Dolly Dingle Paper Dolls, Grace Drayton, Campbell Kids

What do the Campbell Kids (seen on earlly Campbell Soup cans), Grace Drayton and Dolly Dingle paper dolls have in gemon? To start with, The Campbell kids and Dolly Dingle were created by Grace G. Drayton. Drayton didn't just draw paper dolls and illustrations for soup cans. She designed all sorts of things from banks to stuffed animals. I happen to be particularly enchanted with her Dolly Dingle Paper Dolls and, luckily, they are now available in a variety of price ranges, depending on whether you want original or reproductions of the antique paper dolls. Many of the dolls were printed in magazines and they are said to have first appeared around 1913 (March, I believe). The series of paper dolls created by Drayton was so popular that they eventually numbered into the hundreds and she worked on them for twenty years. Imagine spending that long creating, drawing and geing up with imaginative and adorable paper dolls. Her dolls are typified by chubby cheeks (perhaps it is most accurate to say they are generally chubby) and a certain pink-cheeked, jolly attitude. I think they are simply adorable, very cute and their vintage poses and old-fashioned clothing add extra charm and appeal. Every month, early in the 20th century, children eagerly awaited issues of Pictorial Review and other magazines so they could add to their collection of Dolly Dingle. Many of them, of course, couldn't resist the joy of playing with them, so they were immediately cut out of the pages and played with. Imagine what fun they had! Now collectors are beginning to appreciate their beauty as well and starting to realize they are worthy of display and enjoyment. Finding pristine, original pages of old magazines with Dolly Dingle is still possible, perhaps because Drayton was so prolific, drawing so many of them. Thank goodness she did! If you search you'll find the name Dolly Dingle brings up images of the dolls so you can see them yourself and I hope you agree they are as charming as I think they are. See you around the Paper Doll sections of okay!