Tuesday 13 October 2009

THE TOMMY SMALL DOLL - 1983

Not sure how many other cities had a newspaper street vendor as a cult figure, but Tommy Small certainly left his mark on the Dundee art community. He's been painted, sculpted, sketched and here, turned into a doll. It was made by Hilary Elder from Broughty Ferry and was displayed in a craft exhibition in the Marryat Hall in 1983. Tommy was then presented with the model after the show.

6 comments:

  1. where is he now or wheres the doll

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have just been researching Mr Small.

    Tommy Small was a vendor in the city for many years (decades, in fact) from around the 1950s/60s, his distinctive call-to-arms "Tully Gar Aff" was well known throughout Dundee and beyond.
    I have no idea as to the whereabouts of the doll ...
    I was informed by a Mr Barry Sullivan of DC Thomson that Sadly ..
    Tommy died in May 1994, which probably wasn’t too long after his retirement.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Slightly off topic, but loosely related.
    I was having a few jars in The Fishermans on a Monday lunchtime (Broughty Ferry) a couple of weeks back, and was reading The Courier. At about 12.30, someone delivered the "Tully" - which the manager then passed over to me. Apparently there is now just the one edition, which I assume is printed late morning - I remember not too many years back there were several editions, the late one being distributed at the back of 4pm across the city.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My late father had a painting of Tommy Small hanging in his home. The painter lived in Dundee for many years. I always assumed the portrait was of an Auckland news seller because that's where we live (New Zealand). Can you share some more details/stories about Tommy Small? Thanks, Wendy

    ReplyDelete
  5. He just sold newspapers, and that was it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Sorry to disagree, but Tommy Small was much more than that . He was an icon in the City of Dundee for many years, and greatly missed.

    ReplyDelete