holiday for edith and the bears dare wright

Dare Wright’s color photo of islander Sherry O’Neal, who died in June. Some islanders even ventured to New York City to visit her. I have so many photos of Dare and Ocracoke.

“But Dare and her mother never patronized the locals.

“Dare was beautiful, and people stopped and stared,” Ashley said. Those who remember the pair were youths when they met these glamourous women from the north. Over their many years of visits, staying at the Wahab Village Hotel (now Blackbeard’s Lodge), the Wrights got to know some of the islanders. Photos and narrative are all by Dare, who chronicles the history of the island, its people and its ways.Įven then–more than 60 years ago-she recognized that the arrival of more tourists spelled the end of old Ocracoke. In 2006, Ashley published a book of Dare’s photos of Ocracoke (with assistance from Alton Ballance and Philip Howard) titled “Ocracoke in the Fifties,” available in stores throughout the island. While the first book takes place mostly indoors, it does feature several photos take on Ocracoke, but “Holiday for Edith & the Bears” (1958) was all shot on Ocracoke. “It was a perfect combination of all of her talents.” “Dare developed a whole new genre of children’s literature,” Ashley said. “The Lonely Doll” was a best-seller back then. The island became a refuge for the Wrights to relax and also for Dare to expand her growing photography skills.ĭare, whose first name was Alice and who was born in 1914 and died in 2001, is most famous for her series of children’s books featuring “The Lonely Doll (1957).” This was the first of 10 books featuring black-and-white photos of “Edith” and two teddy bears on various adventures. Just as Ocracoke in the 1950s welcomed New Yorker Dare Wright, Wright herself welcomed islanders to the Big Apple.Ī fashion model and photographer, Dare and her mother Edie, a renowned portrait painter, discovered Ocracoke in 1947 when a friend flew them to the remote island for a summer vacation, said Brook Ashley, who was Dare’s god-daughter and heir to her estate.Īnother world to these city women–just as it is now to many vacationers–Dare and her mother fell in love with the island and its people. While ‘Ocracoke in the Fifties’ has only one photo of herself, Dare took many self-portraits on the Ocracoke beach.

Holiday for edith and the bears dare wright