Little Paper Movies

Carrying on a tradition

Jan 17, 2022

Sam and I have decided our parents had some things in common. Our mothers were frugal and our dads were inventive, probably echoes of the Depression that we ourselves missed by a few years. My dad was an artist so my brother and I often found handmade cards and toys on the breakfast table on our birthdays. My mother recycled gift wrap and ribbons, adding her paper doily and crepe paper decorations.

I have one of my dad’s inventions on my bookshelf. “The Goofy Show” box has a label on one end that says, “Penny’s Girls’ Hosiery”. He cut and decorated an opening in the lid. You turn wire handles to view the illustrated paper strip, and to rewind it.

Box is about 9” wide by 4” high by 2” deep

Here are some of his characters.

As kids we loved cut-out projects for paper movies in comic books, magazines and newspapers. Popeye had a Thimble Theater. The example below is simple, like the ones I remember.

Along these lines I made a greeting card for my Etsy shop, “Annie Tabby Goes to the Movies”. It comes with short film strips along with two blank ones so a child can draw stories of their own.