She was the first female artist illustrator hired by Puck.

She was not allowed to sign "R" for Rose O'Neill, just O'Neill, because they were afraid the gentlemen would not purchase the magazine anymore if they thought a woman was illustrating the articles they were reading.

[ART GALBRAITH, "SUNDAY NIGHT REEL"] [tractor engine sputtering] [eagle screeches] Rose O'Neill was more than just the creator of the world famous Kewpie doll.

She was a prodigy, an Illustrator, and a fighter for women's suffrage.

Even though she wasn't born in the Ozarks, she made Bonniebrook, her estate just North of Branson, her home for the rest of her life.

Today, many tireless volunteers and passionate fans of Rose O'Neill work to keep her legacy alive.

My guests on this program today are Connie Pritchard, President of the Bonniebrook Historical Society, and Gloria Cowper-Jen a Board Member at Bonniebrook.

And together, we'll talk about Rose O'Neill and preserving her artwork and her legacy.

ANNOUNCER: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

Welcome to "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

I'm Dale Moore.

As always, we are so delighted that you would be kind enough to invite us in and join in our conversation today.

If I was to ask you to name three or four women from the Ozarks that have been influential, that have been powerful, that have been interesting, that have been entertaining, you'd mention, of course, May Kennedy McCord, Dottie Dillard, Betty Love, just to name a few.

But I hope that you would include in that conversation the name Rose O'Neill.

And that's our conversation today, as we're joined by Connie Pritchard and Gloria Cowper-Jen from the Bonnie Brook Historical Society.

Ladies, welcome to the program.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

Thanks for having us.

It's really great to have you here.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: We're very excited.

We've got a lot to talk about today.

And I want to talk, obviously, about the society and about the museum and everything down at Bonniebrook.

But I think it might be helpful, before we really dive into that, to talk a little bit about and reacquaint maybe some of our audience members with who Rose O'Neill was.

And Rose O'Neill, to try and characterize her by saying she was an artist because everybody knows her for Kewpie dolls, that would be a great disservice to Rose O'Neill.

Let's talk about the Rose O'Neill that you remember.

She did really a little bit of everything.

She was an author and illustrator, a sculptor, a poet, a cartoonist.

DALE MOORE: Mm-hmm.

Like you said, she was probably best known for the Kewpie doll.

DALE MOORE: Right.

That was what really made her the money or put her on the map maybe in 1909, 1910.

And she was an activist.

Yes.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

I mean, and we're talking here the late 1800s, early 1900s when all of this was-- CONNIE PRITCHARD: Suffrage was-- she was a huge-- Suffrage, right.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: --suffrage activist.

Yeah.

What's your favorite memories of Rose O'Neill?

I just-- I mean, she was an amazing character.

She was self-taught.

She never had a formal art lesson.

She had a huge illustration career before the Kewpies ever came.

She was in a lot of the big publications in New York City.

And really her activism with the suffrage movement, they approached her to design posters with the Kewpies because they were popular.

But then she organized meetings and was in marches.

You know, I mean, and when you put that in the context of the time period, that was a pretty bold thing for her to do, at a relatively young age to boot.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Mm-hmm.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Absolutely.

And she came from interesting.

She was an immigrant, her family from Ireland.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Ireland.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yes.

And she was the oldest of six children.

Second oldest.

Second oldest?

Yes.

Ah, OK.

So, you know, she was born in Pennsylvania.

What an unusual story.

Born in Pennsylvania, raised in Nebraska, and eventually wound up in Taney County, Missouri.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Yeah.

What a journey, what an interesting journey that she had.

Nobody would say her life was dull, that's for sure.

No.

It was not dull.

You know, what really struck me, and I've studied her off and on over the years for different things, and one of the things that always has struck me as powerful about her is that she was a true child prodigy.

And we use that term a lot when we talk about, oh, that kid's good at violin or at singing or whatever, acting.

But at age 13, she sold her first piece of art at the age of 13.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: That's right.

She won that art contest.

