Who Would Be A Mermaid Fair. . . "

Singing alone,

Combing her hair

Under the sea,

In a golden curl

The Mermaid, Alfred Lord Tennyson, 1893

The image of a beautiful mermaid perched on a rocky shore while she combs out her long, lovely locks has long been an image in folk tales and sea shanties. Perhaps that is what inspired the French maker of this folding comb to adorn it with an image of a more modern version of the mermaid, a bathing beauty.

Just 3.5 inches long, this compact comb would be the perfect size for a beach belle to tuck into her purse for a trip to the seaside.

Of ivory-colored celluloid, the piece is stamped, "Made in France." 

Another New Neko. . . .

Check out my Maneki Neko Page to see this pretty kitty carved out of ivory.

Pretty as a Picture. . . .

This comic card tells a tale of the course of true love not quite running smoothly in three acts, or more correctly, folds. When the card is completely closed, we see a young man, dressed in his best to impress, holding the photograph of a beautiful bathing belle he has apparently arranged to meet by the seaside,

Open the card once and the astonished swain seems to discover that the object of his affections does not quite match the petite proportions portrayed in her photograph. Or maybe he's not quite that shallow and is just shocked that she is not wearing stockings, which were de rigueur for female beachgoers. 

The final act or fold reveals that the lady's portly posterior and pilose pegs actually belong to a well-fed fellow who is innocently enjoying the view. There is no epilogue regarding whether the would-be beau simply fled or, discovering his mistake, invited the lovely lady for a stroll along the boardwalk.

This card was not intended as a postcard, as there is no place for an address or stamp. It was most likely offered as a comic trade card. Beginning in the mid-1870s, with the advent of affordable color printing, merchants and businesses began advertising on trade cards, typically small pieces of cardboard with a brightly colored images, ranging from sentimental to silly, with the name and address of the business. Companies that could afford it created custom cards picturing their products, but many businesses simply used stock cards offered by printers. The colorful cards, which were distributed for free or as premiums, were popular with customers, who often collected them, mounting them in scrapbooks. More elaborate cards, like this one, folded out to reveal new images. By the early 1900s, with color printing now widely featured in magazines and catalogs, the interest in trade cards faded.

Another folding trade card, this one actually die cut in the shape of a changing cabin. The front of a card features a young man dropping his cane, either in anguish or anticipation, as it appears that the lissom lass is about to emerge in her birthday, rather than bathing, suit. 

When the card is opened, it is revealed that she has indeed donned a swimsuit. The inside of the door carries an advertisement for Vino highballs or cocktails, found at "all First-class bars," demonstrating how a business might use these eye-catching cards to advertise. Perhaps the young lady is hinting that the gentleman, who is lingering behind the door, should buy her a drink.

 

A New Neko

Read about this latest addition to my maneki neko page.

 

Such a Shame!

This shadowbox frames a comic print from 1904 that features a young shoeshine boy enjoying an unexpected occupational benefit. 

As he assiduously shines an attractive female client's shoes, the youthful entrepreneur is treated to a view of a shapely ankle. . .  and quite a bit more.  This comic and coyly suggestive cartoon was apparently quite popular in its day, appearing on a variety of prints and postcards. 

After being treated to such a stunning sight, the shoeshine boy opines that "It's a shame to take the money." 

Included in the shadowbox is a small bisque figurine featuring the lovely lady and the leering lad. Although just 3 inches tall, it captures all the pertinent details of the print, including the caption, now incised on the base. Underneath it is stamped "MADE IN GERMANY" in black double circle.

A variation on the theme featuring a Black boy and slight changes in the woman's wardrobe. There is no incised caption, no doubt, like the other tweaks, to avoid a copyright challenge. Of bisque, it is 4 inches tall and unmarked.

The print is marked in the lower left corner "Pub. by Edward. Stern & Co., Inc, Phila.". . .

and in the lower right, "Copyrighted, 1904, by R. Hill."

