Born this day in 1874: Rose Cecil O’Neill (1874–1944), magazine illustrator, writer, and businesswoman who created the Kewpies.
O’Neill was a popular
magazine illustrator. Her greatest fame, however—and most of her wealth—came
from the creation of the enormously popular Kewpies. Kewpies began as
illustrations in the Ladies’ Home Journal.
In a blaze of merchandizing Kewpies subsequently
appeared as items such as figurines, salt and pepper shakers, inkwells, and on fabric,
greeting cards, stationery, and, of course, as dolls. Kewpie dolls were first
manufactured in 1913 and netted O’Neill royalties of $1.5 million. The wealth
from marketing Kewpies allowed O’Neill to indulge in more serious (and much
darker) art, including monumental sculpture, painting, and novel and poetry
writing.
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Various manufacturers have been churning out Kewpie dolls almost continuously since 1913.
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