Paper Dolls From Sears
ByMargery McCurdy Plummer
How many of you girls out there remember playing with dolls when you were a child? I think my favorite kind of dolls were the ones that were soft and cuddly and could be carried around like a baby or over my shoulder, much as we carried our small dogs.

Of course there were famous named dolls like Shirley Temple, and I even had a Charlie McCarthy doll, who when one pulled a string at the back of his neck, he opened his mouth and spoke several nonsensical words. You were a ventriloquist, so to speak.

In much more recent times, there was the frail little Barbie with her wardrobe of elegant outfits. The American Girl came along, and was very popular. She was somewhat expensive as I found when I bought one for our granddaughter several times for birthdays and other special occasions.

Our Shirley Temple dolls were probably the most beautiful with their curly hair, dimples and gorgeous full skirted dresses and white Mary Jane type slippers worn with lace trimmed anklets.

I’m ashamed to admit this, but everyone knows that children will do very naughty things. I’ll never know why we cut the Shirley Temple dolls’ hair to the scalp, but my sister and I did. Maybe we felt that since we couldn’t really play with them, we’d play barber with them. I think that’s what we said when the curls were found beneath the cushions of the sofa. Needless to say, we were reprimanded very strongly.

Another kind of doll were the cardboard type that could be punched through perforated lines from doll magazines. Each of the dolls had a complete wardrobe that could be attached to the doll by little tabs.

Has anyone heard of the Dionne Quintuplets? They were born in Canada and were believed to be the only quintuplets to live more than a few hours after birth. Their names were Cecile, Yvonne, Annette, Marie and Emilie. Gifts poured in, pictures were shown all over the world, a movie was made and they were given all the attention (and perhaps exploitation) that famous babies could receive. And of course Dionne Quintuplet dolls were everywhere.

Of all the dolls I had, saw or played with, my favorites were the paper dolls cut from the Sears catalogue. We cut out families, a father, a mother, a paper boy and a paper girl with the boy taller and probably older than the girl. Occasionally we extended the family to include another child or two if we saw especially attractive ones. We engaged them in long imaginary conversations, moved them through imaginary walls and seated them in other furniture made from wall paper samples from sample books.

I don’t buy dolls anymore, but I see them in stores dressed in costumes from every country in the world, baby dolls, stand up dolls, cuddly dolls, all of them. I don’t see any Sears catalogues put out especially for the purpose of cutting out paper doll families, but I do remember those paper dolls families, conversing in imaginary voices, moving through rooms divided by imaginary walls and sitting in wall paper sample furniture, eating together, going through their imaginary day. I don’t know what kind of play that would be called, not organized play as we have much of today, disorganized perhaps but more appropriately, creative play. That’s the best kind of all.