Saturday, January 24, 2009

You Won't Find Clovia Too Many Places on the Net

I've googled "Clovia Doll" many times, hoping to find info on the internet about this red-headed doll that was mine in 1950-51. Surprisingly, there is very little info out there.

Who is Clovia, you might ask? Clovia Wallet was that red-haired baby born to Skeezix and Nina Wallet in the Gasoline Alley comic strip of the time. Clovia's comic-strip birthday was 15 May 1949. That means that Clovia will be 60 years old this spring. Some short time after her birth, a doll was created to represent Clovia.Clovia Doll And I was one of the lucky little girls who received a Clovia for Christmas.

I've found one online photo of Clovia here. And you can read about the Wallet family history here. And you can read my previous post about my Clovia doll here.

And now I'm adding my own photo of Clovia to the worldwide net. By the time this photo was taken Clovia's "real" red hair was getting a bit bedraggled. You can see by the license plate that this photo was probably taken in 1951.

I've thought about finding a Clovia doll to replace my original Clovia (who disappeared by the wayside far too long ago). However, the doll had a rubber body and even if one were found, it would be in very poor disintegrating condition. Wouldn't it be cool if the doll company came out with a repro?

A side note ... before I could read I would climb up on my Daddy's lap and ask him to read the comic strips to me. His favorite was Gasoline Alley and he would chuckle as he read each day's antics. It puzzled and amazed me how he could "read" those scribbly lines and come up with words. Sometimes I would point him to the front page and ask him to read me something there as well but the day's news didn't make much sense to a young girl. The comic strips were much more fun.

1 comment:

cinnamongirl93 said...

What a nice story. I really like the picture of you with your doll. Very cute!
I have never heard of your doll before. I bet she was well loved by you.