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What Exactly is a Golly? I am so glad you asked. They are my favorite doll. My passion. My artistic outlet. My fun. When I was little I learned a piece by Claude Debussy called The Gollywog's Cakewalk. No one could tell me what a gollywog was. I asked. Frequently. We didn't have the internet and I was a bother when I asked at school. My parents didn't know. So eventually I gave up. But not on the music. It is still one of my favorite pieces; jaunty, bouncy, happy music. So that is what I decided a golliwog was. A happy little critter. Then a friend loaned me a magazine, Teddy Bear & Friends, and there, lo and behold, in all his glossy beauty, was a gollywog. I knew him instantly. And it was move over hubby here's my new love! I studied the picture so carefully and decided that I could, I would, I had to make a golly. ? And that was that! No looking back... but plenty of giggles and somersaults since. ? Because of the advent of the internet I was able to research Gollies. There is a lot of good and bad on the internet about these little gollikins. I decided early on that, since I loved them, and since the originator of them felt the same way, my gollies would never ever be anything but loved and cherished. In the 1890's a young British girl lived in America with her British parents. Florence Upton was told stories every night by her mom, Bertha, and the hero was Gollywog. He had his buddies, the 2 Dutch Dolls. They had many adventures and he was the Hero, saving the day and having a grand time. When she moved back to England with her mother after the death of her father, she began to think about those stories. Eventually she and her mother collaborated on stories and published the first books for Gollywog and his adventures. She never had them copyrighted and was never able to capitalize on them like what would happen now! Later another British lady, Enid Blyton, began writing new golly stories. This was during the war, and the golly stories entertained many a British boy and girl when they were hiding during the air raids. Enid Blyton wrote many many books about Mr. Golly. There are so many different ways gollys have been used in advertising. The Robertson Jam company gave away many a golly badge that are still traded today, even though they stopped making them. There are golly clocks, posters, post cards, dolls galore… just all sorts of golly stuff is available. I personally am looking for the perfect golly clock to put in my kitchen. Many commercially produced gollys exist, and I am lucky to own a Hermann and a Steiff. And they are nice... but the gollys that mean the most to me are the ones that have been hand made. Handmade, folk artist gollys have much more personality. And the ones I love the absolutely bestest of ever? The ones my friends have made me. They are so precious to me. Those I truly cherish. There are those who denigrate the golly. They say he is a racist symbol. All I can say is that those who harbor racism in their hearts can find racist symbols wherever they look. When I see a golly I see love. Because that is what the golly has brought me. Love from all over the world. |