The Van Swaggers starring Aunt Min, 1940

Looks like Aunt Min had her own spin-off comic. Aunt Min gives as good as she gets.

This 1940 strip featured the Tillie the Toiler Fashion Parade doll below:

Happy Father's Day

Casper and Buttercup, c. 1938. I dug this one out of the archive, first ran on my blog in 2009.

Aunt Min from Tillie the Toiler

Everyone should have an Aunt Min. c. 1940s.

Little Nemo's Bear, 1907

 

A New York Herald supplement, 1907. I posted this cut-out four years ago on my first blog.  I'm posting Little Nemo's Bear once again because I'm taking him to the convention as my entry in the convention competition.  A first for me!

Winsor McKay's Little Nemo is considered one of the most beautiful and imaginative comic strips ever created, in the days when comic pages (and newspapers!) were large and had little competition for a child's attention. I love it because it touches on so many things fascinating to me: New York newspaper history, turn-of-the century comic strips and great illustration. It's one of my favorites.

Here's Garth Lax on the competition and other convention activities:

  2011  INTERNATIONAL PAPER DOLL CONVENTION

 

                            LET  FREEDOM  RING !

 

                                      Email # 11

 

              THE COMPETITION AND THE PROGRAMS!

 

 

THE COMPETITION

 

If you've never put a paper doll into competition before, the process is
easy and painless. Of course, you must be registered for the Convention,
but there's no entry fee, you get to arrange your own entry as you wish
within the space that you specify, you may well find that your entry
wins a ribbon, and most of all, you'll be "sharing" your paper doll

treasure with all the other collectors.
 
Best of all, not only is the Entry Fee Zero, but any Ribbon that you win

is yours to keep with pride; and the excitement and value of the

Competition experience are Priceless.

 

At Philadelphia 2011, the Competition will be different from those of

past Conventions.

 

There will be four time-based Divisions:

 

Pre-1900

Early 20th Century 1900-1940

Mid-Century 1941-1960

Contemporary 1961-2011

 

There will be no Categories within those time periods.

 

There will be no teams of expert Judges.

 

Instead, within each Division, it will be a "My Favorite Paper Doll"

Competition.

Each person will be able to enter only one Paper Doll per Division,

or a maximum of four if they enter one in each Division.

 

In each Division your entry may be a Paper Doll or a Paper Toy. 

It may be old or new, cut or uncut, mint or "played with".

It may be in any form - - book or boxed or magazine or newspaper.

It may be Advertising or non-Advertising, commercial or hand-made

or Original Art.

 

It doesn't matter.  It just has to be your Favorite.

 

The only restriction is that you may not re-enter an item that you

entered and was judged in the past five years.

 

The Judging will be by everyone at the Convention. As folks view

the entries, they'll be able to fill out a form that lists their top choices

- - a lot like the Popular Voting process at previous Conventions.

 

There will be 4 Top Winners, one for each Division, and the one lucky

paper doll that gets the most votes across all four Divisions will be

honored as "The Convention's Favorite Paper Doll" and will receive

a very special award.

 

Entering is easy. Just select one Paper Doll to enter for any or one for each

Division, fill out the forms in your Registration Packet, and you're all set.

 

Lori Lawson is in charge of the Competition for Philadelphia. If you have

a question, you can ask Lori at  lawson.lori@gmail.com. 

 

So - - put on your thinking cap and start pondering which are your

favorite paper dolls that you'll be entering in the Competition !!

(That's really the hard part, isn't it??)

 

 

THE PROGRAMS !

 

At every evening event as well as the Sunday Farewell, there will be

a Program. Some are informative, some are fun, some are both - -

but every one is riveting!  Let's see what Philadelphia will have for you:

 

On the Wednesday evening, at the Get-Together, the Program series

will open with a Blockbuster - - Norma Lu Meehan's

"Paper Dolls - Fashion's Archives".

 

In this Power Point presentation you're going to see stunningly

beautiful paper dolls of antiquity and Norma Lu's extensive fashion

knowledge melded into a fashion road map in a talk that has played

to enthusiastic SRO crowds in the US Mid-West. 

 

You definitely don't want to miss this one !!

 

On the Thursday evening, your Program will be fun and challenging

as Jenny Taliadoros gets your mental juices flowing with a Trivia Game.

 

But not just any Trivia Game. This one will be Paper Doll Trivia !!

 

Each table will constitute a team, and everyone at the table will work

to come up with the answers to Jenny's Paper Doll trivia questions!

Whichever table gets the most answers correct will be the winner!

And everyone at that table will receive a prize!!

 

So start brushing up on your PD knowledge. Time's a-wastin'  !!

