Hello, my name is Joel … and I’m an Alice collector. Are any other Alice collectors here today? Good, the first step to a complete recovery is admitting that you have a problem. Isn’t this the AA meeting - Alice Anonymous? I guess that’s on Thursday.

I started off collecting illustrated Alice books about 27 years ago and now I collect almost everything … except dolls. This slide reflects how Alice collectors feel. As their collections grow, their houses seem to shrink. We all know what to do when this happens. We build a new house with larger Alice rooms.

Today I am going to share with you the part of my collection concerned with Alice in the popular culture. When I first heard that Will Brooker wrote a book on Alice in the popular culture, I thought “Oh no, that’s my book”, but his book was, for the most part, about a few Carroll biographies, a few Alice movies, and a few parodies. It was good as far as it went, but to my thinking it just glanced the surface and missed the main point. More recently Linda Sunshine wrote a book, “All Things Alice” and I thought “Oh no, that’s my book”. Her book is a lovely book and I am happy to have it in my collection, but Humpty Dumpty must have come up with the title. I guess it depends on what you mean by all … or maybe what you mean by things. To me Alice in the popular culture is the way in which Alice has infiltrated and permeated our everyday lives. That’s what I am going to give you a glimpse of now, and by the way there are no items here that appear in Ms. Sunshine’s book. Maybe I can convince her to change the title of her book to 1% of things Alice.

Let me read something to you.

Alice in Wonderland tired of chasing White Rabbit, tea parties with the Mad Hatter, Queen with an attitude, Tweedledum and Tweedledee. 29 y.o. 5’6” 127 #, red/blue. SWJF seeking elusive Cheshire Cat for new adventures, who will leave her with more than just a smile.

Now that’s popular culture!

If you don’t believe that Alice is a popular culture icon today more than 100 years after her birth, let me relate a personal story. In July of 1992 I went on a Lewis Carroll Society outing to Croft, where I discovered what could be the original inspiration for Carroll’s Cheshire Cat. Whether it was or it wasn’t is inconsequential. The next day this article appeared in the Northern Echo . It’s not terribly surprising that a local paper would carry the story. Nine days later another article was on the front page of the Chicago Tribune . That’s me, that’s the pope and that’s George Harrison – not bad company. My article was the longest . Within a month the “discovery” was noted on NPR, in the Readers Digest (the Bible of the Midwest), and in a hugely disparate set of magazines. This treatment made it clear to me that Alice holds a position of great importance in our culture. Either that or I do and that’s not likely.

As you can see, newspaper articles are a part of my collection. Of course they can’t all be about me. More relevant items are the major newspaper inserts upon the celebration of the centenary of Carroll’s birth in the NY Times and John of London’s Weekly . So Carroll was quite an important figure in the popular culture in 1932. Sometimes you get to collect items by talented fellow collectors. Here is a set of paper doll outfits put together by Byron Sewell showing Alice’s garb as portrayed by illustrators over the years, which appeared in The Village Voice. When I started to collect illustrated Alices, Byron told me that it would be very difficult to put together a first rate collection starting at this late date, which was mainly due to the large increase in prices. Luckily, difficult is not impossible. Now here is an interesting piece that must be pure Marshall Mcluhan. The medium (TV) is the message and Alice is the medium for commenting on the media. As I was going through boxes and boxes… and boxes of ephemera, looking for items suitable for this talk I found the perfect article. It’s about an exhibition in Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1965 that was put on by collector, Bette Evans. There is a kinship between Alice collectors, even with those who I haven’t met and who are no longer with us. That’s a side benefit of collecting that often goes unmentioned. You inherit a whole new family.

Alice in advertising is a critical piece of Alice’s foray into the popular culture. Alice has appeared in a myriad of advertisements and collecting these can be great fun. Who would have thought to use Alice to sell insulation or electric light and power ? I certainly would not have. This next ad proved very helpful to me; It allowed me to date this Hammersley china at 1937. Anybody can collect ads, but proof copies of ads can make your collection special. Philco mounted a year long campaign based on Alice and here is a proof copy of one of the ads. This would have been used to show the customer what ad would appear in which magazines on which dates. Precision Monolithics Incorporated also had a major Alice campaign and here is a proof copy of the art for one of their ads ]. Why is Alice so popular in the advertising industry? This advertising booklet put out by McGraw Hill was used to promote advertising itself. Notice how important name recognition is and the way to get that is to tie your product to something that is already recognized worldwide (like Alice). Some companies used Alice comic books as part of their advertising effort and these are a welcome find for the collector . One of the finest sets of advertising items, and highly sought after, are the Guinness Alice parodies . They are handsome and quite entertaining. Guinness used Alice in their ads on and off for decades. Brilliant! Just to show you that the world of advertising collectibles isn’t entirely flat, here are a few figural advertising pieces >. The ceramic Humpty Dumpty bank is from the Alice in Philcoland campaign of 1948 and the Wade Guinness pieces are from the late 1960’s.

