Doll-A-Day 2019 # 129: Caco Kids

  I was planning on mowing my overgrown yard today.
  It was nice yesterday and I hung laundry outside. I could have mowed then. But I wanted to spend the day with Ken. It was his day off. We got cheated out of his day off last week. He spent the whole day last Wednesday trying to fix things when the downstairs bathroom sink fell off the wall and all the pipes broke! The old bracket just broke, and the sink,which had no legs or other form of support, fell and took the pipes with it. And it was a two faucet sink,(The hot and cold came out of different taps.This is a very old sink!),so there were two pipes broken and spraying water, not just one. The downstairs bathroom was put in by the previous owner of the house, who moved in in 1939. He was using 1939 or 1940's pipes and fittings. Ken was back and forth to the hardware stores about a million times trying to get something that would work. We had to shut the water off so it wasn't spraying out all over the bathroom. There wasn't a shut off valve for just the bathroom,so we had to shut off ALL the water. It had to stay shut off until Ken got it fixed. (Keep in mind here that Ken is no way going to call a plumber. He's far too cheap, and we just don't have 'Plumber' kind of money right now. Especially if it was going to take the plumber anywhere near as long to figure out a solution as it took Ken.) The problem was, one of the pipes had broken off right at floor level. It couldn't be capped from above because it was right in the floor. It was hard to cap from the basement because it had to be pulled down through the floor,or cut off farther along, and it kept changing size as it went through the basement! After all his trips to the hardware store he hadn't been able to find anything the right size to fit any of that pipe. He didn't get it fixed on Wednesday. We had to wash using bottled water. Thursday he was back and forth to the hardware stores again and banging around at things in the basement...until he had to go to work. More bottled baths that night. There were some additional complications,but on Friday he finally sorted it out. He had to go to work though,so it would have to wait to actually be fixed until he got home late that night.  It was going to require cutting the pipes to the bathroom and sealing it off until we sort out a new sink that can stand unaided by the wall,(Because that was never going to happen again.),and can run all new pipes that actually fit the modern systems.Luckily we have a full bathroom upstairs,and it will still have water.
  Now,I have very long hair. We had to buy bottled water because we had to shut off the water suddenly, without warning, to keep from flooding the bathroom. There was no chance to draw water for anything before doing that. It would have taken many bottles of water to wash my hair. And we kept hoping he'd get the thing fixed and turn the water back on. So by Friday night I had three day dirty hair. Emma called  that night to remind me that we had the Joe Jackson concert the next night. AH! I can't go out in public with this hair!. The good news was that Ken was pretty sure by then that his last trip to the hardware store had provided what he needed,and he would have things sorted when he got home from work. Luckily, he was right.I washed my hair TWICE with the,as I call it,'greasy hair shampoo'. So I didn't have to appear in public with that nasty hair!
  So, as I started to say, yesterday I didn't want to spend a large portion of Ken's day off mowing the hay field of a yard we now have because, between feeling awful for 2 months and having crashing headaches, etc,and the fact that it's been raining almost every day for two weeks at least,I haven't gotten it mowed yet. (To answer my sister's stupid question, 'Why doesn't Ken mow it?',Ken has a bad back, bad knees, bad ankles,bad elbows,and bad wrists. He also works a job, and if he screws himself up mowing the yard and can't do his job,then we're in trouble.) I planned to mow the yard today. Of course, today it's raining again!
  There was no particular reason to tell you all that except that I feel guilty for not getting the yard mowed!
  Also, I was going to photograph a doll outside today after I got the yard mowed. I can't mow because of the rain,so I had to think of something to photograph inside. Right on cue these little kids arrived in the mail today.

They're Caco 1/12 scale dollhouse dolls. I recently fell in love with Caco dolls since seeing lots of photos by one of the Flickr people I follow.

Let's call the girl Kay,and the boy...Jeffrey.

They're made in Germany. I think these are probably from the 1960's, but I'm going to pretend they're 1940's kids.

Kay: Hello? Is anyone in here?

Caco dolls are very posable. They have thread wrapped arms and legs,with a wire armature. Even their heads can be posed.

