Finding Dolly Dingle

The June 1930 issue of Pictorial Review magazine at the estate sale was missing its cover.  I still bought it, because even though the outside of the magazine was damaged, Dolly Dingle was still safe inside.

The paper Dolly, illustrated by Grace G. Drayton, made her debut in the March 1913 issue of Pictorial Review and was frequently featured in the magazine from 1916 to 1933.

The June 1930 Dolly Dingle paper dolls show just why Dolly was so popular.  The dolls had a variety of great period clothes, pets and toys.  Prior to the Great Depression, Dolly Dingle paper dolls were printed in full color, but during the Depression the magazine went to a less-expensive printing process, as shown in the dolls I found.

If Dolly and her brother look familiar, they should: in 1904, their creator also illustrated some of the most iconic advertising images of all time, the Campbell Soup Kids.

You can see the family resemblance to the Campbell Kid!

The blog Doll Kind explains how Dolly Dingle reflected cultural tourism trends of the early 20th century:

Dolly Dingle's adventures included travelling around the world to visit children of distant lands, including such characters as Beppo and Prince Dalim Kumar. These foreign friends came complete with costumes and symbols of their native lands. Travel by steamer had never been easier and even the most stay at home Americans were often turned into globetrotters visiting Egypt, Rome, and the Holy Land because voyages had become comparitively simple. The round the world set of Dolly Dingle dolls is a wonderful reflection of the new found fascination with distant lands. Dolly Dingle also celebrated American holidays at home, and, of course, she spent lots of time playing with her special friends and relations.

A scholar has done research on Grace Drayton and her art: 
http://home.comcast.net/~bluepatch/Biographies/Grace_Drayton_web.htm

Grace G. Drayton is also considered a pioneer in comic strip art.  She was the first female cartoonist for the Hearst publishing syndicate, although she worked for other syndicates as well.  Between about 1909 and 1915, Drayton (sometimes working with her sister Margaret G. Hays) created The Turr'ble Tales of Kaptain Kiddo, Dimples, Kittens, and several others.  You can take a look at many examples of her work by clicking on the link below.

http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2014/03/13/ask-the-archivist-grace-g-drayton

From ComicsKingdom.com .
The format of "Kittens" reminds me of the format of the current comic "Mutts."

Here's another page from Comics Kingdom about Drayton:

http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2013/04/03/ask-the-archivist-toodles-and-pussy-pumpkin

Another web page focuses on Drayton's career as a comics artist: http://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/drayton_g.htm


Here's a link to Doll Kind's blog:

http://www.dollkind.com/dolly-dingle-doll.shtml

Here's a website with information on the history of paper dolls:

http://www.opdag.com/history.html

And if you want your own Dolly, you can easily find Dolly Dingle dolls, paper dolls (reproductions and originals) and other examples of Grace Drayton's art online by doing a simple search for "Dolly Dingle."