recently a trail of comments on another knitting blog led me to think about my old golliwog doll, tucked away somewhere in my father's house with some of my other favorite toys.
doing some research online about folks who really liked golliwogs, made me want to go grab mine and bring him to philly.
golly is like raggedy ann in that he was a licensed figure, featured in manufactured books and toys and as a mascot for products (robertson's "golden shred" marmalade). but, also like raggedy ann, golly was reproduced commonly by hand, and in the home. my golly is not homemade -- he has a tatter of a tag on him yet. he was given to me by my uncle eric, who is from yorkshire, england.
some people find gollies "racist". i do not think golly is any more a "black person" than ronald mc donald is a "white person". and my white uncle, who gave me the doll, is the father of a black daughter. my official position on gollisensitivity is "whatever". you're a kid, somebody gives you a decent doll, it's soft, it's smiling, go with it. my golly reminds me of good times.
as i am always impressed by a good collection, well presented, a very nice golly collector with whom i chatted a bit upon rediscovering my golly has said she would like to see mine. so, liz, here he is. thank you for helping me bring him home!