DALE MOORE: The Omaha Herald.

Right.

She went to gather her $5 gold piece at the age of 13.

But when she got there, they said, you know, we really don't think you drew that.

We think you traced it.

DALE MOORE: Really?

Yeah.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: It was a very sophisticated drawing.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yes, very sophisticated.

DALE MOORE: Well, the name of the piece was "Temptation Leading to an Abyss."

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

And I'm trying to think, I've got 16 grandchildren, and they're all pretty smart.

I don't think one of them-- [laughs] GLORIA COWPER-JEN: How many 13-year-olds would come up that?

Would come up with-- Right.

--with kind of a-- but apparently she had, at a very young-- obviously at a very young age, she had a real love affair with art and illustration in particular-- CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

--is what she enjoyed doing the most.

She, uh-- you know, so at age 13, she's doing that.

And her dad, I guess, was a book salesman or a book peddler.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yes.

DALE MOORE: And her mom a homemaker, that's what they call them back in those days, were homemakers.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

She also taught school.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And piano, the mother did.

Oh, OK. She'd earn a little bit of money that way.

OK.

But, you know, it's just an amazing story to think that at 13, she did that.

And then at age 15, she was selling more illustrations to various mag-- and magazines of the day.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

I mean, she was hooked up with some big magazines.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: That's right.

Who were some of her biggest clients?

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: So there was a large publication in New York called "Puck Magazine," P-U-C-K.

It was like a news humor magazine, "Cosmopolitan," "Ladies' Home Journal."

I mean, she was-- she started out getting some local assignments in Nebraska after she got that award.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

And then went to New York at the ripe old age of 19 with the nuns.

She traveled with nuns to take her portfolio around.

I can't imagine my granddaughter-- I had a 19-year-old granddaughter-- I can't imagine her saying, granddad, I'm going to move to New York City.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: [laughs] You know?

I mean, I just can't get my mind around how-- but back in that day, she was a bold individual even then, I guess, at a very young age.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yes.

And her-- She had to be.

It was a man's world.

Right?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, and especially with her illustrations at "Puck," she had to hide her identity.

She was the first female artist Illustrator hired by "Puck."

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

She was not allowed to sign "R" for Rose O'Neill, just O'Neill, because they were afraid the gentleman would not purchase the magazine anymore if they thought a woman was illustrating the articles they were reading.

Yeah, you mentioned she traveled with nuns, and that's kind of an interesting side story.

I guess she went-- obviously went to a Catholic school.

And I wonder why she traveled with the nuns, why they were part of the entourage.

Well, when Papa O'Neill escorted her out to New York City, they were Irish Catholic and they had made arrangements for her to live in a convent out there.

Because the family stayed back in Omaha.

So they wanted her to be in a safe environment.

So she was living in that convent.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Which, when you think about it, is actually pretty progressive for her parents to allow her-- they made sure she was protected with the nuns and in the convent, but let her go and pursue her career.

Yeah, I mean, this was really an era where there would have been-- you know, children were to be seen and not heard.

That's right.

Right.

And so, I mean, for her to be in that-- you know, I can't-- I can't think of any other young people from any particular age that at her age were as successful as she was with what she was doing.

I mean, the prodigies, yeah, I mean, the Mozarts and the young musicians and what have you, but fascinating, fascinating story.

Now, what's interesting to me, and I've always said, well, how in the world did they wind up-- did she wind up from Nebraska to New York to Taney County, Missouri.

And her dad actually bought-- got a piece of land, I guess, through the-- was it the Homestead Act?

The Homestead Act, uh-huh.

Yeah, talk to me about that.

Well, through Rose's childhood, they were evicted time and time and time again because Papa O'Neill was not really a good provider for the family.

So when he returned back to Omaha from New York City, they were in the process of being evicted again.

And he had read where the state of Missouri would give him 160 acres if he would come in Homestead.

And that's how they ended up in Taney County, Missouri.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

There was an old abandoned log cabin there and they moved into that.

