golliwog

Lyons was ideal material for the ‘Honest Joe’ image. He had a round chubby face under a mop of curly hair that made him resemble a cross between a koala bear and a golliwog.

Deemed equally ‘harmless’ by its perpetrators is that close relation to the cannibal; the golliwog.[…]Dixon′s brilliant essay ‘All things white and beautiful’ (1976) argues that golliwogs are associated with fear and darkness, quoting an Enid Blyton story of Noddy being trapped and robbed of his car and his clothes, even his ‘dear little hat’ by ‘four big strong golliwogs’. Dixon observes how a four-year-old got the message from the pictures alone, which show the golliwogs driving off and ‘poor little’ Noddy on the ground.

But even wooden limbs get tired/ And want a change of play/ So "Golliwogg"/ A "jolly dog"/ Suggests they run away.