I Love Lollipops Tootie

Illustration of a girl with short red hair with glasses wearing a pink sweater and orange skirt on a yellow background with black text

Marty Links, born in 1917, was a cartoonist and fashion illustrator best known for the syndicated comic strip Emmy Lou (originally titled Bobby Sox), which ran from 1944 to 1979. She was a pioneer in a field largely dominated by men, chronicling the lives of teenage girls through cartoon. Links also worked for Hallmark as a greeting card illustrator and merchandise designer. She developed a series of characters known as Kidlinks, of which Tootie is one, before retiring in 2000. Links passed away in 2008.