I think I've heard it described as the original structure was a dogtrot.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Dogtrot.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Dogtrot cabin.

DALE MOORE: So on one side, you've got a place to eat and the other side you got a place to sleep and a breezeway in the middle.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: That's right.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Yeah.

So, yeah, she was in New York City.

Yeah.

And while she was there, they made the move, the family made the move.

Yeah.

And is that the size of the property now?

Is it the same size that it was originally, as far as the acreage that went with it?

Is it?

So, Bonniebrook, the Historical Society, purchased 15 acres, a little over 15 acres.

We had leased it before.

DALE MOORE: Got it.

But we purchased the acreage to be able to get grants.

But the original was-- Was 160 acres, and then Rose had purchased an additional 12 there along the creek.

Got it.

So they had 172 back in the day.

So the family moved down there.

She did not.

She would travel back and forth and visit there occasionally.

Because she was very active.

She, in fact, in 1904, the first novel "The Loves of," I guess it's pronounced "Edwy."

CONNIE PRITCHARD: "Edwy."

DALE MOORE: "Edwy."

her-- she's published in 1904.

And about this period of time is when I read that she was dreaming about the Kewpie doll and the Kewpie.

She had dreams about them, I think, is the way I've heard it described.

So she was visiting.

She had come back to visit at Bonniebrook.

And even her first trip back, she fell in love.

It was two days to get from Springfield train station to Bonniebrook.

She fell in love with the Ozarks and the scrabbliness of the Ozarks.

And she would spend good amounts of time there working, illustrating.

And she fell asleep one evening or afternoon.

And she dreamed of these little cupids, Kewpie-type things that were dancing, right?

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: All around her bed.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: All around her bed.

Yeah.

I have a very unusual connection with the Kewpie world.

I went to Hickman High School in Columbia for two years.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Oh, there you go.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Oh.

So I was a Hickman Kewpie.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: You were a Kewpie.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Oh, yeah.

I was a Kewpie for-- yeah, you're right.

[laughs] For two whole years, so everybody's connected in one way or another-- In one way or another.

--to a Kewpie doll, right, in some fashion or another.

Yeah, so it seems to me that this time between 1904 and 1908, there was a lot going on with her, in terms of relationships and certainly with her creative urges in what she was working on.

She was described as a bohemian, which I just call an original hippie.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: There you go.

Right?

It's sort of what that looks like.

But she was really actively involved in that.

And the first iteration of the Kewpie was not a doll, but it was a comic strip.

Talk about that comic strip.

Well, she had-- she woke up from that dream, started sketching what she dreamed.

And just a year later, she was writing and illustrating Kewpie stories, full-page Kewpie stories in the "Woman's Home Companion."

That was like a soap opera.

DALE MOORE: Yeah, for the "Ladies' Home Journal."

CONNIE PRITCHARD: It was a cliffhanger, yes.

DALE MOORE: I mean, big name publications.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: And it took off to other publications from there, too.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yeah.

She was a true multi-media person before we even knew what multimedia was.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: She really was.

Right.

Which is kind of extraordinary when you think about that, with what she had to work with and all of that.

So, you know, I mean, you move through a period of time here between 1908 or kind of the birth of the whole Kewpie deal, until 1913 when the dolls came about.

And they were manufactured by a German manufacturer?

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Correct.

How did that-- how did that occur?

No one in the United States was doing that?

Or I wonder how that came out that way?

It was one of the biggest toy manufacturers around, and dolls, which is why I think she gravitated towards working with them.

And, you know, she worked on-- she had someone sculpt preliminaries.

She didn't like the way that came out, and then went and oversaw their artists do it and was very hands-on with it until they got it to her liking.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yeah.

I was going to ask you that.

So at this young age, because she would have been, what, early 30s maybe, something roughly in that ballpark?

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yeah, yeah.

Uh, was she running her own business affairs, do we know?

Or did she have someone helping manage that, or?

She had-- her youngest sister, Callista, was a lifelong business manager.

I know that-- I know that there was quite a conversation with the original manufacturer.

They got so overwhelmed, they couldn't keep up.

So they started licensing the manufacturer to other companies.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Mm-hmm.

I guess within a 10-mile radius of this wonderful clay pit in Germany that made some of the finest porcelain, the one doll maker, yeah, there was such a demand, he had to subcontract out to other doll manufacturers within the 10-mile radius there of that clay pit.

Yeah.

And then she-- I mean, and we're talking porcelain here and that's-- CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

--that's pretty fragile-- CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yes.

--that sort of thing, so.

Well, it's interesting.

One of the exhibits at Bonniebrook takes you through the evolution of the Kewpie.

So you see the sort of fragile initial ones that she did.

And then you see them evolve.

And there's the Kewpie, cuddle Kewpie, which is more of a plush that kids could, you know, play with and not worry about.

But there's definitely an evolution, especially with the popularity as it continued with children.

Well, we're limited on time, so I need to get to some other things.

But to kind of fast forward, she goes to Paris, she becomes a sculptor.

She winds up back in the United States in, I think, 1937, and then goes to Bonniebrook.

And that's where she stays.

And that's fascinating.

She truly loved Bonniebrook.

How did the-- how did it become the name Bonniebrook?

That's got to be a good Irish name of some sort.

There's still yet to this day is a natural spring formed the Brook.

And so with their Irish descent-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: --Rose named it Bonniebrook.

DALE MOORE: Makes sense, makes sense.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: It's a bonnie brook.

Let's talk about, she passed away in 1944.

And when-- when did you-- when was the founding of the Bonniebrook Historical Society?

When did that start?

The actual formation of the 501(c)(3) was in 1975.

OK, so several years afterwards.

But what was happening in that intervening period of time with Bonniebrook?

Was it-- it was just-- GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Nothing.

Nothing?

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Nothing.

Wow.

Nothing.

My dad, like I said, grew up right there next to the land.

And he actually ended up in California.

We moved back in 1970.

And the land was overgrown.

He couldn't even find the cemetery.

DALE MOORE: Wow.

So he took it upon himself to start cleaning up the cemetery.

And he put the fence around it.

And he was part of one of the integral parts of forming the Bonniebrook Historical Society.

And their goal was to raise funds and to rebuild the home that burnt in 1947.

Yeah, let's talk a bit about how the society works.

What is the core mission of the society?

What are you all setting out to achieve?

We want to protect, educate the life of Rose, preserve and educate.

I think I already said that once.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

But, um, yeah, preservation, teaching people about her.

It's kind of twofold because education from the art perspective and everything she did in that sense, and then letting people tour where the family lived and how they lived.

Right.

Now, during this period of time, I mean, the Kewpie dolls, they're-- I hate to use the term collectible.

It's almost demeaning to say collectible because these are really collectible.

But the collectibility, that was still-- when did that really take off and become a thing to be a collector?

So I feel like there's always been a core group of people that love the Kewpies.

And the international Rose O'Neill Club was founded in like 1967 with people, members who loved Kewpies and all things Rose, all artwork of Rose O'Neill.

So there's always been a core group.

And Kewpies have been around in some form or another since Rose.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

I remember you'd win them at a carnival.

DALE MOORE: Sure, yeah.

But it was really this group that was passionate about them and her life and her work.

And it's made a big comeback because now you have, I mean, internationally, in Japan, I think there's an enormous effort over there.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: They love Kewpies.

Talk about that.

Yes.

The Kewpie Corporation purchased the trademark in 2012.

They had had some-- they had formed in 19-- DALE MOORE: Now, who's the Kewpie Corporation?

Kewpie Corporation, they are a corporation that's been around since 19-- 1919.

--19.

And they make food products.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: That's how they started.

DALE MOORE: Oh, OK. CONNIE PRITCHARD: That's how they started.

Well, they had some of their members come to USA.

They ate some mayonnaise, I guess, and they decided that they needed to start making their own mayonnaise.

And since the Kewpie doll was so popular in Japan, they wanted to name it Kewpie-- Kewpie Mayo.