If we are to have half a chance of getting to the end of this presentation we will have to pick up the pace. From here on there will be fewer conversations and more pictures. Not far from the world of advertisement is the world of product packaging. We have a Cream Fudge box from the Alice Tea Room in Lyndhurst , and a candy bar box from Germany front and back . You may recognize the illustrations are from the animated film of 1984. Tins are my favorite collectible in this area. Here are four examples from England ]. The Mazawatee Tea tin is in sad shape and violates the prime directive of collecting. Only buy items in very good to fine condition. So, why did I buy this? In very good condition this tin would cost $1,000. Buying this one is the only way I could find to have an example for my collection.

Talking about decoration, let’s look at the material girl, or Alice on cloth. Alice has adorned many a child’s room in the form of pillow cases , bedspreads , and curtains . How can you not be affected by something you saw in your room every day as a child?

As we all know, you are what you wear, as can be seen in this sample of tee shirts. The drug culture loves Alice. I just couldn’t resist making this pairing. Cheshire Cats are now a must in my life, so I have to dress accordingly. This is one tripped out cat. A physicist friend of mine gave this to me. It used to reside on his wife’s rear end in the 60’s. It’s the personal things that are the highlights of a collection.

Then there is a broad miscellany of Alice items that are not easily categorized. It actually makes sense to use Alice to promote reading . Here’s that drug reference again in an acid blotter and the reverse side – quite clever. Ah, one of my personal favorites , but it’s only a belt buckle, , or is it? Gerald King produced these covers specifically for the Ameripex stamp show in Chicago. One to Al Capone – Undelivered for reason stated, Gone away and a little note added: Try Alcatraz. The other addressed to John Dillinger. Undelivered for reason stated, DOA with a dead letter office stamp. I was very surprised to find this in downtown Edinburgh. You just never know where Alice will pop up. I love this ruler. It has pizzazz and lots of grins. Um, uh, well I guess I do have a doll in my collection, but it’s not your ordinary doll is it? The best part about this doll is that I got Alice Berkey, the preeminent Alice doll collector to get it for me. I’m sure she winces every time I show it to someone. Don’t tell her I said this. Here is something I put in by request. It’s part of what I call vanity collecting. Who can guess what it is? … It’s the Cheshire Cat with my face sculpted by my dear friend Graham Piggott.

And now for It’s in the cards Alice. Postcards and greeting cards are an indication of how people express themselves, so they are an integral part of the popular culture. Note the diversity of styles over the years.

Victorian Advertising Card 1894
Looks like 1940's to me
Disney Alice cards 1951
Does this bring back any memories? Fotofolio RCA 1954 photo
This is a strange one. Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, Leslie Lester LTD By arrangement with Walt Disney Mickey Mouse LTD. Signed Mendoza
I am a child of the 60s. I met this guy in a card store in Greenwich Village who was working on an Alice comic book. I think the cards he did was as far as that got.
Then there was the flamboyant 70s. Enough said. Paper Moon 1977 Maxine Miller Cheshire Cat Summertime Press Mark Weissbach Walrus
As time went on things got more complicated for Alice. Naughty Alice 1982 West Graphics SF Alice was Skeptical.
Back of last card
This came out that same year. It must have been something in the water. Sacred Cow 1982 Ritter VT
Alice cards could be very busy. So many lines per inch ala John Tenniel. Artframe 1983 John Anthony Miller
A Japanese pop-up
A fold out by Sunrise
Portal fold out 1989 Julie Peterson
Open me. That has a familiar ring to it. Plum Graphics 1990 Yvette Cohen open me
Voila!
A bookmark Card by Tango. The Tweedles pull out and are a bookmark.
Back of card.
Pop-up cards in original plastic wrapper of course.
Okay, I took one out of the wrapper just for you.
These cards by Marshall Vandruff first appeared on the Internet
Talk about busy
Sometimes It’s just for fun. Carted 2002 Brian Partridge
If I had to pick one artist card it would have to be Charles Blackman. National Gallery of Victoria 2002 Charles Blackman (1956)
This one seems out of the Twilight Zone. Abacus Graham Arnold
These are by Takako Hirai. I met her in Bernard Stone's bookstore while waiting for Ralph Steadman.
The late Gene King used to send out homemade cards every time he moved and he moved a lot.
I love this Santoro pop-up. It’s sumptuous – you could make a meal of it.

I only have 50 slides to go, but Alice seems very weary after her journey. It can be tiresome being an icon of the popular culture. I think we’ll have to leave the rest for another day.

I hope you now have a better understanding of my view of Alice in the popular culture. This isn’t nearly half of the categories included under that rectory umbrella. I didn’t include Alice in school, political cartoons, jewelry, figurines, dolls, dinnerware, toys, games, and so many other things. I guess I still have a book to write after all.