In Memoriam R.J. Wright

 Several years ago, I had the honor to blog for R. John Wright.  I'm posting one of those blogs here in his memory.

RJW DOLLS WITH ANIMALS- Figures and Fauna by Ellen Tsagaris

 

Children know what adult collectors sometimes do not; that even dolls have their companions, and that a beloved toy friend for a child can be an animal.

R. John Wright has known the important link between dolls with animal friends from the first dolls he designed.  He also knows the importance of creating dolls and animals that have literary histories.  Making beloved characters spring to 3D form makes them even more real to children of all ages, from 1 to 100, who love them.

The earliest stories and books for children highlighted the affinity between children and animals.  At first, the animals were there to teach children their alphabet, kindness to others, moral lessons, even responsibility.   One of the earliest alphabet books dates form the 17^th century, and is called Comenius’s Orbis sensualium pictus.

As paper became cheaper, and people more literate, the market for children’s books opened up.  There were more of them in the 18^th century, and animals were characters; sometimes, they even acted like people.  Some stories came from ancient tales and myths with their origins in Aesop’s Fables and Grimm’s Fairy Tales.  Others were written specifically for children.

Many writers included toy animals or real animals as companions to their characters, especially Johnny Gruelle, a political cartoonist who created Raggedy Ann and Andy and their stories a little over 100 years ago.  R. John Wright has created his own version of Raggedy Ann, but he has also given us his interpretation of Raggedy Ann & Andy with his Camel With the Wrinkled Knees and Raggedy Ann & Andy and the Little Brown Bear.

Bears are popular characters in children’s stories, and the classic tale of Goldilocks is one of the most famous.  The original tale of Goldilocks was written by Robert Southey, poet laureate of England whom Lord Byron satirized and called a “dry Bob” in Don Juan. There have been many versions of the story since then, and many illustrated by famous artists including Arthur Rackham and William Wallace Denslow, who drew the illustrations for The Wizard of Oz.  A modern mystery heroine, Goldy Bear, is the main character in the cooking mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson, e.g., Dark Tort and The Whole Enchilada.

In the charming Wright version of “Goldilocks and The Three Bears”, a curly locked Goldilocks looks sideways at the three bears, who are realistic bears, but who wear charming embellished clothing.  Goldilocks knows she is being naughty, and the Bears are truly speechless at her trespass.  The set was originally commissioned by the Puffin Publishing Group, UK, as the models for a photo story book by Lauren Child.

Other Wright bears include 1988 - Patrick with Teddy Bear includes the first R. John Wright bear.  Patrick and Teddy are made of molded felt.  Patrick, with his winsome face and mop of curly hair, is fully jointed. He was created in a limited edition of 200.  Two other favorites are Teddy & Me, and Teddy Roosevelt with Cub. Anyone who collects bears knows the story of how Teddy Roosevelt refused to take the life of an orphan bear cub brought to him as a trophy.  The origins of the Teddy go back to Marguerite Steiff and Morris Michtom of the Ideal Toy Corporation, with some evidence showing that toy bears may have actually sprung up in Russia as well. Whatever his exact origin, the Teddy bear has become iconic, and appears in every aspect of vintage and modern culture. The girl and boy scouts love bears and have many badges associated with them, animals and toys.  R.John Wright’s Theo with Scout Bear honors this tradition with a winsome little boy scout and his dutiful bear. The two simply spell loyalty, friendship, and companionship.  You can’t help but want to become part of this troop.

Of course, there is the most beloved literary bear of all, Winnie the Pooh, which R.J Wright commemorated with a series of dols from  1986-89 - Christopher Robin with Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga & Roo; A.A. Milne created a true community of friends with the Pooh books.  The first Pooh book appeared in 1926, and the little boy protagonist was names for Milne’s own son, Christopher Robin Milne. Young Christopher had toy animals, including a bear named Winnie. Winnie was named after a female bear that lived at the London Zoo.  Pooh was a swan the Milnes had seen a family vacation. When A. A. Milne wrote the Pooh books, included his son’s other toys, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga and Roo. The same characters were produced in miniature in the 1990s as the "Pocket Series" with the addition of Rabbit and Owl.

Certainly, though, bears are not the only companions of children and dolls. Heidi with Snowflake the Baby Goat is the R. John Wright version of a beloved childhood heroine. Heidi was written in 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri.  The story of the little girl who lived in the Alps with her grandfather won the hearts of people everywhere from the very first.  Another character from Spyri’s book was created to match Heidi, Peter the Goatherd with Turk the Goat: These two are the companions to Heidi and Snowflake.  From Peter’s traditional garb to Turk’s beautifully curled horns, these two are real masterpieces.  You expect 18.5 inch Peter to wriggle his little felt toes.  Peter is fully jointed with hand painted features, and Turk’s neck is jointed.           

