For sale is a 1994 new old stock BETTY GRABLE PAPER DOLL from Shackman & Company, NY, NY. The sale includes a variety of different outfits. The Gable paper doll stands about 9 3/4 inches tall. There is an assortment of different dresses and outfits for costume swaps. This collectible toy is in its original packaging. A cool collectible paper tall of a Hollywood legend.
Elizabeth Ruth Grable, born on December 18, 1916, was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Grable began her film career in 1929 at age 12, after which she was fired from a contract when it was learned she signed up under false identification. In 1940, she replaced Alice Faye in Down Argentine Way, her first major Hollywood film, and became Fox’s biggest film star throughout the next decade. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million. Throughout her career, Grable was a celebrated sex symbol. Her bathing suit poster made her the number-one pin-up girl of World War II, surpassing Rita Hayworth. Grable’s legs were insured by her studio for $1 million as a publicity stunt.
A paper doll is a two-dimensional figure drawn or printed on paper for which accompanying clothing has also been made. The first manufactured paper doll was Little Fanny, produced by S&J Fuller, London, in 1810. The first American manufactured paper doll: was The History and Adventures of Little Henry, published by J. Belcher of Boston in 1812. In the 1820s, boxed paper doll sets were popularly produced in Europe and exported to America for lucky children. The first celebrity paper doll: A doll portraying the renowned ballerina Marie Taglioni, published in the 1830s. In 1840, a boxed set was done of another ballerina, Fanny Elssler, as well as of Queen Victoria. The 1930s through the 1950s was the “Golden Age of Paper Dolls,” as their popularity during those years has never been equaled. During the Great Depression, paper toys could be afforded by all. Despite the product shortages of World War II, paper dolls were still manufactured. Celebrities and movie stars were very popular with all the major publishers. It was much simpler to portray stars in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, when rights were generally not secured. Studios often “owned” movie stars and their images, and the stars themselves never saw any income from their sale as paper dolls.
