Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Our Guest Blogger; Dr. David Levy of Jarnac Observ...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: Our Guest Blogger; Dr. David Levy of Jarnac Observ...: Skyward June 2023 Wendee among the stars David H. Levy Never in my life did I appreciate the peace and beauty of the night sk...

In Memoriam R. Lane Herron, doll artist, author, noted authority, and my friend

A Tribute to the Memory of my Friend, R. Lane Herron Recently, I learned through eBay of all places that my friend and pen pal of nearly 37 years, R. Lane Herron, had died. I suspected it, because since Christmas, cards had been coming back to me. I searched diligently, but could find no obituary or grave, het in a back handed way, the rehab facility where he was confined indicated he had passed away. While doing yet another search to see if I could find an obituary or death notice, I found some of his things on eBay, labeled, “from the Estate of R. Lane Herron.” A kind seller filled me in as best he could.

To say the least, I am devastated, but comforted that his books and art dolls will go on. His price guides, fiction and Much Ado About Dolls, a guide for collectors, are full of knowledge and scholarship for collectors that simply isn’t done anymore. He wrote to collectors and doll makers around the globe, including Bernard Ravca, Lewis Sorensen, Joseph Kallus, Madame Alexander, Ann Parker, Lita Wilson, and many more. Lane also struck up correspondence with celebrity collectors like Greta Garbo, Jane Withers, Hattie McDaniel, Joan Crawford, and many more. His father was an actor and lawyer in the entertainment industry. Lane hobnobbed with many famous actors and singers, and he once wrote to me that he sang along with Frank Sinatra. He was a man of strong opinions, but also generous with helping others who were interested in art, antiques and dolls. Lane was an astute businessman who owned antique shops and traveled the world to study dolls for his writing. He reviewed and commented on my books, on several subjects, including literary criticism and doll history. I can only hope that his scrapbooks, photos, letters, and ephemera were saved for posterity. He and I both love books, and I used to send him volumes on history, and politics and other subjects. He sent me stickers, clippings on famous contemporary women, vintage earrings, and antique postcards. I was touched that he told me he put a photo of me and my family visiting Albuquerque in one of his scrapbooks. He also put my wedding invitation in one. Lane loved pets, and his most recent, Lamby Pie and Messy, the dove he rescued, were always prominent in his letters. He wrote of other pets, too, and wrote me a beautiful letter when my dog Smokey died. His compassion for animals was deep, and not to be forgotten. He also loved his family, and mentioned them to me often. I feel as if I know them all. Into his nineties, Lane remained independent and interest in everything. The last two dolls I know he was making were a small and large (nearly 30 inches) Joan Crawford. He admired Crawford, and was creating her as she appeared in the film “Rain.” I searched and found him doll sized bobby pins to style the wig he was creating for her. I also looked around for a home perm so he could do her hair. Often, he would ask me to do some internet research for him, since he hated online work himself. Lane was a frequent contributor many magazines on antiques and dolls, most recently Doll Castle News. His columns on “The Elite World of Dolls” were inspiring, and full of interesting facts about early doll authors and collectors. Sometimes, I received two to three letters per week from him; he loved to write, anything, and was born to be an author. We also exchanged recipes, even for our pets. His recipe for enchiladas is a family favorite. The beautiful dolls he created of historic women and actresses are like nothing else ever made. He prided himself on using vintage lace, fabric, and jewelry, as well on styling their wigs. He had a secret mixture resembling composition/plaster that he used on them, and every detail was perfect. After 37 years, it is hard to accept this kind, vibrant person, so full of talent, is gone. Yet, I am lucky to have had him as a friend, advisor, and correspondent. I will miss receiving his letters, full of little bits of ephemera and news. I used to make coffee, sit down in a favorite chair, and read his wonderful letters, my down time as it were. May his memory be eternal, and may flights of angels sing him to his rest.

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Review of The Stuffed Animal by John Donald O'Shea

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Medieval Inspiration

This post idea literally came to me in a dream. I dreamed of writing about dolls in the Middle Ages, and my little sleeping beauty castle was featured. I took some dramatic license, but the photos are of the castle as it is progressing, hopefully showing the Medeival influence on the Disney story. Some of the figures are by B. Shackman, now vintage, showing Victorian figures created by Pre-raphaelite artists. There is a post on this blog on Dolls of the Middle Ages with more photos. See also Arthurian Barbie outfits, Midwest doll ornaments, Peggy Niset, Madame Alexander, Air Fix, and other companies creating Medieval outfits for their dolls.

Today is National Barbie Day!

 Per Antique Week, today is our favorite doll's holiday!  I'm  posting some photos, and remind everyone that there is a brief chapter on our girl in Thinking Outside the Doll House; A Memoir. Book is available at a discount from Austin Macaulay at a discount.

Hinamatsuri The Japanese Doll Festival

 Here's an oldie but goody.  Tomorrow is the Japanese Doll Festival, aka The Girls' Festival.  Enjoy.

