Skeezix and Nina Wallet Had a Baby! Born In a Taxi!

Clovia Wallet was born May 15, 1949 to Skeezix and Nina Wallet. That is, she was born in the newspaper comic strips or "funnies" as we called them. Daily newspapers had a short black and white strip. The Sunday papers included a half-page full color display.

The Gasoline Alley series appeared in nearly every newspaper in America. What is interesting about Gasoline Alley is that the cast of characters aged with the times. New babies were born, characters became grandparents, life continued on.

Clovia was "born" in a taxicab in 1949. She grew up and married and had a child of her own.Her birth was such a sensation that toymakers created a new doll named Clovia.

In the "Toledo Blade" newspaper (Toledo, Ohio), dated Friday, June 17, 1949, page 35, columnist Kaye Quealy mentions the new Clovia doll. Here's what she wrote...

"Every year recently there's a new doll, and this year there's another one who owes her life to the comic strips. She is Clovia the daughter of Skeezix and Nina Wallet, the little girl with the lucky four-leaf clover on her hand. Lasalle's will have her within a few days."

You can view the newspaper here. This 57 page newspaper sold for five cents! Imagine that!

Later, in October 1953, LIFE magazine featured a three-page spread on "Comic Strip Dolls". The Clovia doll featured therein differs from the doll I had in that mine had long red hair (as in the first image above.) At least she did for awhile...somehow in combing her hair I plucked out enough that she became bald at the back of her head. I was a bit saddened by that but I didn't mind...she was still my doll.

My brother who was a year younger than I decided that he, too, wanted a doll. I vaguely remember that Mom pulled one out of a dresser drawer for him. I don't know if she had it stashed for a later gift for me? At any rate, it became his and he handled it exactly as a boy child might do, dragging it around wherever he went, grasping it by one ankle, dragging the poor babe's head in the dust, and leaving it totally unclothed. I might add that his season of the doll did not seem to hinder him in his becoming an excellent father to his own children. And I doubt that he would find as much pleasure in finding his old doll as I might in finding myself a "Clovia".

If any of those Clovia dolls still exist I'm certain they are in poor condition. The head was of a hard material but the body was a rubber type which by now would be badly deteriorated.

I'm posting what I know about the Clovia doll here as there is very little info on the net about her. Here's an image from the LIFE magazine article...dolls include Ricky Jr (son of Lucille Ball), Joan Palooka (daughter of Joe Palooka), Bonny Braids (born to Dick Tracy and Tess Trueheart in 1951), Sparkle Plenty (daughter to Gravel Gertie and B. O. Plenty of Dick Tracy fame), Cookie (daughter of Dagwood and Blondie), Alexander (born to Blondie and Dagwood), and Clovia (lower left in photo).

By the way, B.O. Plenty and Gravel Gertie were two of my favorite comic characters. Their names described them well.

You can read all my posts about Clovia here .

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. 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.

Clovia Wallet of "Gasoline Alley" turns Fifty-Nine

I was still a little girl in 1949. One of America's favorite comic strips at that time was Gasoline Alley. In May of that year Clovia Wallet was born to Skeezix and Nina, characters in the funnies. The birth of the red-headed baby was much heralded and there was even a contest to name her. The comic strip was so popular that the baby became instantly well-known. I believe it was Ideal that created a special baby doll named Clovia.

It must have been 1950 when I received my Clovia doll. I may have had dolls before this one but Clovia is the first one I remember. She had "real" red hair which soon became unruly. My solution? Take a pair of Mom's scissors and begin whacking. Of course, this made matters worse and Clovia soon became bald on the back of her head. I didn't mind. I loved my doll.

I find it rather surprising that this doll is relatively unknown. I've tried to google information on the Clovia doll but have not come up with more than this link. (This is where I found the photo). The only other place I've seen mention of the Clovia doll is in the October 19, 1953 edition of Life magazine. Clovia was mentioned in an article that featured comic strip dolls.

I've asked at a couple doll shows, too, but nobody seems to know much about Clovia. I would love to once more own a Clovia doll. However, this doll had a rubber body, and I'm guessing its rubber body has long since gone bad. So any such dolls still in existence may not be in great shape.

Clovia Wallet of Gasoline Alley fame would be 59 years old on May 15. And if you've been doing the math, you will know I'm a bit older, she said with a smile.
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