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Living By The Seat Of My Pants

by Marjorie Newton

in Childhood, Family ·

My Paper Dolls

Betty Grable and Princess Elizabeth & Princess Margaret
Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable
Shirley Temple

         “I want a divorce!”  With his hands on his hips, Clark Gable glares at his present wife.  “NOW!”

         Betty Grable, who is his present wife, turns from her mirror.  “Divorce?  You want a divorce, my darling?”  She laughs and returns to her mirror.  “You are teasing me.”

         “This is no joke, my dear!  I want a divorce and I am leaving!  NOW!”  Clark moves toward the door.

         Betty leaps to her feet, dashes toward Clark throwing her arms around his neck. He pushes her away.  “Darling!  My darling!  Please don’t leave me!  I’ll change!  I promise I’ll change!”  She cries hysterically.

         “Goodbye, Betty! Forever!”  Clark slams the door as he leaves.

         And so ended just another one of my many heart breaking paper doll episodes.  Betty Grable, in this scene, obviously is the doll married to Clark Gable.  However, my paper doll adventures changed quickly, often and with great drama.  Heaven knows who would be married to whom next time I was in the mood to play with my dolls.  It all depended on what movie I had just seen or what soap opera I had just listened to.

         Betty Grable was my best friend when I was that funny little farm girl.  Well, my best paper doll friend.  I adored her and didn’t miss any of her movies, such as “The Dolly Girls,” “Miss Pilgrim,” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blonds.”  When an aunt gave me my Betty Grable paper doll book, I was overjoyed!  It was one of my favorite gifts ever.

         I liked paper dolls more than my other dolls because they were easier to play with.  It was easier and quicker to change their clothes which were far more beautiful.  While movie star paper dolls were my favorite mainly because of all their fabulous clothes, I also liked my bride doll sets, my ice skating and roller skating sets, and my ballet dancing set for the same reason.   I had other sets of famous people like Princess Elizabeth and Margret as young girls, whose clothes were very elaborate with crowns and regal robes.   My fantasy and wild imagination could not be restrained playing with these dolls.   At times I almost forgot that I was just a funny little farm girl living a very simple life.

         My paper dolls did help me escape the dull realities of living on a dairy farm with no nearby little girls to play with.  Actually I preferred playing alone with my dolls because I had more control over the fights and romance.  My dolls went through more romantic conflicts than movie stars ever experienced in either in their movies and or in their real lives.    Mom told me years later she would quietly hide behind a door to the adjoining room just to hear my dolls’ wildly romantic conversations, and had a difficult time keeping me from hearing her giggles.  She must have been extremely amused and entertained by the innocence of my imagination.

         I was probably about five or six when I discovered the magic of paper dolls.  To me the best gifts in all the world that I received were the many various books of paper dolls . I loved it when Mom would sit down with me on the floor to help me cut them out which of course allowed me to start playing with them sooner.  She and I would choose our favorite dolls and our favorite clothes.  She even actually played dolls with me once in a while.  I discovered her imagination could be surprisingly as wild as mine.  I liked playing with her more than anyone else.

         The living room was my favorite place to play.  The room had far more interesting furniture that held greater possibilities for my dolls’ adventures.  My grandfather’s large mahogany desk at one end of the room had lots of book shelves where the  ups and downs of my dolls’ lives were played out.  The old brown Victorian magazine rack where the Saturday Evening Post and Colliers were kept became a great place for the dolls to lean against in their fabulous clothes.  Mom’s wine colored plush sofa, where we kids were never allowed to sit, was the most luxurious setting of all, together with the tall mahogany radio with its long carved legs.  I occasionally listened to soap operas lying on the floor in front of this radio.  Soaps added great romantic fuel to my unending tales I created for my dolls.  Yes, indeed, Portia did face her frustrating life over and over again.

         Our little village surprisingly had a very popular movie theater where every week I saw a musical and often the leading lady was also one of my paper dolls in my collection.  The movie plots never changed from musical to musical.  Judy Garland and Fred Astaire in “The Easter Parade  fell in love, fought, separated and got back together, of course all the while singing and dancing in wonderfully cheap Technicolor.  That following week my Judy Garland and Fred Astaire dolls relived “Easter Parade over and over again.  It truly was amazing that a ten cent book of paper dolls and a fifty cent movie ticket provided such fun and joy for this funny farm little girl.  But it did.