 

On Friday night, the theme will be Colonial, and the program

will be "Colonial Fashions", presented by Brenda Sneathen Mattox,

an expert in the fashions of centuries past.

 

Brenda will focus on the period 1789 - 1800, a decade in which the

change in women's dress was the most radical in centuries. 

"A tiny waist was no longer a requirement.  Heavy skirts disappeared.

Outer clothes started to look like underwear, for heavens sake! 

Shocking! " - - to quote Brenda.

 

As you can see, Brenda's program will be filled with accurate fashions,

concise information, and a presentation style that will bring smiles to all.

 

On Saturday evening, the theme will be High Society, and the program

will be "Grace Kelly", presented by Lorna Currie Thomopoulos.

 

Synonymous with cool elegance and impeccable taste, Grace Kelly

remains a style icon of the twentieth century. Lorna's program will

follow her influence on fashion from her glamorous movie career

to her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco, and her subsequent life

as Princess Grace and the mother of Prince Albert and Princesses

Caroline and Stephanie.

 

Lorna's presentation will have all the biographical details, and will be

filled with inside observations and dishy details (and rumours) along

the way. "Grace Kelly" will be a highlight of the Convention!

 

 

Sunday morning, at the Farewell Gathering, you're in for another treat.

 

Scott Jorgenson will present "Collecting Fashion in Cloth and Paper".

Searching for genuine vintage treasures in thrift shops or on the Internet

is a quest for fashion history that has been worn in the past - -

a quest from which Scott has amassed a collection of over 500 pieces.

 

Scott, an expert on Vintage Fashion, will explain how collecting vintage

fashion is the same whether it is made of fabric or print for paper dolls.

He will share some stories about his never-ending quest for special

fashions and show how those very same styles have been illustrated

by paper doll artists in years gone by as well as today. 

 

 

How are those for great Programs ??!! 

 

 

- - Garth

 

        2011 INTERNATIONAL PAPER DOLL CONVENTION

                               August 17 - 21, 2011

                  Embassy Suites - Philadelphia Airport

                               9000 Bartram Avenue

                            Philadelphia,  PA  19153

                                                   

******************************************************************************

                          CONVENTION REGISTRATION

 

NAME__________________________________________________

 

ADDRESS_______________________________________________

 

CITY_______________________STATE_______ ZIP/PC__________

 

EMAIL_____________________________________

 

PHONE____________________________________

 

Registration:  $295.00 USD 

 

Absentee Registration:  $155.00 USD

  (Absentee Registrations are limited in number.)

 

Guest Registration (Meals, Reception Party) $150.00

  GUEST NAME:__________________________________________

 

Make Checks payable to:  2011 Paper Doll Convention

 

____ Check/money order enclosed

 

____ Credit Card #____________________________Exp.Date______

        (Visa, MasterCard, Discover, AmEx accepted)

        (charge will appear on statement as "Paperdoll Review")

 

Mail to:

 

David Wolfe

P.O. Box 2279

New Preston,  CT  06777

**************************************************************************************

Tillie the Toiler, c. 1930s

Comic strip paper doll, 1946

Wish I had more information. Anyone recognize the artist or newspaper comic strip this is from?
UPDATE: Thanks to Cindy Wuthrich for identifying this as a Boots Cut-Out from June 2, 1946, depicting the character known as Babe.

Convention 2010: Dress Up Night

UPDATE: Be sure to visit Marge Schaffer's blog for many rare and wonderful comic strip paper dolls.
And be sure to click image above to see detail.


For those of you who might be new to the site: The International Paper Doll Convention will be July 1-4 in Kansas City, Mo. Click on the link to the left for more information. I've been running updates for those who are attending. Hope this piques your interest for attending future conventions!

Dressing Up
Dress is casual at convention but one night is usually reserved for a themed dress-up party.
Saturday, July 3 is that night this year, and the theme is "Paper Doll Ladies and Gents of the Comics." Your inspiration can come from a comic strip or comic book: Boots, Jane Arden, Brenda Starr, Winnie Winkle, Tillie the Toiler or Archie, Betty and Veronica--and dozens of other possibilities. If only I could find a frock as fetching as Fashion Fanny's (try saying that three times!), I'd be set...  

Above: "Fashion Fanny and Her Friends/ The Paper Doll that Sets the Styles," drawn by Winifred Goodsell, appeared in the Detroit Free Press in the 1920s.

Fashion Fanny is part of the Virginia Crossley Paper Doll Collection which is being auctioned by Theriaults on June 21. Click here for more information.

Here are some other comic strip dolls from my collection that I've featured in the past: