Children of the 80s probably remember Rainbow Brite, the colorful adventurer who resided in Rainbow Land. What they might not know is that she was a creation Hallmark’s designers started working on in 1981 in an effort to find traction with girls in the three-to-seven age range. (The move was allegedly Hallmark’s counter to rival American Greetings’ success with its Strawberry Shortcake character.) At her peak, Rainbow Brite was one of the country’s top children’s media icons, complete with toys produced under license to Mattel, an animated TV series, and an animated feature film that received a theatrical release.
With over six decades in television production to its credit, the company has quite an archive. And it makes good use of it. Originally launched in 2007 by producer Rob Fried, Feeln is Hallmark’s streaming-video service that offers films and shorts that are “well-made and have positive messages for viewers all ages.” To make the cut for Feeln, a movie can’t include nudity, violence, or profanity, and the service also steers clear of “movies with divisive social issues or political agendas.” What makes the cut? In addition to the Hallmark Hall of Fame, current offerings include Look Who’s Talking, Hitch, and The Other Boleyn Girl.
As a company, Hallmark doesn’t just create art. Since 1949, it has also been a collector and exhibitor. In 1964, the company began making acquisitions for a photography collection that would eventually become legendary. Hallmark’s holdings grew slowly at first, but after hiring curator Keith F. Davis in 1979, the company built an unrivaled portfolio of 6500 photographs covering the history of American photography from 1839 onward.
By the time Davis was done making purchases, Hallmark’s photography collection was both massive and important. It included 6500 works by 900 photographers. From early daguerreotypes to pieces by icons like Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Harry Callahan, and Alfred Stieglitz, the collection had a bit of everything, all of which contributed to its estimated $65 million value. What does a company do when it’s got such an important cultural property on its hands? In 2006, Hallmark donated the majority of the collection to Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, making the local institution one of the world’s foremost centers for photography history.
Credits: mentalfloss.com
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