         My brother Dave, three years older than I, got his own kind of enjoyment out of my paper dolls.  He was a relentless tease regardless of what I was doing.  He discovered when I played paper dolls that if he walked as close and as fast as he dared past my dolls they would fall over.  So, when then I screamed  “Mom, do something about him! Tell him to stop!”   he could honestly say, “But, Mom, I didn’t even touch her or her dolls!”

         Around seventh grade, my fancies turned to other things like BOYS!  (Had to happen sooner or later!)  I packed my beloved paper dolls away, each in their own large envelope my dad’s monthly Ayrshire (our breed of cattle) Digest came in.  I put them away in a large trunk in my room and looked at them occasionally.  I thought of them from time to time, and eventually lost track of them.

         A number of years later the family farm was sold to a developer who intended to pull the old Victorian farmhouse down.  My niece Dawn and her husband Dan went through the house from top to bottom to make sure everything the family wanted had been removed.  By this time, I was sadly convinced my paper dolls were gone forever.

         On a Christmas shortly after the family gathered at my niece’s home for the holiday festivities.  We sat around the living room near the huge beautifully decorated tree opening our gifts.  Our tradition was we would each open our gifts one at a time so everyone could share in each other’s surprises.  This took hours during which time we also partook in the delicious goodies my niece and her husband made.

 Finally when all the gifts had been opened, my niece presented me with the very last gift.  It had been hidden far under the tree.  Of course, I was pleasantly surprised to have yet another gift to open and I could tell it must be something special because everyone in the room watched silently as I held the gift.  My mother who was sitting next to me was smiling as though she knew something.

         Slowly I untied the beautiful red ribbon and took the wrapping paper off the box.  I lifted the lid of my mysterious gift and looked inside.  Then I looked up at everyone who was eagerly watching the scene. When I realized what the box contained, my eyes filled with tears as did the eyes of everyone in the room.  My precious paper dolls.

         My niece sat in front of me smiling.  What a wonderful thing she had done for me.  After hearing for years the stories of how I loved my paper dolls as a child, she knew how important they were to me.  During their final search through the old farmhouse she and her husband had found them in the attic under a pile of old dirty blankets.  She brought them home and cleaned all the bat stuff off each of the envelopes.

         Looking at my long lost paper dolls, wonderful memories rushed back to me.  My family watched as I took each Ayshire Digest envelope out of the box and lovingly examined the beautiful dolls inside one by one.  Once again I became that funny little farm girl whose very simple life had been made more exciting and joyful because of her paper dolls.  That Christmas my niece Dawn gave me one of the most loving and wonderful gifts I have ever received.  My precious paper dolls.

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Comments

  2. Oh! That brought back memories of my own paper dolls! Also, I just watched “The Easter Parade” this past weekend. I love to read your memories! Looking forward to reading about the adventures you had with your cousins in the future.

  3. Oh, I love this!! What memories! My best friend, Kay and I would play with our paper dolls for hours and hours. I remember the special care we took to cut them and their clothes out of the “books” and the “tabs” that held their clothes on. You brought tears to my eyes when I got to the place in your story where they were found and given to you for Christmas. What a wonderful, special gift!!

  4. What BEAUTIFUL paper dolls! I just love the story too. Going to share it with my daughter as I know it will seem very interesting to compare her “playtime” with yours. : )

  6. I loved reading this! I too was really in to my paper dolls and still have them…somewhere. Makes me want to go and dig them out. Thanks for the beautiful story!

  7. I surely remember that Betty Grable was your favorite….at least for a long time. I remember so much of what you posted. I especially remember your brother’s teasing. He never passed up a chance to get under my skin. Fun.
    Barb, one of the “wild women”

  8. Hi Marj! I’m joining the blog late, but happily. This post on the paper dolls is wonderful. I, too, played with paper dolls, although not the Hollywood stars. We often colored the clothing before cutting them out. I have such a vivid memory of an elegant gown my sister colored in purple and green, colors I would never have combined, and it was spectacular. Hoping for adventures with the cows in next episodes.

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