Edward Stern and Company was a printing and lithography firm established in Philadelphia in 1871 by brothers Edward and Simon Stern. The company printed a wide variety of products, including books, calendars, cards, and pamphlets.  It was in business until 1945.  I could not find any information about "R. Hill," other than the name appears on numerous postcards, prints, and photographs in the early 1900s, with images that range from silly to sentimental. A search through the United States copyright records found numerous references to "Hill (R.)" of Philadelphia being granted copyrights to certain image titles, but no other background information. I suspect that R. Hill was not an individual artist, but a publishing house that acquired the rights to images created by in-house or freelance artists. 

New On-Line Article

My latest article for the on-line Museum of Aquarium and Pet History, entitled "Floating Folk; Badekinder and Bathing Beauties" features bobbing bisque bathers.

All Bottled Up

This 14-inch tall clear glass bottle features a bathing beauty pressed against a pillar of stone as she appears to ponder whether to enter the unseen waves.

The modeling is extraordinarily detailed, from her flowing tresses held back with a scarf, the ribbed pattern on her bathing suit, and even the ballet-style ties of her bathing slippers. Underneath the bottle is marked "Depose," which is a French word indicating that the design has been registered. There is a rough pontil point in the center of the bottom. This bottle is attributed to Legras, a French maker of fine and utilitarian glass objects.

Legras was founded in 1864 by Auguste Legras at St. Denis, France. The company made elegant decorative glassware, including enameled and cameo cut pieces in the popular art nouveau and art deco styles. However, the company, which at one point employed nearly 1,300 workers, also specialized in more utilitarian glassware, including novelty liquor bottles. This image is a page from a catalog of  Eugéne Vincent & Cie, a Lyon wine and liquor distributor, illustrating some of the novelty bottles its adult beverages could be ordered in. On the center row, second to the left, is what appears to be the same bathing belle bottle. Legras was sold in 1928, becoming Verreries et Cristalleries de St. Denis, but continued manufacturing art glass based on Legras models through the early 1930s. I would date the bottle from the late 1880s through 1900.

All Dolled Up

As I have mentioned previously on this blog, I collect antique dolls as well as bathing beauties and sometimes my two interests intersect. This antique German bisque head doll wears a homemade and contemporary outfit. If her original mohair wig was a more masculine cut,  she might be said to represent an Edwardian boy dressed in a shorts set, but the coiled braids leave no doubt she is intended to be a girl. In the early 1900s, such an ensemble for even a young girl would be appropriate only in the gymnasium or on the beach. There is an overlap between late Victorian/early Edwardian girls' bathing suit and exercise outfit, but I think her cute costume could well quality as swimwear. Of course trying to interpret a costume over a century after it was sewn is really just educated guesswork, as we have no way of knowing the creator's intent or the extent of his/her sewing skills.

She is 11 inches tall and is on a kid body with cloth legs. The shoulder plate is incised on the back only "Germany 16/0." I would attribute her to Ernst Heubach Koppelsdorf as I have seem similar heads by this company, including with a black upper eye line in place of painted eyelashes.

Her outfit certainly resembles this "Girl's Beach Frock" in a 1912 image from the New York Public Library digital collection. A shorter tunic and longer bloomers would transform the seaside frock into swimwear.

 

Man, oh man!

Anyone who has followed this blog knows that one bathing beauty (or should I say beach beau?) I have been searching for is the male version of the Galluba and Hofmann bather, pictured in this catalog page on the second from the top row at the far left edge. 

The elusive gentleman has finally deigned to join my collection, much to the joy of my bevy of bisque beauties. Here he is in all his male glory (well, not exactly all, as, shall we say, he is in no need of a fig leaf).  Of excellent bisque, he is 4 inches high and 4.5 inches long. He is superbly sculpted, with detailed musculature. Unlike Galluba's bathing belles, who are literally the fairest of the fair, his complexion is a golden tan.

He has strong, handsome male features. With those sultry dark eyes and sleek raven locks, he could pass for a matinee idol of the silent silver screen.

In fact, I think he gives off a bit of a Rudolph Valentino vibe. . . 

A dash of dark shadowing emphasizes his cheekbones.

Under his left thigh he is incised with "80423 P.P." This is the same model number that appears on the catalog page. 

As seen on the catalog page, and in this example from the Toy and Miniature Museum of Kansas City, originally he wore a black knit tank suit. However, I don't think that I am going to redress him. It seems such a shame of cover up those perfect pecs and amazing abs. . . .

not to mention that bodacious bum!

