So Many Girls. . .So Many Bows
In 2020, the “Cleo Can Tie A Bow” book, written by Sybrina Durant and Illustrated by Pumudi Gardiyawasam introduced readers to Cleo and her striking “hair bow”.
Cleo loves bows. She wears them as jewelry and to decorate her clothing. She even wears her pretty, long hair tied in a bow on top of her head. She also has a unique way of remembering how to tie a bow and she is helping others learn to tie one, too, through her book.
When Cleo’s book was published, she joined a star-studded panoply of famous girls with ribbon embellished hair-dos. Over the years, many different comics, books, movies and television programs have featured endearing characters who wore bows in their hair. The other ladies might not have been quite as bow-crazy as Cleo but people still remember them for their hair bows.
Let’s take a little walk down memory lane or maybe even be introduced for the first time to some of them.
1: BETTY BOOP – 1930’s – Everyone loved Betty Boop. She was a star of Talkertoons. Her first film was Dizzy Dishes, where she actually looked more like a dog than a human. You might not remember that I bet you remember her in Boop-Oop-a-Doop where she was a lion tamer and a tightrope walker. Betty Boop is still a cartoon favorite today.
2: Blossom-PowerPuff Girl – 1998 – Blossom was the “everything nice” girl of her super power gang. She was also the most level-headed of all the Powerpuff Girls. She could literally freeze objects with her breath; so to keep her happy and you “freeze free” it might be best to give her a candy bar when she starts to get cranky. Sugar is known to calm her way down.
3: Betty Rubble-Flinstones – 1960 – Betty was the best friend of Wilma Flinstone and she was the adoptive mother of Bamm-Bamm. Remember that little tyke; along with Fred and Wilma’s daughter, Pebbles? These cave people may have lived in the prehistoric town of Bedrock but they had some amazing alternatives to our modern conveniences like telephones, automobiles and washing machines.
4: Judy Jetson-The Jetsons – 1962 – This was my very favorite cartoon, growing up. I really thought we’d be living their futuristic lifestyle by now. At least, I thought I’d have a flying car. Judy was George and Jane Jetson’s sixteen year old daughter. Anyone remember her floating robotic diary, named, “DiDi”?
5: Nancy (and Sluggo)- 1938 – Nancy was an 8 year old child who lived with her Aunt Fritzi Ritz in Three Rocks, Tennessee. Her best friend was an orphan named Sluggo Smith, who she was always trying to improve. The Nancy comic strip was so popular that it inspired a game called 5-card Nancy. Have you ever played that game?
6: Helga G. Pataki – Hey Arnold – 1996 – Poor Helga…she loved Arnold so much that she literally made multiple shrines dedicated to him. Too bad she didn’t know that bullying someone was not conducive to getting them to love you back. An angry, rude girl is kind of a strange main character for a kid’s show but it worked for this one. It thrived on the airwaves from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004.
7: Little Audrey – 1947 – Little Audrey was a variation of another cartoon character known as Little Lulu. Little Audrey was drawn in a blue colored theme while Little Lulu’s color palette was red. Sadly, Little Audrey was the butt of a lot of mean jokes but nothing could get her down. No matter what catastrophe occurred, “Li’l Audrey just laughed and laughed”. Her first film appearance was in Noveltoon’s Santa’s Surprise.
8: Susie Carmichael-Rugrats – 1993 – Susie is one of the toddlers (thus the term “rugrats”) in a series of imaginative adventures that mainly revolved around Angelica and Tommy Pickles. The kind and fun-loving Susie was introduced to the show as a foil to the mean-spirited Angelica. Susie was easy to love, while Angelica – not so much.
9: Abby Hatcher – 2019 – Abby Hatcher is a Canadian animated cartoon series about a 7 year old child of American and Chinese descent with professional detective skills and tools to rival those of Inspector Gadget. She and her best friend, Bozzly, an aquamarine rabbit-like Fuzzly go on wild adventures together.
10: Maggie Simpson-The Simpsons – 1989 – The Simpsons is one of the longest running cartoons in history. There have been 690 episodes and counting. Most everyone knows who innocent baby Maggie is. In all these years, she has never learned to talk or walk very well but she is still adorable, just the same. Did you know that the word “simp” is short for “simpleton” and that is where the family name is derived?
If you enjoyed this article about some of our favorite bow wearing girls, you might want to browse the Girls Love Bows Gift Shop, where you can find the “Cleo Can Tie A Bow” Book book as well as hundreds of bow-themed gifts for your favorite bow-crazy girl.