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The Dolls' Wedding
Cellar Door Books is happy to announce a new release of
The Golden Key.
DVD $36.95 including shipping
A wedding for dolls with all the necessary flourishes! In this 1955 amalgamation of two creative spirits, Nell Dorr and Tasha Tudor share a rare world of modern fantasy. Children of all ages will appreciate how these women brought to life a common fantasy. A wedding, and not one just for dolls, but one that required the help of many youngsters. What small child doesn't enjoy dress-up? And what better dress-up than to be a member of a wedding where all is white and pure?
When Tudor decided that her doll Melissa Shakespeare should have a husband, she made one, and named him Lieutenant Thaddeus Crane. She and her friend/mentor Nell Dorr planned a wedding for the lovers, with many flourishes. The Sparrow Post was kept busy delivering invitations to a wide circle of family and friends. Because it was duly photographed and recorded, the event entered doll history as only Tasha Tudor could imagine it. The McCready daughters and their friends served as escorts to a full party of dolls. The dolls had to be properly attired in the best finery. The children donned their white dresses as well for the June 19th nuptials. A grand time was had by all!
But on this day, Nell Dorr immortalized the fantastic wedding in the motion picture, The Golden Key. Life magazine sent its resident New England photographer Verner Reed.
Nell Dorr seems to have sold a few prints of her motion picture in 1957. The Jenny Wren Press prepared and sold videotape copies in 1991. Now Cellar Door Books is very happy to bring this enchanting story to the public. This will be only the third time in its history that The Golden Key has been available.
SOURCES:
If you wish to conduct further research into the life and art of Tasha Tudor begin with the comprehensive bibliography Tasha Tudor: The Direction of Her Dreams (Oak Knoll Press, 1998) by Wm John Hare and Priscilla T. Hare. Drawn From New England: Tasha Tudor (Collins, 1979) written by Tudor's daughter Bethany, although dated, tells the family story from within the family. It is illustrated with vintage photographs and is the only attempt at a full biography to date.
Tudor and her dolls are mentioned in the mid-twentieth century books Dolls of Yesterday and Dolls of Three Centuries by Eleanor St. George (Scribner's, 1948 and 1951).
Various paintings of Tudor's dolls appear throughout her watercolor oeuvre.
Life photographer Verner Reed photographed more than 400 images of the many aspects of the 1955 dolls' wedding and that weekend's activities. His negatives are held by Historic New England, Boston, MA. An exhibition catalog of his photographs A Changing World was published in 2004.
Nell Dorr created several sensitive and insightful works other than The Golden Key. Her many papers and photographs are the property of the AmonCarterMuseum, Fort Worth, TX. Contact both these private organizations directly to work with their remarkable materials.
Dorr left a brief but interesting memoir in Recollections: Ten Women of Photography (Viking Press, 1979). She recounts her heritage in photography, her early experiences in Florida and her later life including the time spent in New Hampshire living near the McCready family. The article includes 2 photographs of Dorr and 15 of her photographs dating from 1908. She was only 15 years old that year when she captured images of her girlhood friend Lillian Gish. Tasha Tudor much later designed a note card for Ms Gish showing her on stage.
A Dorr photograph of Tudor nursing Bethany was included in the well-known Family of Man exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1954. There are many different versions of the show's photo book, and fifty years after the exhibit, the work is still admired and appreciated. | 