Speaking of pussyfooting. . .

An update to my maneki neko page features two examples of another unusual variation of the Japanese lucky cat, the "neko ni tako" (cat and octopus). 

Not Pussyfooting Around

Pussyfooting can mean to act cautiously or timidly. Certainly, no one could accuse the Five Barrison Sisters of pussyfooting around in their naughty, bawdy vaudeville acts, although they did show off their pussies--real live pussycats. The five buxom blond siblings in the 1890s entertained Europe and the United States music hall audiences with double-entendres and sexual suggestiveness. In their most famous act, first performed at the Wintergarten in Berlin in 1896, the sisters, clad in long frilly dresses and babyish bonnets, sang about "Mein Klein Katz" (My Little Cat) as they slowly and slyly lifted up their skirts, revealing ten black stocking-clad legs. At the end of the song, the sisters flipped up their skirts, exposing their "pussies," as a rather bewildered-looking live kitten peeked out from the crotch of each of their bloomers. 

This beautiful antique chromolithograph die cut was certainly based on the above publicity photograph of the sisters exposing their pussies. The artist exercised a little license in brightly coloring their costumes, but was otherwise faithful to the photograph. Roughly 7.5 inches tall and wide, there is no mark other than "2000" stamped on the lower right corner. I wonder whether this was a promotional piece for the Barrisons or just another example of a company being "inspired" by the self-proclaimed "wickedest girls in the world," but not enough to actually pay them any royalties.

For the (Water) Birds

My newest article for the online Museum of Aquarium and Pet History.

Judging a Book by Its Cover. . . .

This hand-painted suede book cover was a souvenir of Atlantic City, New Jersey. These suede souvenirs were apparently quite a fad for a time, because I have come across examples commemorating other vacation destinations, all having the same basic construction, but different painted decorations suitable to the tourist site, as well as photo and postcard albums. This book cover is 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches and considering its wonderful condition, apparently did not spend too much time in the sand and sun at the shore. The owner's initials are gracefully stamped on the upper corner.

It is not only the book inside that may beguile, because the cover features a lithe and lovely bathing beauty seated by the sea and shaded by her big green parasol.

Inside is an attached bookmark, with a rather fortune-cookie motto and the date "1928."

Take my hand. . .

I'm a stranger in Paradise

All lost in a wonderland

A stranger in paradise

If I stand starry eyed,

That's a danger in Paradise

For mortals who stand beside

An angel like you

Kismet, 1953

The way these two starry-eyed, if under-clad, lovers look into each others' eyes, they are clearly in Paradise. This very scarce double half-doll is from the German company of Fasold and Stauch. This piece is 3.5 inches tall and wide and is incised "10217" on the back of the base. The fingers on the lovely lady's right hand have been repaired (the long graceful hands and slender fingers on Fasold's half-dolls and bathing beauties are unfortunately very susceptible to damage), but this piece is so rare and unusual (plus extraordinarily beautiful) that I chose to overlook the repairs. After all, with Hunky McStudmuffin there, who is looking at fingertips?

Nice Kicks

Throughout Europe, shoes have long been a symbol of prosperity, luck, and fertility. With the expansion of the porcelain industry, and the Victorian's love of knick-knacks, miniature shoes of china and porcelain, often with elaborate adornments, became a popular collectible and gift. This fanciful footwear is by the German firm of Galluba and Hofmann, demonstrating that this company produced products other its famed bathing beauties and fashion ladies, often featured on this blog.

The shoes are lavishly decorated with applied flowers and gilt (I wonder why I have never seen on of their lovely ladies so bedecked?). The pink shoes are trimmed with blue forget-me-not flowers, a popular decoration on china ornaments of the period, which were often given as gifts. Both pieces are 4 inches long and the boot is 3.5 inches high.

Each is stamped on the sole with Galluba's crowned shield mark. 

 

Mystery Miss

The maker of this lovely lady is so far unknown. Similar luscious lasses have appeared on this blog, and while they share a family resemblance, all are unmarked. They are all of fine bisque with exceptionally delicate and graceful hands and wear pink painted slippers with molded, but in some cases undecorated, single straps. Although I have seen femmes by this mystery firm advertised in various antiques venues as by Galluba and Hofmann, these figures have much more realistically proportioned bodies than Galluba's idealized ladies and the facial painting is far less detailed, lacking Galluba's trademark intaglio blue eyes with deep pupils highlighted with a dot of white, typically outlined in black, with red upper lid lines. She is 3.25 inches high. 