Alice with The White Rabbit represent another children’s classic.  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was published in 1865 by Lewis Carroll, aka, The Reverend Charles Dodgson, Oxford don and mathematics professor.  Carroll was the only son, born in the middle of seven sisters.  He befriended Alice Liddell, daughter of The Dean of Christ Church at Oxford, and first wrote Alice’s Adventures Underground (1864) to entertain her and some of her sisters.  The White Rabbit is only one of the many animals that play a role in the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, along with the Caterpillar, The Cheshire Cat, The March Hare, and The Mouse that recites his Long Tail.  A more fantastic beast of Carroll’s creation is The Jabberwock, from the poem, “Jabberwocky”. R. John Wright’s Alice with The White Rabbit comes to life to tell the tale of Alice and her friends to another generation.

Children love their rabbit stories, but dogs are not only man’s best friend, they are also the best friends of children and their dolls. Childhood stories are full of them, including the brave Toto and the dogs in film that made everyone fall in love with them, like Charlie Chaplin’s Scraps.  Toto actually speaks in later Oz books, as do other animals.  The original Toto was a cairn terrier named Terry, who lived to be 11 years old.  She now has a permanent memorial to her in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles.  In the films and books, Toto is a boy, but a female was used in the original film; she earned more than the Munchkins, at a salary of bout $125 a week! The American band “Toto” was name after Toto, and Toto’s character has made appearances in many other books and films.

R. John Wright’s dolls from the Oz books by L. Frank Baum look as though they will come alive and speak their lines.  They also appear as fairy tale mice characters, and are just as adorable. Dorothy and Toto comprise one of the most famous dog-child couples in literature and film.  Toto was a small terrier drawn by W.W. Denslow.  He was a constant sidekick of the heroine of the Oz books, Dorothy Gale.  Dorothy is an orphan living with an elderly couple she calls her aunt and uncle.  They live on a bleak farm in Kansas, till Dorothy and her dog, Toto, are swept off to Oz in a tornado.  Like Alice, Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where creatures and all kinds of objects speak. Dorothy loves the magic, but she is a practical little girl, loyal to her family.  She returns to Kansas, and in a later book, she and her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry return to live in Oz.

 Charlie Chaplin with Scraps is one of the newest Wright creations. They are superb portraits in felted material and take doll making and cloth doll artistry to a new level.  Chaplin had a rich and varied career in Hollywood that earned him fans all over the world.  As a person, he was an activist, son-in-law of Eugene O’Neill, father of Geraldine Chaplin, actress, and frequent visitor to Hearst Castle, the treasure trove estate of William Randolph Hearst who inspired the film Citizen Kane. Another actor who was later immortalized in doll form was Jackie Coogan, who played The Kid to Chaplin’s little tramp. He grew up to play many other roles, including The Addams Family’s Uncle Fester.

Scraps is Chaplin’s co-star in the silent film A Dog’s Life, 1918, where Scraps plays a hero.  He helps Chaplin and the heroine of the film, Edna, to escape all kinds of misadventures and to find a better life.  Charlie and Edna care for scraps and hide him when necessary to protect him.  Scraps is no particular breed, and has been titled, “a thorough bred mongrel.”

 

These are only some of the wonderful doll groups R. John Wright has created from beloved character in literature, popular culture, and film.  They teach a whole new generation about these wonderful characters and their stories through another dimension, the 3D world of doll making.  They belong in the finest libraries and collections in the world, side- by- side with well loved editions of their books and films that they honor.

 

 

 

 

 

Selected Bibliography

 

Aesop’s Fables. http://read.gov/aesop/

 

Animal Tales. https://www.bl.uk/animal-tales/articles/childrens-animal-tales

 

Baum, L. Frank. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. (1900) .Millennium Books, 2017.

 

Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (1865), Illus. John Tenniel. The Planet, 2013.

 

Charlie Chaplin: A Dog’s Life. http://www.charliechaplin.com/en/films/12-A-Dog-s-Life/videos/1592-Charlie-Chaplin-saves-Scraps-from-a-wild-pack-of-dogs-from-A-Dog-s-Life-

 

Encyclopedia of the Great Plains; Dorothy Gale. http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.ii.027.xml

 

Gordon, George, Lord Byron.  Don Juan.  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21700/21700-h/21700-h.htm

 

Gruelle, Johnny. Raggedy Ann Stories. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18190/18190-h/18190-h.htm

 

The History of Goldilocks. https://owlcation.com/humanities/goldilocks-and-three-bears

 

Orbis Senusalium Pictus. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/orbis-sensualium-pictus-animal-tales-space

 

R. John Wright-Collectible Dolls and Animals. http://www.rjohnwright.com/