Merrill - Polly and Her Playmates

Last week I was very verbose and had far too much to say for myself, so this week its back to basics with a paper doll book.  The last paper doll book I featured was Candy and Her Cousins back at the beginning of March.  I've always thought of Polly and Her Playmates as the original of these sets with their wrap-around frocks.  I can still remember the thrill of receiving this book as a child, and how incredibly beautiful and special I thought it was.

 I had a tendency of playing with my paper dolls until they literally fell apart and this set was no exception.  They seemed to have an unfortunate habit of losing their heads.  My mother would painstakingly tape them up for me so that I could play with them again,

I don't think it ever worried me that they had become battered and worn.  I loved them all the same and would play with them for hours on end!

Strangely enough the dresses I liked the most in these sets were not the signature wrap-around outfits but the winter coats with their lovely white muffs.  Perhaps it was because I lived in a place where where winter coats were not needed and so I saw them as being terribly exotic.

I also remember that I did not play with these dolls as I was supposed to and wrap the dresses around them.  Instead I would keep them unfolded and dress the dolls up as though they were wearing outrageously exaggerated crinolines!

Late Blossoms

The cherry blossom has been very late this year in my part of the world.  Winter just does not want to give up its grip on the land.  This tree is putting on a lovely display now, and in a way its quite nice to be able to enjoy it so much further into the year.

The apple trees have also finally started showing signs of pink and white blossoms.  They originally had white blossoms I have never seen before.  These new arrivals are still tightly closed - I can't wait for them to open as they are one of my favourite sights when they are in full bloom.

Merrill Candy and Her Cousins #678 / 1961

This is a little bit of a lazy post but paper dolls are always popular and I thought Candy and Her Cousins a very pretty set for Spring.

Next week we are moving to live in the beautiful Wicklow Mountains.  My new home is between Glendalough and the lovely Crone Forest.  (The Powescourt Waterfall which is part of the forest walk is my current blog title picture.)  I adore that part of the world and can hardly believe so many wonderful walking trails will now be right at my doorstep.

I'm not sure how soon I will be connected to the internet as I have to change service provider and arrange for satellite access.  This may be my last post for a while depending on how quickly I can get up and running again.

I also wanted to say that if I don't visit any other blogs for a little while it isn't that I've lost interest.  As soon as life has got back to normal again I'm hoping to be back enjoying all my old (and new) favourites.

Child's Ballet Book to Colour - Merrill (1955)

This book is one of my most special childhood memories.  When I was young I dreamt of becoming a ballerina.  To me this colouring book was the most perfect representation of that magical world.

I discovered at a very early age that that by colouring a picture I became so immersed in what I was doing I was able to open a secret door and enter an enchanted realm.  Later I took to drawing for the same reason - I can inhabit any place of my choosing, limited only by my imagination.  In many ways I suppose it is much the same process as writing.

When I bought the Watkins Strathmore colouring book I was expecting it to contain the pictures found in this one.  I realised I had to continue searching.  As soon as I saw this copy for sale I snapped it up immediately, even though it is not in mint condition and about half the pictures have been coloured in.  

On the whole those that have been coloured have been finished very nicely.  This title page in particular is beautifully done.  Whoever owned the book originally must have enjoyed it as a child as much as I did.

The pictures I've selected for this post have not been coloured.  Some of my favourites have been left out but I decided not to include any that have even been partially completed.

I'm not completely sure if the water damage was as bad before the book was posted.  To my dismay I discovered that the postman had left it at our front door which we almost never use.  My husband spotted it at least a day later after a night of rain (this is Ireland after all).  When I opened it I couldn't be sure if the marks on the first few pictures were always there or a result of the parcel becoming wet.

