Holly Hobbie is a fictional character and children's toy created by American painter and illustrator Denise Holly Hobbie. [1]
Holly Hobbie is a fictional character and children's toy created by American painter and illustrator Denise Holly Hobbie. [1]
In the late 1960s, at the encouragement of her brother-in-law, [2] : 128 Hobbie sold distinctive artwork of a cat-loving, rag dress-wearing little girl in a giant bonnet to American Greetings in Cleveland, Ohio. The artwork, based on Hobbie's own children and with rustic New England style of a bygone era, [2] : 128 became popular, and her originally nameless [3] character (identified earlier as "blue girl") became known as Holly Hobbie. As a contract artist, Hobbie worked with the Humorous Planning department at American Greetings under art director Rex Connors, who was responsible for launching "blue girl" as the most identifiable of the Hobbie characters.
Also working in Humorous Planning at that time (1973–74) was Bob Childers, a veteran humorous concept artist and designer. Childers insisted that there should be a doll of the character. Since no one seemed to listen, Childers went home and, on his own time, hand-stitched the first prototype and presented it to Connors, who took the cloth doll to Tom Wilson, Creative Vice President. American Greetings approached Knickerbocker Toy Company concerning the Holly Hobbie license. In 1974, Knickerbocker Toys licensed the Holly Hobbie character for a line of rag dolls, launched in 1975. [1] : 103 These were a popular toy for young American girls for several years. Additional products were licensed and produced, including fabrics, furniture, [2] : 128 ceramics, games, and stationery. [1] : 103 Holly Hobbie products were later marketed by American Greetings in association with Carlton Cards.
In 1976, Coleco produced a toy oven similar to Kenner's Easy-Bake Oven called the Holly Hobbie Oven. It was shaped like an old-fashioned wood-powered cookstove, used an incandescent light bulb for heat, and came with packaged mixes that could also be bought separately.
In 1980, Holly was featured in The Adventures of Holly Hobbie, a novel by Richard Dubelman. In this book, Holly Hobbie is a ghost who lives in a painting from 1803. She comes out of the painting to help a descendant, Liz Dutton, find her missing father, an archaeologist who has vanished in Guatemala.
Beginning in 1989 [2] : 128 and into the 1990s, Holly Hobbie dolls were produced by Tomy. [1] : 104 Knickerbocker Toys also began producing dolls, but these were vinyl doll heads with soft bodies, unlike the original cloth dolls (rag dolls). [2] : 128–29
In 2006, a redesigned Holly Hobbie was introduced with the launch of Holly Hobbie & Friends , a series of specials that were broadcast on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block and the separate Noggin channel. They were also released on DVD. [4] The traditional line still exists, with the back story that the "original" Holly is the great-great-grandmother of the "new" Holly.
Concurrently, Mattel released an updated Holly Hobbie doll line, [3] which includes Holly (blue eyes and blonde hair), Amy (green eyes and red hair), and Carrie (brown eyes and black hair). The dolls feature all-new face sculpts, a new body style, and flat feet. There is also a series of smaller Holly, Amy, and Carrie figures; each of these figures includes a companion animal: Holly a cocker spaniel named Doodles, Amy a pig named Cheddar, and Carrie a cat named Bonnet. Separate doll outfits were available, and each outfit could be customized. Porcelain dolls were available, made by the Ashton-Drake company. [1] : 104
The specials feature songs with music and lyrics written by lead guitarist Sheriff Mandy Collins and keyboardist Charlotte Spencer of the English rock group the Hyper Girls.[ citation needed ] The cartoon features three pop songs, two sung in her own voice, "Just Like You" and "The Things That Make You Special." LeAnn Rimes sings the third song, "Twinkle in Her Eye," the show's theme song.
In fall 2018, Family Channel and Hulu released an updated live-action series simply titled Holly Hobbie. It features Ruby Jay as thirteen-year-old Holly Hobbie, a country girl who enjoys playing the guitar, hailing from a small town and seeking to save her grandmother's Calico Café. The series draws loosely upon past elements created for the Holly Hobbie franchise, but includes modern elements, such as Holly's use of a crowdfunding page. [5]
A series of specials starring the Holly Hobbie character. The DVD releases were:
Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings (1983) and The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine (1984) before headlining their own television series called Care Bears from 1985 to 1988. They also had multiple feature films including: The Care Bears Movie (1985), Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (1986), and The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987).
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Denise Holly Hobbie is an American writer, watercolorist and illustrator. She is best known for creating the American Greetings character which, originally unnamed, is now also called Holly Hobbie. She also created the Toot & Puddle series of children's books.
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Holly Hobbie & Friends is a series of American animated specials produced by Nickelodeon and American Greetings. It is the first series to star the Holly Hobbie doll, albeit redesigned from her traditional look. The specials aired on both Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block and the separate Noggin channel.
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Those Characters from Cleveland, LLC, officially doing business as Cloudco Entertainment and formerly known as AG Properties and American Greetings Entertainment, is an American company which formerly traded as American Greetings' former character brand division. Properties owned by the company include Care Bears, Holly Hobbie, Madballs, Buddy Thunderstruck, Tinpo, The Get Along Gang and Boy Girl Dog Cat Mouse Cheese.
Holly Hobbie is a children's television series developed by Sarah Glinski. It is the second television adaptation of the Holly Hobbie franchise after Holly Hobbie & Friends. The series is produced by Aircraft Pictures, in association with Cloudco Entertainment and Wexworks Media, and marks the first time Cloudco has produced a live-action series based on one of its properties. The show was released in the United states on Hulu in November 2018, and in Canada on Family Channel in January 2019. The second season was released on Hulu in November 2019. In early 2021, the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on Hulu on November 23, 2021. It was further renewed by BYUtv for a fourth season, which premiered in May 2022, and a fifth season, which premiered in August 2022.
