Doll-a-Day 2017 #321:Shirley Temple by Ideal

  Today's doll is two again. It's these little girls.

Obviously these are Shirley Temple dolls.

Shirley Temple dolls began to be produced in 1934, after Shirley became a huge star overnight in a small role in the movie "Stand Up and Cheer". (That's the one where she wore the dress with the red polka dots and sang "Baby take a Bow",as opposed to the movie that followed, that was actually called "Baby Take  Bow".)

These dolls are much younger. They are from the 1950's.

They're made by Ideal.

They're marked Ideal,and also 'ST',(for Shirley Temple),and a number, which is also their size.

Bigger Shirley is 15" tall.

 And smaller Shirley is 12" tall.

They both have toothy smiles.

I think those teeth are a bit small to be realistic, but I do love dolls with teeth.

They have brown eyes like the actual Shirley,instead of the inaccurate blue Shirley dolls sometimes have.

They're sleep eyes.

I always loved Shirley Temple. (You can see my posts on my other Shirley dolls HERE, HERE,and my post on Shirley herself  HERE.)My mom,who was born in 1928,was an original Shirley fan. When Ivy was tiny she was obsessed with Shirley. (Bear with me if you've read this story before.) She wanted the dress with red polka dots SO badly, I ended up making one from one of Emma's old outfits, and buying her one online. (Finding the right fabric to make one was impossible,but that's ok, because I couldn't have made one anyway.) We had a pink dress with tiny white polka dots and knife blade pleats that I had bought before Emma was even born. I always referred to it as 'the Shirley Temple dress'. When Ivy was going through her Shirley phase she wanted to wear it every day. With washing, she made it about every other day,with pants and a turtle neck under it because it was so cold in our house in the winter. She even had her picture taken in it, but by the time that happened the dress was getting pretty worn out,and the elastic in the puffy sleeves had pretty much died.

We even wrote to Shirley when Ivy was 6, and sent her a couple of things to sign. Shirley was 77 at the time, but she sent them back signed in a coupe of weeks.

Big Shirley has plenty of bouncy curls.

She even has one of her original hair barrettes.

 She is in need of a redo, but as I have said before, I am notoriously incapable at hair.

Sadly, small Shirley has had a chunk of hair snipped off at the front.

She has also lost most of her curl.

She does have one up on big Shirley though. She is still her original pink,whereas big Shirley is a bit tanned.

When I bought big Shirley she was very yellowy-browned. I cleaned her well and then left her in a sunny window until she faded out to the point where she is now.

Her discolouration isn't as noticeable now, until she's put next to the very pink small Shirley.

She still has a blue mark on her left cheek I can't get rid of.

The lady I bought her from thought she looked like Shirley, but she didn't think she was an actual Shirley because she didn't say 'Shirley Temple' on her anywhere.

I can't remember what she was wearing when I got her,but she's now making do with this dress, which fits, but doesn't do her justice.

Little Shirley is wearing an original Shirley Temple pink slip.

The bodice could do with a pressing.

 I guess some of the boxed dolls came in this slip. I actually had an original 12" Ideal Shirley Temple dress once, but I didn't know what it was. I found someone selling it for Little Miss Revlon, so I assumed that's who it was for. Well you know what happens when we assume:"It makes an ass of you and me." I thought it was Little Miss Revlon,which I don't collect, so I got rid of it! Sheez!

She's also wearing original Ideal Shirley Temple shoes. Well, one anyway. The other has disappeared, but is around here somewhere.

I don't think she was wearing anything when I got her. I paid about $5 for her at a doll show.

She has a  faint green pot in her left eyebrow.(This is the point where I should mention that usually make do with fixer uppers.)
 

It's less noticeable than her sister's bruise. it didn't even show up in some of these pictures.

One of these days I need to get these girls some clothes and maybe even attempt to rejuvenate their ringlets.

That's it for today. Don't forget to check back tomorrow for this week's Shrunken Saturday miniature doll.