Jaci Dawn

Today is the anniversary of my mother’s birthday. She would have been 81 years old. She was 8 years old when 1940 rolled around (or almost 8, as her birthday was in March).

I do not know when she started collecting paper dolls, but I will assume it was right about when she was 9 or 10 years of age, the same age I was when I started collecting them. My paper dolls never survived. Hers, however, have led a very protected and heavily guarded life. The rare occasion that she brought them out and let my sister and I “play” with them, my mother hovered nearby.

Don’t bend the legs, don’t make the dolls “walk”, be careful with the flaps. Always, too soon, my mother decided her dolls had suffered enough at our hands and they want back into their box, separated by newspaper sheets. There are so many paper dolls that I will have to split this story into several days’ worth of blog posts.

First, there were the Movie Stars. Then the Cabaret Girls (the favorite of us girls), the families, the teenagers, and, last, the ones my mother protected more than any of the others: the ones she cut out herself from magazines and painstakingly named and created histories for. Two pages of typed lineage go with the latter dolls, and they are the only ones who do not have several changes of outfits.

In honor of my mother’s obsession, I thought I’d start with the Movie Stars (capitalized). Moreover, how fun would it be to toss in a little contest? I’m even willing to give a prize to the first person who knows who all the movie stars are (in order!) of either a gift certificate to Dover Books (where you can purchase your own paper dolls) or Amazon.com. You have until Sunday, March 31st, at 9PM PST to send me your answers in the comments.

Before I post the photos, I need to warn you: these dolls have been damaged. Mom taped them back together here and there. Their dresses and outfits are in pristine shape (for the most part), but the ladies themselves have suffered. Some of them were taped back together long before I was born, so the damage was not all done by my sister and I.

I did not bother to photograph each item of clothing: the shoes, hats, mink stoles, fancy dresses… I would have been forever at it!

#1.

“I have got two reasons for success and I’m standing on both of them”

#2

This sultry pin-up was a Texas girl.

#3

“I would rather lose a good earring than be caught without make-up.”

#4

She was French and sassy.

#5

No one should miss #5. No one.

#6

“Pride & Prejudice” fans should guess this actress!

#7

“The best time I ever had with Joan Crawford was when I pushed her down the stairs in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”#8 One of Hollywood’s tragedies.#9 She loved to dance and dance she did, with Fred Astaire.#10 She co-starred in “Poor Little Rich Girl” with Shirley Temple. (Sadly, Doll#1 is long gone and she’s missing a foot.)#11 The last one I am kind of at a loss on. I *think* I know who she is. The white wrap with the big GT on it is not a clue. I *think* she starred in a few movies with John Wayne.There you go – my mother’s Movie Star paper dolls, in all their glory and damage. You now have until Sunday night to comment what your answers are. Go.