Doll-A-Day 2019 #14: Mary Poppins Week: 8" Mary

  A little news before I start on today's doll: Some of you may have heard by now that Emily at The Toybox Philosopher, has retired from blogging. Her last post, announcing this, was put up a couple of days ago. It was a bit sudden,and all comments are disabled,so we can't send her our goodbyes or wish her well. I'm not sure why she quit or why her departure was so sudden. It doesn't seem there was anything wrong,just that she is 'moving on'. It's still a little confusing. I'm going to miss Emily's sense of humour,beautiful photographs and super detailed reviews. Hers was one of the first few blogs I followed. In fact, in the last two or three years three of the first blogs I followed have ended. One was because of a death,(Vanessa at Van's Doll treasures passed away in 2017.),and in addition to Emily,Hannah at Never Grow Up closed up shop at her blog last year. Nothing lasts forever I guess.
  Now on to today's doll.
  This week we're going to celebrate the recent release of the movie "Mary Poppins Returns" with a week of Mary Poppins themed dolls. Today we're going to look at Mary herself.

There have been quite a few Mary Poppins dolls made,including several 60's dolls based on the original movie,dolls from the 2000's that were also based on the original movie,and the doll based on the new Mary Poppins movie.  Like this 16" doll...

...and this 12" one.
 

Today's doll was made by Horsman.

She was produced in 1964,around the time of the original "Mary Poppins" movie.

There were at least four versions of Mary Poppins dolls made by Horsman. There was a 12" and a 36 inch doll dressed like this doll...

All three have different face sculpts though.

There was a gift set too,which included the 12" doll,along with the Jolly Holiday dress,and the striped dress with apron,(which said 'Mary Poppins' across the chest).

There were two sets that also contained the Banks kids,one with the extra clothing and one without.

Jane looks like Ideal's Pepper,only stumpier.

This doll is 8 inches tall.

She has a short sleeved dress on under her coat.

 

She has black net tights and black boots.

 

The boots have high heels.

In spite of the high heeled boots, I managed to get Mary to stand on her own.
 

And of course she has her hat.
 

This hat has seen better days.
 

The hat is made of paper-like felt and it hasn't fared well over the years.

 

All her clothes are removable.

Her hat is still hooked to her head though.
 

I might eventually take it off, since it's in such bad shape anyway. But for now,I haven't. If I do, then I can fix her hair, which is in need of some touch up.
 

Her hair is quite long. I don't think Mary Poppins ever wore her hair down in the movie,but this girl basically has a long ponytail.

She would have originally come with Mary's famous carpet bag too,but she's missing hers.

She has the standard jointing at the neck, shoulders,and hips.

I think this doll has the prettiest face of the original three dolls. Since she's short,she'd make a good child doll to go with larger bodied fashion dolls like Tammy's family.

The character 'Mary Poppins' originated in a book of the same name by P.L. Travers,published in 1934. Travers wrote a total of eight Mary Poppins novels,the last being first published in 1988. All the books tell the adventures of Mary and the Banks children,Jane and Michael. In the books, Jane and Michael aren't the only Banks children though. In the first book there is also a set of twins,and in a later book there is a new baby girl as well.

The new movie, "Mary Poppins Returns" isn't based on any of the books, but takes at least one idea from a later book: the way Mary arrives.
 

 This particular doll belonged to a friend of mine. There's a story behind that,which we'll hear about later this year.

  Tomorrow we'll see another Mary Poppins themed doll...or dolls.