Amid the sparkle of snowflakes, the Queen dances with her Snow Prince

                                         

The Sugar Plum Fairy dances in the Kingdom of Candy

The Blue Birds dance their famous pas de deux

What the ballerina wears

The ballerina's partner is called the danseur noble

The Three Ivans do a lively dance with tricky steps called prisatki

The leading girl dancer (called the ballerina) is the lovely Gizelle

This picture of Gizelle was always very special to me so I was thrilled it was one that was not coloured in.  In my box of paper doll cut outs I had discovered the drawing below.  I had traced it from the book (I think I made many copies of this particular drawing.)  This was an attempt at making a type of finger puppet - a favourite past time when I was young.  The dolls are drawn without legs and the two holes are for you to put your fingers through.  The puppet could then 'dance' or 'walk' and as you can see by the state of this example they were well played with!

Birthday cards from this era often contained novel ideas and were beautifully drawn.  I probably got the idea for this puppet from a card like this one. 

'Aurora's Wedding' is from the story of 'The Sleeping Beauty'

When the boys click heels and bow, this surprised little girl falls down

The Can-Can dancers are a dapper gentleman and a china-doll girl

*all captions taken from the book

Merrill published at least two other colouring books that were versions of this one.  I don't own either but I have seen them advertised for sale.  The title page of each is different but most of the pictures inside seem to be the same.

1947

1957

On the whole I've intended this blog to be be about the art and artifacts that defined my childhood and not about myself.  Sometimes though it is hard to separate the two and after some deliberation I decided I would explain why my ballet 'career' petered out.

When I was 11 a routine medical check at school showed I have curvature of the spine.  It was monitored for a while and the effects of increased/decreased sporting activity recorded.  The results confirmed increased activity was causing my spine to deteriorate and there was a possibility I would become paralysed.  I had to give up everything except swimming.  Even at that early age I was pursuing ballet training quite seriously and for a time afterwards I could not even look at a ballet book without becoming upset.  But that passed and now these images from childhood bring me nothing but delight.

I'm not looking for sympathy as I've had a varied, interesting and on the whole happy and contented life.  Many other pastimes have taken the place of this first 'love' - but as I've devoted at least one post to the topic already I thought it might add some illumination if I explained why I never got to dance in the spotlight.

Another ballet colouring book Bill Woggon- Story of the Ballet can be found at this link. (Posted 5 January 2013)












Next time ....

A is for Apple

Cinderella - Jack and Jill Story Favourites - Merrill #1547

Many of my original paper dolls, especially those that date back to early childhood, are reduced to a few tattered remnants, patched and worn after hours of play.  The two dresses included below are all I had left of this book, together with a hazy recollection of a set I remembered as being extremely special.    

Its hard to put into words how I felt when I saw this book again for the first time after so many years.  There is a definite sense of wonder at discovering something again that was lost in the mists of time.

This particular paper doll book is easily obtained today in reproduction form if an original copy is not available.  The reproductions I've seen are of very good quality and depending on your reason for collecting 'vintage' paper dolls can be well worth buying.

Cross Stitch Project

This cross stitch is so much bigger than I was expecting it to be when I bought the kit!  There is an awful amount of blue.  Luckily it is one of my favourite colours.  I've found it quite interesting how the shading of the various hues of blue is graded.  Between the dark and light areas there is a 'mixed cross' section where both colours are used.  I'm putting the darker shade at the bottom of the cross and the lighter one on top.  I'm assuming it is supposed to be done like that but as all the instructions are in Chinese its hard to tell! 

Our 'Pet' Robin

When this little robin was a tiny baby he came skidding inside like a comic book character one day chased by a nasty magpie.  The robin survived the ordeal and now considers himself one of the family.  If I work outside in the garden he joins me straight away.  When I brought my camera out to photograph him the robin was more curious than frightened about what I was doing.





Kewpie Paper Doll

When I was looking for the two dresses from the Jack & Jill book I discovered this additional outfit for doll #5 in the Kewpie set I posted in April.  I knew there were some outfits missing.  Hopefully one day I'll find the others.