Another card produced by Flame Tree Publishing in the U.K.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Sleeping Beauty by Erte
I was thrilled to find this greeting card at the Drama Book Shop in Manhattan last year. This particular Erte painting was featured on the cover of Harpers Bazaar, I believe; not sure which year.
Flame Tree Publishing in London produced this and other Erte greeting cards. http://www.flametreepublishing.com/
Paper Doll Studio
Jenny Taliadoros publishes two amazing publications: Paper Doll Studio and Paper Doll Review. I first heard about the magazines when Mary Engelbreit did a profile on the paper doll collection of her grandmother, Helen Johnson, and the family tradition of paper art and collecting that Judy Johnson and daughter Jenny continue. I still remember the impressive files that Helen kept her collections in!
Paper Doll Studio, the quarterly publication of the Original Paper Doll Artists Guild (OPDAG), showcases original paper doll art. Here's where you can see the latest from current artists you know (including Sandra Vanderpool, Brenda Sneathen Mattox, Norma Lu Meehan, David Wolfe, Sylvia Kleindinst and Kwei-lin Lum) and many more than you may not have heard of before, such as Alina Kouri, Basia Koenig, Charlotte Krause and Larry Bassin, to name a mere handful. Readers are encouraged to submit clothing for each issue's Dress-A-Doll--and you don't have to be a pro, just follow submission guidelines for the best reproduction in the magazine. Each issue has a color insert, and profiles a paper doll artist.
The current issue (#89 Fall 2007) is richly illustrated (as usual) with fashions submitted for the Erte Dress-A-Doll designed by Norma Lu Meehan, with a color insert by Basia Koenig. The featured artist is Maureen Fitzsimmons. In addition to all the wonderful artwork, excellent articles: an appreciation of Erte by Norma Lu Meehan, Tom Tierney writing about his encounter with Erte! and David Wolfe providing insight into why Erte didn't do well in Hollywood. Also in this issue: a San Antonio convention review by Brenda Sneathen Mattox, drawing tips by Joann Anderton, which I mentioned in an earlier post and letters from readers and artists about their latest projects.
Subscriptions: $27 a year/$33.00 Canada/$39 Overseas. OPDAG, Jenny Taliadoros, Publisher, P.O. Box 14, Kingfield, ME 04947. And check out the Web site: www.opdag.com/
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Golden Opportunities
Nan Moorehead left Golden, Colorado and is settled in at her new home in the state of Washington. She hasn't skipped a beat in publishing her Golden Opportunities newsletter, and even had a play date with Bent Tabs in Oregon! (I think that group has the best club name around.)
The current 26-page issue features the Movie and Muny Opera Dressographs of the St. Louis Post Dispatch from the collection of Barbara Bigelow. Stars I've never heard of (Una Val? Heather Angel? Child actress Mitzi Green?) to the world famous: Sylvia Sidney, Mary Astor, Fay Wray, Katherine Hepburn, Ida Lupino and Joan Crawford. These are hard to find, in any condition, so it is an invaluable guide to what's out there. The front cover of this issue features an unidentified Muny Opera Dressograph. Do you recognize who this is?
Previous issues of this newsletter have featured rare finds, including hand-mades, from the collection of Elaine Price. And Nan features an auction in each issue, and lately a sales list, too. I recently purchased the Flapper Fanny strip from her list.
Subscriptions: $24-US; in Canada, $26; Others, $32. Sample issue, $7. Nan Moorehead, Golden Opportunities: Paper Doll & Toy Quarterly, P.O. Box 1831, Edmonds, WA 98020.
The current 26-page issue features the Movie and Muny Opera Dressographs of the St. Louis Post Dispatch from the collection of Barbara Bigelow. Stars I've never heard of (Una Val? Heather Angel? Child actress Mitzi Green?) to the world famous: Sylvia Sidney, Mary Astor, Fay Wray, Katherine Hepburn, Ida Lupino and Joan Crawford. These are hard to find, in any condition, so it is an invaluable guide to what's out there. The front cover of this issue features an unidentified Muny Opera Dressograph. Do you recognize who this is?
Previous issues of this newsletter have featured rare finds, including hand-mades, from the collection of Elaine Price. And Nan features an auction in each issue, and lately a sales list, too. I recently purchased the Flapper Fanny strip from her list.
