Paper Studio Press is proud to present the work of today's top paper doll artists and Jim Howard's stellar career as a renowned fashion illustrator makes his work a stand-out. Jim's lastest creation is a paper doll of Ida Lupino who was a popular movie actress of the '30s and '40s. She went on to become a pioneer female director in both movies and TV (where she also frequently starred). This new book features two dolls, each one representing Ida with very different images. There is the young blonde beauty who came from London to Hollywood and then there is the sultry brunette who played tough types in film noir classics. The dolls have extensive wardrobes, meticulously researched and referencing the star's films and photographs from the Ida Lupino estate. Jim's stylish renderings of the dolls and the eight pages of clothes make this book a treasure for paper doll enthusiats and the portrayal of the star plus a bio make this also a must-have for cinema buffs.

Star-gazing with paper dolls! Paper Studio Press has a fine catalog of stars. Movie stars like Ginger Rogers, Loretta Young, Debbie Reynolds and Marilyn Monroe; singing stars like Patti Page and Doris Day; and the late, legendary swimming star, Esther Williams. And now, artist Sandra Vanderpool has taken paper doll star quality into a whole new direction. Star signs! She has created an imaginative, beautifully painted new book of paper dolls with outfits especially designed to express each of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Water signs, air signs and fire signs inspire a dozen costumes created with the personality traits, style and color preferences for each sign. Two figures, a brunette and redhead, have the same pose so they can share clothes. Also included is a brief description of Astrology and a list of sun sign traits.

Ida Lupino did not want to be an actress; composing and writing were her major interests. Ida branched out into film directing and producing in 1949, becoming one of two women to enter the male-dominated field. While her feature films were primarily aimed at female audiences, on television Ida Lupino quickly became known for her skill at directing westerns, mysteries and detective dramas - shows aimed at male viewers and many featuring all-male casts. "No one ever asked me to direct a love story," she said. About the Author Mary Ann Anderson has had a varied and extensive career in the world of show business. She was exposed to the entertainment industry early on as the daughter of Emily McLaughlin, who played nurse Jesse Brewer for more than 25 years in ABC's General Hospital. As an author, Mary Ann has published Portrait of a Soap Star: The Emily McLaughlin Story. Mary Ann served as conservator for Ida Lupino, the actress and director, from 1984 to 1995. Many Brentwood residents who lived on Old Oak Lane recall the time Miss Lupino set her mailbox on fire. She also delighted in watering her lawn and the neighbors - not the neighbors' lawns, but the neighbors! Through her association with Miss Lupino, Mary Ann met many other legends of "Old Hollywood," such as Olivia de Havilland, Joan Fontaine, Barbara Hale and Marie Windsor. Mary Ann has been instrumental in bringing the stories of Ida Lupino to A&E's Biography and Jeffrey Hunter to E!'s Mysteries and Scandals, by researching, writing and appearing in them. She also worked on the Ida Lupino Paper Doll Book, released by Paper Studio Press.

Sojourner Truth, Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Althea Gibson, Rosa Parks, Leontyne Price, Maya Angelou, Shirley Chisholm, 8 more.

Movie stars establish themselves as brands--and Taylor's brand , in its most memorable outings, has repeatedly introduced a broad audience to feminist ideas. In her breakout film, "National Velvet" (1944), Taylor's character challenges gender discrimination,: Forbidden as a girl to ride her beloved horse in an important race, she poses as a male jockey. Her next milestone, "A Place in the Sun" (1951), can be seen as an abortion rights movie--a cautionary tale from a time before women had ready access to birth control. In "Butterfield 8" (1960), for which she won an Oscar, Taylor isn't censured because she's a prostitute, but because she chooses the men: she controls her sexuality, a core tenet of the third-wave feminism that emerged in the 1990s. Even "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966) depicts the anguish that befalls a woman when the only way she can express herself is through her husband's stalled career and children. The legendary actress has lived her life defiantly in public--undermining post-war reactionary sex roles, helping directors thwart the Hollywood Production Code, which censored film content between 1934 and 1967. Defying death threats she spearheaded fundraising for AIDS research in the first years of the epidemic, and has championed the rights of people to love whom they love, regardless of gender. Yet her powerful feminist impact has been hidden in plain sight. Drawing on unpublished letters and scripts as well as interviews with Kate Burton, Gore Vidal, Austin Pendleton, Kevin McCarthy, Liz Smith, and others, The Accidental Feminist will surprise Taylor and film fans with its originality and will add a startling dimension to the star's enduring mystique.

"The acting career of legendary star Ida Lupino is well known, but there has been little analysis of her directorial career. She was one of the few female directors in Classical Hollywood and the only one with membership in the Directors Guild of America between 1948 and 1971. Like Orson Welles, her career was notable in transitioning from acting to directing first in film and then in television, in addition to helping to create and run the production company The Filmakers [sic]. Her films were notably about women navigating difficult positions in society, dealing with controversial issues such as rape and bigamy. Nevertheless, she was the first female director of a noir film, The Hitch-Hiker, which is a suspenseful tale of two motorists taken hostage by a serial killer in the Southwest. Alexandra Seros, a filmmaker herself, examines Lupino's career with a focus on her directorial roles and how she navigated this as a woman, as well as a wife and mother, in male-dominated Hollywood. She explains how Lupino began directing and formed The Filmakers before providing a close analysis of three of her films (Not Wanted, Never Fear, and the aforementioned The Hitch-Hiker) and examining how she navigated the shooting and negotiated with the censors to be able to tell the stories she wanted to tell. Seros then details Lupino's transition to television and her taking the director's reins in that medium as well. Lupino directed episodes in a wide variety of genres, but specialized in Westerns and thrillers. Even as the press and the studios tried to focus on her femininity as a dutiful wife and loving mother, she often refused to play along and be coded as feminine in this way. Seros analyzes three of Lupino's directed episodes, comparing them with similar work done by noted male directors Nicholas Ray, Robert Aldrich, and Alfred Hitchcock, stressing Lupino's efficient, effective work in finishing the shows on time and within budget. She finishes by arguing that Lupino was a new kind or auteur, whose collaborative "family" approach to filmmaking was far ahead of its time"--

Jim Howard, one of the greatest fashion illustrators of all-time, continues his decade-by-decade tribute to Couture fashion. His newest book for Paper Studio Press addresses the 1910s, a period when women in hobble skirts inched towards comfort, abandoned corsets and donned extravagant creations of silk, satin and velvet, lavishly trimmed with lace and fur. Two pretty paper dolls wear marvelous outfits by top designers of the period including Chanel, Jeanne Lanvin, Paul Poiret, Fortuny, Paquin and Erte. The new book in the series is a must-have for serious fashion history buffs and collectors who appreciate Jim Howard's monumental talent that turns each page into frameable works of art.