather than cut them out with scissors.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post today. I don't remember playing with paper dolls too often as a kid. I don't remember my mom getting a lot of magazines. But this post certainly speaks of a simpler time.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised you didn't mention Betsy McCall. I couldn't wait for my Mom to read the back page in McCall's magazine so I could cut out Betsy's newest outfit. Paperdolls were a staple in my playtime!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this interesting post. I enjoyed playing with paper dolls as a child and still have some of them! I didn't know anything about the history though. I purchased some of the Dover Publications Tom Tierney books with paper dolls dressed in high fashion through the years.
ReplyDelete