Beetrice Paper doll
Bartlebee Brands, Beetrice paper doll
A sheet to make a paper doll of Beetrice Bee, a cartoony anthropomorphic bee girl wearing a crown and striped dress. It's titled "make Beetrice real". The instructions are "1. Cut out Beetrice parts from the paper. 2. Poke little holes on the dot markings placed on the arms, torso, skirt and legs. 3. Poke mini brads through the holes, and fold the backs of the brads. 4. Play with Beetrice!
Created following the success of their animated commercials, this paper doll cutout page was scanned from a copy lended to us by Georgie Annway. She is an avid collector of Beetrice memorabilia and was very generous in allowing us to interview her about her history with the item.
“When I was a child we didn’t often play with toys in the household. My father, a very stern man, insisted that allowing children to play with toys led to bad habits and aimlessness in life. But one day, on the way home from school, I found this discarded outside the store…she had such a fragile and precious look to her that I couldn’t help but sneak her home and keep her hidden in my drawer so that my father couldn’t find her. I was always too taken with the item to cut it out and assemble it..But it always comforted me to look at her when I was scared or confused. As I grew older it became my little good luck charm and I began to slowly collect more toys and possessions related to Beetrice when such a hobby became feasible.”
These toys were a staple from companies of the time, such as Liquid Laff and Telectrica Innovations. They could be cheaply produced and sold for a lower price amongst their more expensive toy lines, allowing more accessibility to buying their products.
Included in this article is a cleaned up digital copy created by our artists so that you may make your own paper doll!