Subscriptions: $24-US; in Canada, $26; Others, $32. Sample issue, $7. Nan Moorehead, Golden Opportunities: Paper Doll & Toy Quarterly, P.O. Box 1831, Edmonds, WA 98020.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The Paper Doll Circle
Here's a 36- page quarterly newsletter published by Lorna Currie Thompoulos in England. Lorna uses a distinctive Do Not Bend rubber stamp on her envelope and I always look forward to the postage stamps!
In the current issue, there is a thorough reporting on the San Antonio convention by Diana Lax, with photos by Garth Lax. Then Lorna reported on the paper doll party she hosted at her home in Cobham, which drew collectors from England, Wales, Denmark and Norway. Photos of original paper dolls created by Lorna and Marie Walters for the lucky partygoers.
Also in this issue: Many photos of new paper dolls from around the world, a 1914 McLoughlin Bros. catalog, a review of an exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum on The Golden Age of Couture 1947-1957 (and two paper doll sets for sale in the museum gift shop) and a lovely photo of Marion Jennings visiting the Musee de la Poupee in Paris. Cleveland conventiongoers may remember Guido and Samy Odin, who run the museum. The picture shows a smiling Marion in Samy's paper doll room. The back cover of the newsletter has a Marion Hughes paperdoll, and there is a color insert of a male paper doll, from the 1997 collection of Italian designer, Elio Ferraro.
Also inside there's a picture showing a creative collage paper doll by Lorna of Amy Winehouse, the British r&b singer.
Subscriptions: $25. Lorna Currie Thomopoulos, 28 Ferndown Gardens, Cobham, Surrey KT11 2BH, England. Check out Lorna's My Space page: www.myspace.com/thepaperdollcircle.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Midwest Paper Dolls and Toys Quarterly
Janie Varsolona and Louise Kaufman published the Midwest Paper Dolls and Toys Quarterly from 1973 until? I have a binder of issues dating from 1978 (when they announce they have been publishing for five years) and ending somewhere around 1986.
It's a blast going through these old newsletters. So many familiar names, and pictures of items I've never seen before, lists of things like the Boston Sunday Globe paper toys. There was always a paper doll party going on--even a pajama party! and someone happy to write it up for others to enjoy. Midwest had an auction list, and ran photos of conventiongoers, too.
In the fall of 1982, Johana Gast Anderton wrote up the Lowe convention in Troy, Michigan. She mentions something that I think all of us can identify with: "Now, it's confession time. I was so enamored of the salesroom, I totally neglected to get in to look at the competition. ... What a loss! Because THERE is the place to learn. THERE is the place to see those goodies you will probably never own." I, too, have neglected the competition in the past. Big mistake! For all the reasons Johana cites, 25 years ago. (Johana, by the way, has a wonderfully instructive article on drawing in black and white in the current Erte issue of Paper Doll Studio.)
Midwest Paper Dolls paid tribute to Joan Carol Kaltschmidt, editor of Paper Playthings, in the Fall 1986 issue. Joan Carol had finally succumbed that year to cancer, after a three-year battle. According to Midwest: "She was the originator of Paper Doll Parties that eventually became what we call Conventions today. Small gathering of collectors would meet, trade, share, and have fun. Today those small gatherings have over 100 attend." So here's to Joan Carol, and the wonderful tradition she started.
It's a blast going through these old newsletters. So many familiar names, and pictures of items I've never seen before, lists of things like the Boston Sunday Globe paper toys. There was always a paper doll party going on--even a pajama party! and someone happy to write it up for others to enjoy. Midwest had an auction list, and ran photos of conventiongoers, too.
In the fall of 1982, Johana Gast Anderton wrote up the Lowe convention in Troy, Michigan. She mentions something that I think all of us can identify with: "Now, it's confession time. I was so enamored of the salesroom, I totally neglected to get in to look at the competition. ... What a loss! Because THERE is the place to learn. THERE is the place to see those goodies you will probably never own." I, too, have neglected the competition in the past. Big mistake! For all the reasons Johana cites, 25 years ago. (Johana, by the way, has a wonderfully instructive article on drawing in black and white in the current Erte issue of Paper Doll Studio.)
Midwest Paper Dolls paid tribute to Joan Carol Kaltschmidt, editor of Paper Playthings, in the Fall 1986 issue. Joan Carol had finally succumbed that year to cancer, after a three-year battle. According to Midwest: "She was the originator of Paper Doll Parties that eventually became what we call Conventions today. Small gathering of collectors would meet, trade, share, and have fun. Today those small gatherings have over 100 attend." So here's to Joan Carol, and the wonderful tradition she started.
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