When I was little my mum let us read her old books and annuals, they were all from the sixties and had wonderful illustrations. My favourite was the June annual from 1967, the cartoons were beautifully drawn and my by far the best was Lucky’s Living Doll. I think the immersion in mid twentieth century books and early black and white films is why I’ve grown up with an obsession with anything from that era. As a child my favourite films were The Parent Trap and High Society, I grew up knowing all the words to all the musicals and all the famous faces of the big stars. I was never one to swoon over heart-throbs of the 80′s, that was never my thing, instead I loved to laugh at Cary Grant and James Stewart.
I couldn’t find any images of Lucky’s Living Doll anywhere on the internet which is a shame as I would have liked to travel further down memory lane by finding other stories, instead I took a trip to my parents to look that old annual up again.
It’s in a bit of a state now, years of yellowy sellotape are taking it’s toll on the binding and the odd page is falling out but it’s looking good for 45 years old.
Here is Lucky’s Living doll, it was a story of a little girl called Lucky Smith who had a living doll called Tina who was tiny and mischievous but always whilst trying to be helpful.
Look at how Tina’s tiny skirt always shows off her knickers when she does anything – cute!
Tina was a resourceful little miss and one of my favourite bits is when she makes herself snow shoes to go out in the snow and collect items for Lucky’s school exhibition, look at the way the stuffed toys appear to be watching, maybe they are alive too?
Tina’s outfits were adorable too, here she is getting dressed to go out with Lucky, complete with fur topped boots and pom-pom hat.
I might make it my mission to track down other versions of this annual as I’d love to read what Lucky and Tina got up to. If you have one of these annuals, do let me know.
