1944 Girlfriends Paper Doll

Since the lovely Girlfriends paper doll appeared in Issue 42 of our Paperdoll Review magazine, several readers have asked if a reproduction is available. Nothing is available now, but we plan to do a reproduction book through Paper Studio Press sometime in 2009.

The wardrobe in this book is filled with great examples of World War II era fashions. The five girlfriends have clothes for practically every occasion in a girl's life from Victory gardening to dancing at the USO. There are plaids, prints, polka dots, military wear, beach wear and Latin style outfits. An all around great book! Check out the Paperdoll Review website sometime in 2009 for ordering information.

New Betty Hutton Paper Doll in Progress

Her effervescent personality, quirky character roles and lovely singing voice makes Betty Hutton one of my most favorite 1940s stars, and I'm delighted to be publishing a new, glamorous paper doll of Betty.

Produced with permission from her estate, the paper doll book will feature movie clothes from Annie Get Your Gun, The Greatest Show on Earth, Let's Dance, The Stork Club and others.

Betty's exuberance is infectious and I can't help but be happy when I watch one of her movies. My mom, Judy M Johnson, is an even bigger Betty Hutton fan, and is especially pleased to be illustrating this special, commemorative paper doll.

Published through Paper Studio Press, the books will be available sometime in November or December 2008. We're not ready to take advance orders yet, but as soon as we are I'll add the product information to the Paperdoll Review website.

Meanwhile, here is a sneak preview of the artwork. This is a preliminary back cover, showing the pretty Betty doll dressed in a costume from Annie Get Your Gun along with a pretty gown from Here Come the Waves.

Awesome New E-newsletter Service

I'm elated to announce that I've signed up with an Email marketing service so I can now send out decent looking newsletters on a regular basis. Prior to this, I was using my Microsoft email program, but there were many compatibility issues resulting in a lot of bounced messages. The new service, called Constant Contact, is perfect for small business needs. I can manage my list securely, prepare newsletters with easy-to-use, attractive templates, and they have a very strict policy on keeping spammers out of their service. This was a big concern of mine, as I didn't want to arbitrarily choose an email service that may not be reputable.

Last week I spoke to a web design person who is taking over a client's website. The topic of emailing clients came up and I asked if he had any recommendations for a service that can handle bulk e-mailing. And sure enough he did! The weird thing is, I had been trying to get out of doing my client's website for a year, and after all this time, they finally got a new webmaster. It was a fluke that the topic of e-newsletters came up, and I was able to get the information just when I needed it most.

If you want to join the mailing list, there's a box in the lower right section of this page. And if you're interested in using Constant Contact for your own e-newsletters, let me know and I can set you up with a referral and we can each get a $30 credit to our Constant Contact accounts. I love the service and would promote it anyway, but $30 is $30!

Shown here, In Our Back Yard, a super cute reproduction of Pelagie Doan's 1941 paper doll. This is one of our new folio format paper dolls, digitally restored by Judy M Johnson.

New Catalog and New Paper Dolls

Our new catalog No. 14 is at the printer. We've added several new folio sets of children and baby paper dolls including Pelagie Doane's In Our Backyard, Betty Campbell's Down on the Farm and Fern Bisel Peat's Mary Ann Grows Up. We also have a nice reproduction set of Hilda Miloche magazine paper dolls. These are color laser sets that have been digitally restored by Judy M Johnson.

I've included more Dover books this time. There are a few new titles such as Soap Opera Divas and Famous Movie Wedding Gowns, and many feature historical figures and fashions including Marie Antoinette and Fashions Through the Ages. There are a couple brand new paper dolls by Tom Tierney, published by Schiffer Books -- Famous Texas Men and Famous Texas Women.

Typically, I'm behind in getting new products added to our website, but this time I'm happy to report that Pierre Halé has taken care of our web updates. He's David Wolfe's son-in-law and has done David's new Paperdollywood website. If interested in Pierre's web design services contact him at Pierrehale@gmail.com.

A New Doris Day Paper Doll in the Works

I've been working with Doris Day biographer, Pierre Patrick, to get permission to do a new Doris Day paper doll based on her TV series and movies. He's been in touch with the company who produces the Doris Day TV Show DVD sets and we're hoping to do a cross promotion. Pierre has been marvelous to work with and I hope we'll get things finalized soon! Shown here, Que Sera Sera, the Magic of Doris Day Through Television by Pierre Patrick and Garry McGee. It's filled with fabulous photos from her TV show. I hope to post again soon with more news about this exciting project. Meanwhile, our Doris Day reproduction paper doll has been selling so well that we had to do a second printing!