Billiken

The Billiken is a charm doll created by an American art teacher and illustrator, Florence Pretz of Kansas City, Missouri, who is said to have seen the mysterious figure in a dream. It is believed that Pretz found the name Billiken in Bliss Carman's 1896 poem Mr. Moon: A Song Of The Little People. In 1908, she obtained a design patent on the ornamental design of the Billiken, which she sold to the Billiken Company of Chicago. The Billiken was elephant-like with pointed ears, a mischievous smile and a tuft of hair on his pointed head. His arms were short and he was generally sitting with his legs stretched out in front of him. Billiken is known as "The God of Things As They Ought to Be."

To buy a Billiken was said to give the purchaser luck, but to have one given would be better luck. The image was copyrighted and a trademark was put on the name. After a few years of popularity, like other fad toys, the Billiken faded into obscurity. The Billiken should not be confused with baby-like Kewpie figures that debuted in the December 1909 Ladies' Home Journal.

Billiken (magazine)

Billiken is a weekly children's magazine in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the oldest Spanish language magazine for young people.

History and profile

Billiken was founded in 1919 by Constancio C. Vigil, a Uruguayan-born journalist who also founded El Gráfico. Its current director is Juan Carlos Porras. The first edition of the magazine appeared on 17 November 1919 and was named after 'Billiken', a US-made doll popular at the time. One of the cartoonists that worked for Billiken was Manuel García Ferré, with his character Pi Pío.

Billiken has its headquarters in Buenos Aires. The publisher of the magazine is Editorial Atlantida S.A. The magazine targets school-age children and contains a mixture of games, stories, cartoons and news about movies, music and celebrities. Characters made popular in the magazine include 'The Travelling Ant', 'Marta and Jorge' and 'Misia Pepa'.

Billiken is widely available in Uruguay and other South American countries.

The circulation of Billiken was 58,816 copies in 2010, 54,373 copies in 2011 and 54,064 copies in 2012.