March 2007                                       The Megaphone                                          Page 8

The Ladies

 by Julie (Stout) Crim 

Once upon a time there was Linda and Betty. I remember a Mimi and a Shirley. There may have been a Jane, Elizabeth and Audrey and maybe a Susan, Ava and Debbie. Oh yes, there was an Alice too but she wasn’t very popular. She usually wore a blue dress and we caller her Alice blue gown, after the song. These ladies were our beloved paper dolls.

My friend and I would spend hours and hours playing with them when we were little girls. Barbie dolls had not been invented and real dolls were usually the baby type.  But the paper dolls, well now that was a different matter all together! They were all grown up and could do anything they wanted. If they wanted a new dress they had one and if they wanted a new boy friend, well they had that too. They lived in big rich houses and had many pretty cars. They went to parties and always had new party dresses. 

In those days paper dolls were popular and inexpensive to buy. Sometimes when we had been good little girls our mothers rewarded us with a new book of paper dolls. One could never have too many you see. Usually there were two or three dolls that came in a book with lots of clothes ad accessories. We would punch out the dolls along the perforated lines and then cut out their clothes, shoes, purses, hats and sometimes jewelry. If we got tired of playing with what we had, we’d get the white paper, crayons and scissors and design new outfits. I remember laying one of my ladies on the paper and drawing an outline of a dress around her. Finishing that I’d remove the doll and color in the dress. There were straight skirts, full skirts, gathered skirts, short skirts and long skirts. There were puffed sleeves, full and narrow sleeves, long, medium and short sleeves, full sleeves, tailored sleeves and frilly ones. There was simply no end to the fashions that could be designed. And then there were the bathing suites, slacks, halter tops, nightgowns and robes and on and on and on.

One day my friend said her doll would be the princess and mine could be her maid. After playing that way for a while, I suggested we each change places. She would have none of that so I picked up my dolls and went home. We often had spats and just as often they were forgiven and forgotten and the play would continue the next day. 

Today I don’t remember what activities stole away our interest in the dolls but there was no longer time for such enjoyment. The dolls stayed in their dark shoe boxes, waiting, waiting waiting. We grew older, and other interests became our pursuit. The dolls are gone these many decades late but their memories still hold a warm spot in my heart. They were such simple toys for two little girls and what a beautiful memory they now make!

With fond memories I bought my young daughter paper dolls and together we played with them. We cut out their clothes and had tea parties and shopping adventures. However, the lure of Barbie was too overpowering and the little paper dolls were retired much too soon. Time marches on and waits for no one.

Julie (Stout) Crim, '57

Yuma, AZ

The Cardinal Rule

When a cardinal poses this close outside your dining room window, the cardinal rule of thumb dictates you save its image for all time. This photo was snapped recently in the Midwest and shared to us by a list member. A larger size is available upon request. It is stunning.

       Thanx . . .