Illustrated Little Lulu History

(Background image from LL #212, © Western Publishing Co, Inc.)

1930's
1940's
1950's
1960's
1970's
1980's
1990's
2000's

1930's
1935-1944 Saturday Evening Post Cartoons
1936 Rand McNally Book
1937 "Waltz for 'Little Lulu'"
1939 Knickerbocker Doll
1939-1944 David McKay Books

1940's
1935-1944 Saturday Evening Post Cartoons
1943-1948 Paramount Pictures Animated Cartoons
1943 "Little Lulu" Sheet Music for Theme Song from Paramount Cartoons
1943 "Now Ya Done It" Sheet Music for Song from Paramount Cartoons
1944 Hallmark Cards
1944 Artograph Framed Little Lulu Pictures
1944-1960 Kleenex Tissues Advertising
1944-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Coloring books, Activity Books, Puzzles, etc.; phonographic records with The Sandpipers, Mitch Miller & Orchestra
1945 Milton Bradley Adventure Game, Crayons, Puzzles
1945 McLaughlin Brothers Books
1945 Gardner Display Co. Window Displays, silk-screen posters, and relief heads
1945-1946 A.E. Funke Little Lulu Hair Bows
1945-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Comic Books
1947 Gotham Pressed Steel Little Lulu Cleaning Set
1947 Sharp & Shearer Little Lulu Candy
1948 Georgene Novelties Little Lulu, Tubby, & Alvin Dolls / Toy Handbags.
1948 Earle Pullan Ltd. Little Lulu Dolls
1948 Glensder Textile Little Lulu Scarves
1948 McCall Patterns for Little Lulu Towels
1948 McCall Patterns for Little Lulu Doll
1948 Kits Little Lulu Cartoon-A-Kits
1948 &1957 Kleenex Giantic Electronic Billboard on Times Square with Lulu and Tubby
1949 Harry Rubin & Sons, Inc. Little Lulu Jump Ropes, Ironing Boards, Clothesline and Pin Sets.

1950's
1944-1960 Kleenex Tissues Advertising
1944-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Coloring books, Activity Books, Puzzles, etc.
1945-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Comic Books
1948 &1957 Kleenex Giantic Electronic Billboard on Times Square with Lulu and Tubby
1950-1969 Western Publishing Co. Little Lulu Newspaper Strip Syndicated by Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate
1951 Owens Illinois Glass Co. Glass Tumblers with Little Lulu Designs
1958 House of Tre-Jur Little Lulu children's cosmetics and toiletries
1959 Little Lulu Birthday Wrapping Paper

1960's
1944-1960 Kleenex Tissues Advertising
1944-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Coloring books, Activity Books, Puzzles, etc.
1945-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Comic Books; eventually the comics were published throughout the world and in foreign languages including Arabic, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.
1950-1969 Western Publishing Co. Little Lulu Newspaper Strip Syndicated by Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate.

1970's
1944-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Coloring books, Activity Books, Puzzles, etc.
1945-1972 Western Publishing Co. Marge's Little Lulu Comic Books
1972 Marge retired and sold her rights in Little Lulu to the Western Publishing Co., which continued to publish Little Lulu materials.
1972-1975 Hundreds of Little Lulu items entered the mass market with Marge's name dropped from the title, and a new logo appeared after Western bought all rights to Little Lulu. Items included books, puzzles, sewing cards, games, dolls, party items, banks, figurines, china, wall plaques, umbrellas, purses, plastic dishware, jewelry, play sets, playing cards, greeting cards, musical mugs, compacts, party favors, card toys, "magic slates," radios, inflatable toys, and paper dolls. These items were produced by Whitman, Hallmark, Gund, Horsman, Random House, Lamari, Chilton, Sani Toys, Colorforms, and other subsidiaries of Western Publishing.
1978 ABC-TV "Weekend Specials" featured Little Lulu

1980's
1982 Jon Merrill's fanzine "The Stanley Steamer"
1984 Western Publishing ceased publication of all Whitman comics, including Little Lulu with the last issue being #268.
1985 Another Rainbow Publishing Company Little Lulu Library Set VI 1954-1955
1986 Another Rainbow Publishing Company Little Lulu Library Set V 1952-1954
1987 Another Rainbow Publishing Company Little Lulu Library Set IV 1951-1952
1989 Another Rainbow Publishing Company Little Lulu Library Set III 1950-1951

1990's
1990 Golden Little Lulu Coloring Book
1991 Another Rainbow Publishing Company Little Lulu Library Set II 1948-1950
1992 Another Rainbow Publishing Company Little Lulu Library Set I 1945-1947
1992 Ed Buchman's fanzine The HoLLywood Eclectern
1993 Marge Passed Away on May 30, at Age 88, Following a Long Illness, in Elyria, Ohio.
1995 The Little Lulu Show, CINAR Films’ Animated Series on HBO
1997 Cinar produced 20 new half-hour Little Lulu episodes to premier on HBO
1997 CINAR Productions, Inc. Videos of The Little Lulu Show
1997 American Specialty Confections Miniature Candy-Filled Lunch Boxes
1998 Home Box Office (HBO) Bought U.S. Rights to The Little Lulu Show
1998 Golden Books Publishing Company, Inc. The Little Lulu Joke Book
1999 Heavy Duty Productions, Inc. Little Lulu Greeting Cards
1999 Eden Little Lulu Doll
1999 Current Checks Products Division of Current, Inc. Checks with Little Lulu on Them
1999 Precious Kids Little Lulu Backpack, Purse, and Bank

2000's
2002 Dark Horse Little Lulu and Tubby Classic Comic Character Series Figures
2004-6 Dark Horse Reprints of Little Lulu Comics
2005 Dark Horse Little Lulu and Tubby Vinyl Figures

This page is just beginning. I am attempting to create an illustrated history of Little Lulu that will tell the story of Lulu's creation in 1935 and continue with all of the formats and memorabilia until the present time. I will add pictures of all of the things that I have, and then seek pictures from readers to complete the history.

I will use several different sources, including a chronology created by Marjorie Henderson Buell (1971), Western Publishing Company, published in the Little Lulu Library Volume I (1992); an update of that chronology "A Little Lulu Chronology" by Brad Tenan in The Hollywood Eclectern #5 (1993) reprinted in The Hollywood Eclectern #17 (1996); and "Update to Little Lulu Chronology" by D. Michele Maki in The Hollywood Eclectern #27 (1999).

Some of the images I use are photos I took of items I have in my own collection. Some images will be photos others have taken of Lulu items: I will give credit for the photos when I can; however, some of the images are ones I collected from the Internet before I created this page and anticipated using the images on my web site, so I don't know where they are from.

This page will undergo constant revision and will take some time to develop, so please be patient! You may click on most of the images to see a larger image.

  Page last updated 19 Mar 2010.
Email comments to dmmaki@MichelesWorld.net