DALE MOORE: Wow.

Found out that they kind of needed the trademark, so they purchased the trademark in 2012.

And they are great partners with the Bonniebrook Historical Society.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

How many members-- how many members belong?

Do you count the number of members you have, or?

We have about, um, I'd say about 225.

DALE MOORE: OK. You know, um, we get some new ones.

And of course, the original generation, you know, time is-- DALE MOORE: Yeah.

Yeah.

But there seems to be a resurgence with young people.

There is a resurgence with young people.

They love Kewpies and the story of Rose.

I mean, we've gotten quite a few young people coming through.

You'll see Kewpie tattoos.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Tattoos, mm-hmm.

Now, I know that annually, you have a Kewpiesta.

That's with the International Rose O'Neill Club Foundation.

They have Kewpiesta, have been having it since the late '60s in Branson.

DALE MOORE: OK. A week.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: In April.

In April.

And during their time in Branson, they always come out the Saturday of that week out to Bonniebrook.

And that's when we host open house.

All the tours are free that day.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: And it's open to the public.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: It's open to the public as well, that open house.

So this is-- people come in from all over just for this one week-- CONNIE PRITCHARD: Absolutely.

--to do all things Kewpie.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: Mm-hmm.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yeah.

That's fascinating.

We've got a couple of three minutes remaining.

Let's talk about if someone has never been to Bonniebrook, first of all, where are you at and how do you get there and what am I going to see when I get there?

Well, we're straight south of Springfield on Highway 65 and just nine miles north of Branson.

Mile marker 20.2.

[laughs] 20.2 They mark their own distance.

[laughter] And what-- and what do you-- I've been there, It's beautiful.

I mean, it's like, wow, you pull off the road and it's like, where did this come from?

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Right.

Right.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: You go up the hill.

DALE MOORE: Yeah.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yeah, usually most treasures are hidden.

And we are hidden.

So we have a beautiful, 16-acre footprint, a beautiful visitor center with the Kewpie Museum, also a fine art gallery that was finished in 2011, and the reconstruction of the home.

So it's a guided tour through the museum, also through the home.

There's a couple of walking paths.

Rose and her family are buried there on the property.

GLORIA COWPER-JEN: And the grounds are open-- Yeah, and you've reconstructed.

--all year.

So you've got really a museum-- a museum and then the house, they're separate-- CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yes.

--separate entities.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: Yeah.

And it's free admission?

It's a $10 admission.

And if they're veterans, it's $5.

And if they want to do just one or the other, it's $5.

Yeah, and you can go online.

You've got a great-- I know you've got a great website where folks can find out.

roseoneill.org.

I know you've got-- and we've just got a few seconds remaining.

What-- what's the most cherished thing you think you have in your museum collection?

I know you're going to say everything.

But do you have one or two items that's just like, that's-- that's-- that's it.

CONNIE PRITCHARD: That's it.

That's it.

DALE MOORE: [laughs] I don't know.

I think for me it might be the Kewpie Mound.

There's not too many in existence.

And it's a mound with all kinds of little Kewpies on it that we believe was made by the manufacturer as a storefront item to advertise-- Display.

--all the different action-- the action Kewpies, not just the stand-up Kewpies.

Well, I want to thank both of you for being on the program today.

Good luck.

Keep up the good work with what you're doing.

All right.

Wonderful, thank you so much.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

You stay tuned.

I'll be right back.

ANNOUNCER: Ozarks Public Television and Missouri State University are proud to present "OzarksWatch Video Magazine," a locally produced program committed to increasing the understanding of the richness and complexity of Ozarks culture.

Visit our website for more information.

I hope you get the opportunity to visit Bonniebrook and experience Rose's artwork and story for yourself.

And I'd like to thank my guests Connie Pritchard and Gloria Cowper-Jen.

And thank you.

You join us again real soon for another edition of "OzarksWatch Video Magazine."

[ART GALBRAITH, "SUNDAY NIGHT REEL"]