Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: This is a spectacular and truly delightful gift from Kim for Christmas this year! This rarified item is said to be the Deans rendition of cartoon Bosko’s sidekick Honey. It came to us via Britain’s specialty teddy auction at Special Auction Services and was identified as such there. While this sale focuses heavily on extremely rarified teddy bears, the occasional oddball character toy like this shows up on the scene with some regularity. Today’s post might ask more questions than it answers, but maybe we need to think of it as a work in progress.

I’ve never seen this pair before, not even in my book of Dean’s toys, although that rather complete book (based on their catalogues) came with a CD which theoretically has every toy they made. I am not in NY so I have not been able to have a look there. This doll is so rare that I have not been able to find another example online aside from this postcard of it – evidently also extremely rare – which was produced in 1941. (Note that although the same doll Honey’s clothes and coloring are a variation below – black and white tights, black hands, etc.) Although it gives appropriate copyright info, it only credits the cartoons and not the maker of the dolls.

The auction listing read as follows: A rare Dean’s Rag Book Co Honey from Bosco and Honey, circa 1931, originally created as African American children with cream and brown velvet head with black boot button eyes, yellow and red velvet integral clothes with brown hands, red and white striped stockings, black shoes and orange skirt —13in. (33cm.) high (some fading, nose probably replaced and a little damage) – Bosko and Honey are animated cartoon characters created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, both former employees of Walt Disney. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger’s cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros.

A different Bosko doll also turned up (in the chat room on a site called Cartoon Brew found here) and that one had a label belonging to an unknown company, not Deans, and is clearly a different model. All this means that my chances of completing my set with a Bosko will be very challenging at best and it also begs the question of if this is indeed the one made by Dean’s Rag as it lacks the Deans Rag Hygienic Toy label – or any label for that matter. (I also question if indeed Dean’s made one or if this is somehow fully apocryphal.)

When you look at the toy below it is worth thinking about the Aesop’s Fable dolls – the eyes and the sewn mouth are very similar. (A few from my collection are featured here and here.) Those dolls, which do not have a maker’s label or mark are evidently from another company called Woodard however – as I confirmed with an original box a few years ago.

I have written about the Deans Rag toy company on many occasions (for a few posts of Deans toys from my collection look here and here for starters) and in some ways they feel like a square one for the period and type of vintage toys I collect. Founded in 1903 by Henry Dean the company was originally established to create brightly colored cloth (essentially indestructible) books for small children. These soft cloth page books were hard to destroy or deface and were also notably hygienic – as attested to by the label.

The success of the books somehow gave way to licensing cartoon characters for manufacture – most importantly a deal was struck with Disney for the distribution of Mickey and Minnie dolls which promptly sold more than a million according to their own period advertising. (My very early post on my Deans Mickey’s can be found here.) Not surprisingly, they continued to purchase character licenses and Felix, Oswald Rabbit, Donald Duck and others to follow.

While Mickey, Felix and perhaps Donald were big paydays for Deans, one suspects that Honey and Bosco were perhaps not, as confirmed by their obscurity today. I think about it and since the Bosko cartoons were also (much) less popular than Mickey or Felix that makes sense.

For those of you not in the know, a brief Wikipedia history of Bosko says, Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger’s cartoon series and was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Bernard B. Brown, Johnny Murray, and Philip Hurlic during the 1920s and 1930s and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.

Wikipedia goes on to describe Bosko as an animated cartoon version of Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer and as a character in a cross between human (child?) and anthropomorphic animal. Honey – aside from being his official sidekick – sings and dances her way through the cartoons. However, even in their day, Bosko and Cookie cartoons were sidelined because of the racism baked into their design.

Like Bosko Honey is of indeterminate species and ethnicity. She dresses, as does the doll, in a little girl’s dress, hair bow and striped (Pippy Longstocking style) stockings. As you will find in the cartoon above, she has a high squeaky childlike voice. Her lips are painted on and the hair from a velvety cloth of a different color. As noted by the auction house, her nose is probably a replacement and is definitely plastic. It seems like a reasonable replacement however. SAS claims that the eyes are original shoe button and I don’t have very strong feelings about it one way or the other.

I have reached out to famed toy collector Mel Birnkrant for any info he might have on the Deans Honey and Bosko question, but have not heard back yet. I plan to also see if cartoon enthusiast Jerry Beck (who I believe moderates the Cartoon Brew site mentioned above) has any insights for me. We are back in New York and although I quickly located the Deans book the CD (of course) was not with it and I am unsure what “safe” place I have tucked it into. The teeth on the postcard version are very Deans indeed though and the best endorsement I can find.

I will endeavor to update this post if I do find out more. Meanwhile, Honey has a happy home here I think, tucked onto a shelf near the Jeep and in a sea of Felix-es!