If you have read Rumer Godden’s Miss Happiness and Miss Flower, you know that The Girls’ Festival in Japan, also known as The Doll Festival, takes place on March 3d.  Today, the Hina Matsuri celebration is also celebrated in the United States. We receive an ad from a Japanese Grocery Store each week, and the week's ad for the first of March featured sweets and special foods for the Doll Festival celebrations. These foods include shirozake, fermented rice sake, tiny crackers flavored with sugar or soy sauce, a salty soup with clams, and rice cake.  Culturally, this is a holiday apparently alive and well among Japanese Families. For information on the Hina Matsuri and other dolls, I recommend The Yokohama Doll Museum site, and works by Scot Alan Pate and Lea Baten. Pat Smith also wrote a book on Asian Dolls.  If you have not read Rumer Godden's Miss Happiness and Miss Flower and Little Plum about the Festival and the lives of three Japanese dolls, you must. Godden liked dolls and actually had the Japanese doll house built and landscaped to inspire her.  Huguette Clark, the famous reclusive heiress and collector, had a master craftsman create special Japanese doll houses for her as well.

 

The festival dates to the Heian period (794-1192).  Ornamental dolls are taken out once a year and arranged on steps covered in red cloth.  Dolls representing the lord and lady of the palace are arranged on the top shelf.  Other dolls representing their attendants and musicians are arranged on the steps along with miniature accessories. According to Japanese-city.com, the origins of The Girls’ Festival date from an ancient custom of floating Hina dolls of straw to the ocean.  The belief was that the dolls contained evil spirits and that as they floated away, the carried the spirits with them out to sea. This custom was called Hina nagashi or doll floating.

 

Lea Baten is one of my favorite doll historians, and her specialty is Japanese dolls.  Carl Fox in The doll also addresses many interesting examples.  See our Pinterest Boards on Japanese Dolls, Doll Collection, and Nepalese Dolls for more examples. According to Alan Scott Pate in his article Hina Matsuri; Dolls from the Japanese Girls’ Day Festival, dolls have been important to Japanese culture for over 13,000 years. Pate has pointed out that the doll on the top tier of the Hina display are the lord and lady, and are not referred to as emperor and empress dolls in Japan.   Other dolls and related items important to Japanese culture are Bunraku puppets, Kokeshi dolls of wood, Hakata dolls made of clay from the city or Hakata, Kabuki actors and actresses, netsuke meant to be tied at the end of sashes, and tiny dolls made of painted rice kernels.  Paper dolls are another Japanese tradition as are mechanical figures called Karakuri that are small, realistic robots that serve tea.  Samurai and other mythic figures celebrate The Boy’s Festival, held May 5^th. Friendship dolls were went to the United States during the 1920s, and American dolls were sent to Japan in exchange.

 

Artist R. John Wright has created beautiful Japanese children as featured in The Toy Shoppe, and French automatons were inspired by Japanese Geisha. German makers also created their versions of Asian and Japanese dolls.  Some Vintage Italian dolls represent Madame Butterfly and wear the traditional Kimono.  Effanbee made a vinyl version of Madame Butterfly in the late 80s.

 

As a recent Theriault’s auction of rare antique Japanese dolls has shown, there is still a brisk interest in these dolls.  The Takara Barbie and Japanese robots and Manga dolls are popular, inspired by their vintage cousins.  Morimura Brothers made bisque dolls in the style of German bisque babies and children, and stone bisque penny dolls made in Japan were very popular during the 30s and 40s.  Celluloid dolls nad toys rr4om Japan are very popular with collectors, as are bisque dolls and figurines marked “Occupied Japan,” made while the Untied States occupied the country just after World War II.  Ball jointed dolls are currently made in Japan, and there is an active community of doll collectors there, including temples devoted to cremating worn out dolls.  Shirley Temple’s life sized Japanese doll retuned home after the 2014 auction of her collection.  Temple had a large number of Japanese dolls in her collection, which were among her favorites. 

Dolls marked Nippon, Occupied Japan, or Morimura Brothers delight many collectors. Tiny rice Kokeshi dolls are great fun, as are tiny Geisha dolls made from Rice Crackers.  At Mitsuwa Shopping Center, Arlington Heights, there is a Japanese doll on display at the grocery store.

Japanese Friendship dolls tell their own story; we even had one at Audubon school, till the school closed and a teacher took it with her.

Friendship dolls at Putnam.  Photo by Ellen Tsagaris

Memoirs of a Geisha; Putnam Museum Literary Heroines. Photo by E. Tsagaris

This March 3d, take out your Japanese dolls, and if you don’t have an actual set of Hina dolls, arrange them around a good picture, serve miniature foods, and honor a tradition that dates to the 9^th century.

 

 

 

 

Toy Fair

 

Today at the Museum included a little serendipity.   A gentleman came in with his sister to visit.  He was a Hot Wheels collector; there were doll collectors in his family as well.  As it turns out, He worked for Toy Fair in our own South Park Mall during the 70s.  Toy Fair also had a toy store in Duck Creek Plaza.  According to our visitor, Toy Fair was a Cedar Rapids company, and all the toys came from a warehouse there.  My first Sasha came from Toy Fair, as well as our B. Shackman Bye-lo babies.  I found many of my favorite Barbies there, clothes, accessories, games, you name it.  My Alexander Renoir and Dutch Miss Ginny also came from Toy Fair.  It’s hard to find anything about the store today; it was unique in its time; we didn’t have another toy store that I can remember from my childhood.