Tuesday, May 12, 2009

bizarre find

This is totally un-police related, but it was too good not to share. Daisy picked this book up at the library a few days ago and last night we finally got around to reading it. It's called The Lonely Doll by Dare Wright. At first, I'm not thinking much. It's just a book from the 50's, unique for it's photography. Well then I get to this:

If you can't read the caption it says, "I may be a silly", Mr. Bear answered, "but I know when a naughty little girl needs a spanking." Little Bear couldn't watch. He was afraid his turn was next.
He was right!

The reason Edith, the lonely doll, and Little Bear were getting a spanking from Mr. Bear was because they had gotten into some makeup and jewelry that wasn't theirs, and Edith isn't old enough to wear makeup. Scrawled on the mirror in lipstick is, "Mr. Bear is just a silly old thing".

If you want to see more pictures and excerpts from the book I found some here. Daisy couldn't understand why HF and I were dying laughing while we were reading this book to her. It was just so weird.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

wow, that is disturbing... more then a little. Hee hee!

Natalie said...

Kinda creepy, especially since they're still-frame photos. Weird.

Slamdunk said...

I had not heard of that book. I looked up the author--unusual family to say the least: Dare Wright.

Anonymous said...

Omigosh. I just found my next baby shower gift. A must have for parental sanity, I'm sure!
Thanks for posting!

Erin said...

Over at SweetJuniper.com, Jim often posts horrifying Reagan-era children's books that he's found in thrift stores. Seriously, this is why movies like Chucky happened.

Momma Val said...

OMG, that is really weird and funny! I think it looks very creative and unique and then ??? Very funny, thanks for sharing. Love when you have non-cop things to share. Other things besides the PD, DO make the world go round :)

LiteralDan said...

You have to wonder what goes through authors, illustrators/photographers, editors, and publishers minds' when a book like this gets put on bookshelves. How crazy is that?

I wouldn't read this to my kids, but I would definitely read it to my wife and just crack up. Thanks for sharing it!

Suzy said...

I loved The Lonely Doll books when I was a child, but I remember thinking even then there was something creepy about them.

There is an interesting biography of the author, Dare Wright. She was a rather pathetic figure, kind of a classic "poor little rich girl." What's kind of cool is that she made Edith and her clothes and many of her props.

0s0-Pa said...

Mmm, perhaps a little creepy but nothing to fret over :o
-Jack @ How to become a police officer

Anonymous said...

This book is a classic. The over-the-knee session was very much a trope of its time, back when spanking was simply part of growing up: You screwed up, you got your fanny warmed, you swapped war stories of your spankings with your chums. We live in a different age nowadays, but I am not sure that we have not gone overboard in our laudable desire to get away from physical discipline. Sometimes a spanking really is the right thing when a kid is determined to push you to your limits and see if you mean it. This calls for judicious restraint on the parent's part at the very time the kid has gotten a rise out of you; but then that's why you are the grownup and in control, and the kid is a kid and isn't. For parents who do spank, I would recommend avoiding belts or hairbrushes; bare hand is best because you can feel how hard the smack actually is (howls and tears are not a good gauge of this; a clever child learns early on to be a good actor). Punishment should be fair, and not driven by cruel ideologies or perverse heterodox religious fantasies. This is just between you and your kid