 

Turkish Delight!

I recently acquired yet another creation by the Zaiden Toy Company. At 13 inches tall, she wears her colorful, if rather revealing, exotic outfit.  Zaiden advertised its dolls as being made from the "famous Zaiden Wood Fiber Compound, with high celluloid enamel finish." Although the finish retains its bright skin tones, it also has a tendency to crack over the decades as the underlying wood fiber contracts and expands due to heat, cold, and humidity, as demonstrated on this adorable odalisque.

This Zaiden maiden came in the remains of her original box, which includes the label with the faint stamp indicating that she is "Turkish." I could not find any information about Overland Products Corporation, other than it is listed as the assignee of Zaiden's patents. 

When wound via the key in her back, this harem honey shimmies her upper torso as her hips appear to slowly undulate. Zaiden applied for a patent for a mechanical dancing doll in 1922, stating, "This invention relates, generally, to improvements in. dolls; and the same has reference, more particularly, to a novel construction of mechanically operated dancing doll adapted to perform rhythmic movements in simulation of Eastern and South Sea Island dances, and dances of a similar character." This Turkish delight certainly simulates the "rhythmic movements" of the East!

 

The Color Purple

Purple is my favorite color, but very few bathing beauties come garbed in this royal hue. So I was pleased to find this powder box featuring a beach belle in a deep purple luster bathing suit. The base is molded to look like an oversized ottoman, airbrushed in lilac. Of china and 4.75 inches tall, underneath the box is incised with the faint crown mark of the Sitzendorf Porcelain Factory. 

 

The Sensation of the Doll World

This little scamp is "The Vamp" . . . 

. . . according to the label on the bottom of her base. The label further declares that she was manufactured by the Blue Bird Doll Company and patents for her design and "Ear Ring" (sic) were pending. 

This advertisement by the Blue Bird Doll Company from the February 1920 edition of "Toys and Novelties," a publication for the toy and carnival trade, introduces "The Vamp" as "the sensation of the doll world" who is currently "vamping the buyers," but in the "Near Future" will be "vamping the public." Buyers were urged to place their orders early because of "limited production." The ad described the figure as being 13 inches tall and shows two versions of the vivacious Vamp, one with a wig and the other with a molded bathing cap, although both are clad in a form-fitting painted bathing suit and sport hoop earrings.

This June 1920 ad from the same publication assures potential buyers that Vamp is selling like "Hot Cakes," and describes the "up-to-the-hour" doll as being made of "unbreakable wood-fibre composition" and 13 inches high.

Dated June 26, 1920, this ad from "The Billboard," a publication for the carnival and concession trade,  is not by Blue Bird, but Rudolph Toy and Novelty Company, which billed itself as the sole distributors for Blue Bird. The Vamp in the bathing cap was $12.50 a dozen, while the one with a wig was $16.50 a dozen. She has now grown to 13.5 inches (my model is just very slightly taller than 13 inches, so "13.5 inches" is literally and figuratively a stretch). 

A March 19, 2021, ad from "The Billboard," shows Ms. Vamp wearing earrings with round pendants similar to the ones adorning my model. She is advertised as coming in "three (3) different colors, assorted colored earrings and wigs." No price was given, but a sample assortment of five dolls could be requested for $5.50.  Vamp's reign as the sensation of the doll world was apparently a short one, as this is the last ad I was able to locate. Although the ad also declares Ms. Vamp to be "patented," I was unable to locate the actual patent applications through various patent search engines. 

Although my Vamp has retained what appears to be her original mohair wig, she has been extensively repainted. If the thick cracking and yellowed paint on the bottom of her base is an example of her original finish, restoration may have been justified. I will say that the restorer did a very nice job, although I suspect that the painting is a lot more detailed than the original work. She still flaunts her original earrings, although only one retains is original pink pendant.

The modeling is simple, but evocative of a rather well-rounded Vamp flirting her way down the beach or boardwalk.