Remembering Paper Dolls

Tommy Towery

LHS '64

My first request for the name of a toy the girls played with when we were growing up in Huntsville was this one:

Cecilia LeVan Watson, LHS ‘68, wrote: "All the neighborhood boys and my boy cousins had cap guns. They played cops and robbers from dawn to dusk. Sometimes they would give me a small roll of caps and a rock. I would hit them one at a time and loved the smell. Me and my girl friends loved paper dolls!! My mom would cut clothes from a magazine or make them from extra materials. There was a store on Andrew Jackson Way that made the dolls out of sturdy cardboard and the clothes were made from wallpaper sample books." 

 Paper dolls have been around as long as there has been paper, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of years by some estimates. The first manufactured paper doll was “Little Fanny”, produced by S&J Fuller, London, in 1810. In Europe, particularly France, the first paper dolls were popular since the mid-18th century. The oldest known paper doll card is hosted by Germanisches Nationalmuseum and was printed around 1650 in Southern Germany, showing two female figures with a number of dresses, pieces of headgear, hairstyles and accessories.

The biggest American producer of paper dolls, McLoughlin Brothers, was founded in early 1800 and was sold to Milton Bradley in 1920s. Around this time paper dolls became popular in the US and then grew in popularity in the following decades. The rise of paper doll production in the mid-19th century to mid-20th century was partially due to technological advances that made printing significantly less expensive

Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper or thin cardboard, with separate clothes, also made of paper, that are usually held onto the dolls by paper folding tabs. They may be a figure of a person, animal or inanimate object. Paper dolls have been inexpensive children's toys for almost two hundred years. Artists are turning paper dolls into an art form. Paper dolls have been used for advertising, appeared in magazines and newspapers, and covered a variety of subjects and time periods. Over the years, they have been used to reinforce cultural beliefs regarding the appearance of ideal women. Fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination are gained from cutting out the paper doll figures and their clothing in order to play with the dolls.

They have become highly sought-after collectibles, especially as vintage paper dolls become rarer due to the limited lifespan of paper objects. However, paper dolls are still being created.

McCall's was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. From June 1949 until her death in November 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a McCall's column, "If You Ask Me". The former First Lady gave brief answers to questions sent into the magazine.

Starting in May 1951, and lasting until at least 1995, Betsy McCall paper dolls were printed in most issues. Children could cut out the printed dolls and clothing, or for a small fee (10¢ in 1957, 25¢ in 1967) paper dolls printed on cardboard could be ordered. Betsy McCall became so popular that various sized vinyl dolls were produced by Ideal and American Character Dolls.

The Wayback Machine

Betsy McCall Paper Dolls

Here's a youtube video of some various Betsy McCall paper doll offerings.

Every day and in every way I'm getting better and better. I had a side effect from some immunology treatment that had me down for a long time. I lost 22 pounds in four weeks, but am on the road to recovery now. Thanks for all the prayers that were sent my way.

I have one more suggestion for a girl's toy which I will use next week, but I am sure there are other toys out there you really enjoyed, so I'm still soliciting inputs from male and female readers.

Here's your chance...go for it.

Last Week's Questions, Answers, 

And Comments

Don Blaise,  LHS ‘64, "Ah cap guns. My brothers and I both had them. Had a double set of plastic holsters. Once we had a cap machine gun but it required the perforated caps to work. The mechanism as wind up and it worked fairly well. However, we found that craving the individual caps into a small tube made bodacious fire crackers and worked well for spoke guns that fired very small lead pellets made from fishing sinkers."

Joel Weinbaum,  LHS ‘64, "I have an '01 Chevy Suburban I did a lot of shade tree repair during Covid. Lots of parts available. Seat covers, window operators, starter, etc. I did have a '70 VW bus while at UAH after having my first kid, now 53. Took it to Knoxville when I moved. But the usual problem with # 3 exhaust valve busting. Took it on a ski trip to Sugar Mountain at Banner Elk, NC with several work buddies. Pulling out of the parking lot and chugging up the mountain to leave...bang, bang, bang...valve broke, 47k miles. The best bus was the '81 Vanagon with the larger powered pancake air-cooled engine. White top, yellow body, gas heater. Added A/C. Handled great with coil suspension. Like Jim Bannister, my dad was bad to get rid of stuff similar to his. While off to the Pacific with the Navy  I got a letter from home..."I sold your motorbike!"...when I protested he responded "you won't need that when you get back, you'll be buying a car." Love you Dad. Gone since '83. When we moved from Sheffield he encouraged us to get rid of so much he didn't want us dragging to HSV. Its all somewhere in the world."

Lynn Vanpelt, LHS '66, "Madame Alexander dolls." (Next Week)

John Scales, LHS '66, "Your reply form wouldn't take a picture but I thought you might enjoy seeing my neighborhoos gang in 1953, weapons in hand. I'm on the right."