Honeycomb: A Family Tradition

It all started with just one paper turkey. Every year just before Thanksgiving my Mother woud open the Hallmark envelope that contained a brown and orange paper turkey that had been living all year long in her china closet. For me, it marked the beginning of the holiday season. She did not collect these art tissue decorations like I have but I know my passion for these honeycomb centerpieces started with the symbology that this particular turkey had for me.

Thanksgiving is not a particularly decorated holiday. You have your scarecrows, cornucopias and corn husks nodding their head at the harvest. Pumpkins are still used but we all know they are leftovers from Halloween if not carved. Pilgrims and Indians are certainly symbols of the season but as we have woken up from our collective white washing of the massacre that ensued, we see less and less of these items with their images on them. The Mayflower was a very powerful image that was associated with Thanksgiving when I was a child but along with Pilgrims and Indians, has been delegated to Thanksgivings past.

It boils down to the effigy of the mighty Turkey to fill our homes with their colorful feathery finery. Luckily Hallmark started to produce honeycomb turkeys early on. The large, arching honeycomb construction of their bodies still in tact due to the strength of the hexagon shape and care given by it's original owner, are some of the largest honeycombs Hallmark produced. A noticable improvement on the construction of the paper legs can be seen over the three decades in this comparisons below:

The gold turkey is the oldest one in my collection and I would say would be from the mid to late 6T's. The centerpiece is still part of their Plans-A-Party line of decorations. The color palate of the bright yellow tissue with gold embossed paper feathers, harkens back to that era of solid primary colors with bold, shiney accents.

The price tag of $1.50 and a whopping height of 14" sets a standard. In comparison, each consecutive decade the decorations decrease in size. Less Turkey for your buck! The various type designs and stylistic variants are all over the place on this package. Some of the fonts have a distinctive sixties flare and some remind me of the following decade. It makes me think that this turkey decoration could have possibly conceived of in the late 6T's but actually produced and sold in the early 7T's.

You can see the fairly intricate contruction of the honeycomb and diecut paper pre-attached on their glue lines, ready for assembly by the consumer. This is the most imposing Turkey in my collection and will have pride of place as my centerpiece on our Thanksgiving table this year.

The party ideas on the back of this package are quite imaginative: "Place the Turkey on autumn leaves and nuts. For added interest, separate a few walnuts, remove the meats, and fill with slips of paper containing fortunes - then glue together." Fortune walnut cookies for Thanksgiving anyone?

I do have several honeycomb scarecrows from what looks like the mid 7T's to me. The whimsical almost cartoonish rendering of this iconic Thanksgiving symbol is seen in the quilted patterned jacket, oversized honeycombed head and goofy gin in the first one and the cutesy expression and folksy, hand made feeling from the stitching in the second. At $1.75 and now only 13 inches tall, inflation certainly seems to be affecting the production of these Hallmark decorations.

Both are definitely from the 1970's. Just take a look at the bell bottoms and platform shoes! What single item screams the "Me Generation" more than the use of yarn? How that homespun fiber weaved its way into the hearts and accents of that generation is a mystery to me. As a very young child, I was perpetually exposed to my hair being adorned with it. I had no choice...

But what facinates me the most with these two items is the application of photographic lithography into these products and how they incorporated the woven texture of coarse fabrics, straw, rattan and woodgrain on top of the paper!!!  This is where I begin to drool, at the intersection of Photography Boulevard and Paper Avenue! It is a dream of mine someday to bring back this delectable combination in the photographs I take. Perhaps a different kind of doll book all together...

The brown turkey my Mother originally purchased is also from this era and at at $2.00 at 11 1/2" tall,

is the second largest Turkey in my Thanksgiving arsenal. On the back of the package, their party ideas are a bit out there: "On Thanksgiving surround your fine-feathered centerpiece with vines ... real, plastic or paper. Place individual dessert size pumpkin pies or tarts on the vines to form a pumpkin pie patch." I can just see that paper turkey roaming through plastic vines and pumpkin pie on the table now!

The last turkey on my plate, so to speak, is the 1980's yellow centerpiece weighing in at a mere 9" tall, although the price did not change. The color pallet is much more subdued - just like the decade and the illustrations are rendered from watercolor originals. I don't usually collect decorations from the 8T's but since I already had one from the 60's and one from the 70's, it only made sense to continue the family tradition.

What is most evident is the flimsy honeycomb tissue and structural paper they used. They may have not jacked up the price but they sure lowered their paper standards! Interestingly  though, they did go back to the yellow turkey like the 60's version. But when you think about it, when have you ever seen a yellow turkey?

Their 80's party ideas are pretty boring: "On each side of the turkey, place a bright orange candle and scatter dried leaves and gourds around them." I'm starting to miss those plastic vines and fortune walnut tables capes!

I hope that these vintage decorations that I display year after year will create a special memory for my daughter as it has done for me and hold a special place in her heart. Passing down my childhood traditions is something I plane on doing throughout her childhood, something that each of does every time we decorate for the holidays with objects we've purchased or been given by family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Julie Pavlowski Green
Saturday, November 23, 2013