Kay: There's nobody here. Come on in.

The girl's clothes are cotton,and the boy's clothes are felt. She's wearing a checked apron over a very colourful skirt.

Kay: Something smells good!

If you get them posed properly, they can stand on their own.

Look!

 I think her hair is mohair. His hair is molded.

Kay: What's all  the stuff on the table?

 He has lots of detail in his little molded head.

Jeffrey: What stuff?

Their shoes are painted plastic.

Jeffrey: What is it?

She has silk ribbons on her braids. I should try to tidy up those braids, but I'm afraid I'd mess them up. Plus I'd never get those ribbons retied.

Kay: Let's see.

You can see some of the paint has worn off Kay's shoes. They're in pretty good shape though.

Kay: Somebody's been making cookies!

Caco started out as Caho,the name being made up of the beginning of the names of both founders,Fritz Canzler and Hans Hoffman. Fritz had previously owned an import.export business, (Just like Art Vandelay.),but when he got frustrated with the erratic delivery of goods, he decided to start his own company,producing dolls and doll clothes. It was Hoffman who had the idea of making bendable dolls. They began producing the dolls in 1930. Before the company stopped making dolls during World War two they were making 200 differently dressed dolls.After the war production resumed.

Jeffrey: Where are they? The cookies I mean. Not the person who made them.

Kay: I don't know. There's no cookie jar.

Eventually the business, which had been based in communist East Germany,was moved to Coburg,and the name was changed to Caco,for Canzler/Coburg. Hoffman died in the 1950's.

Kay:  Maybe they're in the breadbox.

Kay: Climb up and see.

The original Caco dolls had composition heads and lead hands and feet. This was eventually changed to plastic because of the ban on lead toys. The dolls briefly had plastic covered arms, before they were changed back to thread wrapped.

Jeffrey: Why do I have to do it?

The hands were changed to plastic in 1962,and the heads were changed to plastic in 1964.

Jeffrey: Why can't you?  Kay: Because I'm a girl stupid! Girls can't climb!

I had so much fun posing these two.

Jeffrey: If I get in trouble, I'm saying you made me.

Kay: Fair enough.

I think they need parents. And maybe a baby sibling...

Kay: Well? Do you see them?

Jeffrey: Nope.

Jeffrey: There's nothing in here but light bread. Can we eat it?

My dad always talked about how 'light bread',otherwise known as plain old store bought white bread,was such a treat when he was a kid. All they usually got was homemade bread. Cry me a river! I guess what you can't have is always better!

Kay: Let's stay focused here!

Ok. Kids in the 40's didn't say that.

Jeffrey: Well? Now what?

  He's wearing Sans-a-Belt shorts!

Kay: Let me think. If I were a cookie,where would I be?

Jeffrey: In your stomach?

Kay: How could I be in my own stomach?!

Look at all the detail in those tiny plastic hands!

Jeffrey: I don't know. I just want a cookie.

Kay: Maybe they're still in the stove. Let's look.  Jeffrey" I'm not allowed to touch the stove.

Kay: Well I can,because I'm a girl and we have to learn how to cook. You have to play sports.

Jeffrey: But I'm not good at sports.

Just so you know,I'm joking here.

Kay: I know. Come on.

Kay: Oh! They're not in the oven either!

Does anybody remember when people used the warming compartment in a stove? My grama always cooked on a wood stove,and she used to put the biscuits in the warming drawer when we weren't down for breakfast right away.

Kay: There's always the warming drawer.

Kay: Now we're cooking with gas!  Jeffrey: I thought they were already cooked.

40's kids did say that.

Jeffrey: Swell! Gimme a cookie!

Kay: Just slow down there.

Kay: I found the cookies, so obviously I have the say,and I say I get more.

Jeffrey: But I did all the climbing and stuff!

Kay: But you didn't find them up there,did you?

Kay: I found them. That means I get more.

Kay: That only makes sense.

Jeffrey: Not to me! Gimme a cookie!

  Those are the dolls for today. See you again tomorrow for another doll.