1919 Movy-Dols of the Silent Screen: Mary Pickford, Norma Talmadge, Charlie Chaplin, Geraldine Farrar

After lots of practice with estate sale treasure hunting, I have learned that it can pay huge dividends to take the extra bit of time to unzip suitcases, unsnap purses, and open up boxes - no matter how nondescript the packaging is. 

Imagine my surprise when I found these old paper dolls dating from the end of World War I to the 1930's...

...hiding inside this 1960's Christmas Card box!

The box was filled with an assortment of Dolly Dingles and other adorable 1920's boy and girl paper dolls with tons of clothes...and long-legged scantily dressed flapper girls with Betty Boop hair styles cut from the comics section of the newspaper.

But my favorites are the movie star paper dolls from the silent era.

Thankfully, the previous owner - her name was Bonnie - had written on the backs of the clothes which belonged to each star.

Here's Norma Talmadge and some of her clothes - presumably costumes from her films:

It's a little hard to see in this photo, but each paper doll is labeled with the star's name and "Herself" or "Himself"

A photograph of Norma Talmadge, Herself...from a post on Norma in the Silent Film Festival blog. 

 

Here's the Charlie Chaplin doll with his wardrobe:

And a photo of Mr. Chaplin pulled from an article in Flicks and Bits on The Top 10 Moustaches in Film.

Here are a few stars you may not be familiar with...

Elsie Ferguson as a doll (above) and a photograph (below) from Broadway Photographs: Art Photography and the American Stage 1900-1930

Paper doll of Geraldine Farrar (above) and photograph (below) from Faery Tales,  a Russian blog.

And this is actress Marguerite Clark as a paper doll (above) and in a photograph (below) from  "Glamorous Ghost [Marguerite Clark] Haunts Louisiana Library" article in the Book Patrol blog.

You're probably far more familiar with these last two paper doll stars.  Here's Douglas Fairbanks, Sr., known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films like the Thief of Baghdad and Mark of Zorro.

Photograph of Douglas, Sr. courtesy of Dr. Macro's Movie Scans.

When he married "America's Sweetheart" Mary Pickford in 1920, the two became "royalty."

Photo courtesy of The Sunrise Silents

Unfortunately, although Mary Pickford's clothes were in the box - the paper doll was missing.  However there was another version of a Pickford doll there, colored with crayons.

Mary Pickford wasn't the only crayon colored doll in the lot.  I also found two of Marguerite Clark, two of Charlie Chaplin and one of Elsie Ferguson.  A mystery that needed to be solved!

In my research, I learned that these paper dolls were called "Movy-Dols" and were illustrated by Percy Reeves.  The Movy-Dols were included in issues of Photoplay magazine in 1919.

Stevemcg recently sold this September 1919 issue of Photoplay on eBay... 

...and look what was inside...an uncut page of Charlie Chaplin Movy-Dols!

Next I found an example of the Douglas Fairbanks Movy-Dol in the Paper Collector, a wonderful blog that often features articles on old paper dolls. 

But I was still stumped by the mysterious  hand-colored paper dolls.  Where did those come from?

Finally I stumbled across this auction item listed in a 2003 Skinner's Auction of the Maurine Popp Collection of Dolls -

Lot 580: Movy-Dols Paper Dolls and Painting Book, eight stars include Norma Talmadge, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, May Allison, Geraldine Farrar, Maugureite Clark, and Elsie Ferguson; paper dolls present, (the ones to color are missing).

Mystery solved!  Apparently all of the paper dolls from the Photoplay series were gathered into one book, which also included blank paper dolls to paint or color.

Auction estimate: $300-$400

Sold for: $275.

I thought I'd take you back for one final look at 1919 and the world of the silent film stars, with this original footage of Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith signing the contract to form their own film company, United Artists - in May 1919. 

Be sure to watch it to the end.  After the signing, the four celebrities — with Chaplin in his Tramp garb and makeup — pose and clown around for the press cameras.

Courtesy of YouTube's TokyoDinosaur

And now, on this lovely, windy Sunday afternoon, I will leave you...in silence.