Doll-A-Day 2023 #11: Marx American Family Dollhouse Boy

**UPDATE: Thanks to our reader, Beth, for letting us know that this boy is from the American Family Dollhouse Family by Marx. Thanks Beth!**   

Today's doll is another little fellow. He's this boy by Marx.

  I don't know much about this kid. He's about 4 inches tall.  

I know he's made by Marx, in Hong Kong.

He has books under his arm.

And as you may have seen, a slingshot in his back pocket.

So are the books just a ruse, to make him appear studious? While he's planning on shooting rocks through your window?

He has white 'sneakers', as they said in the Old Days.

He has some wear. I've heard of digging your heels in, but this kid appears to have dug his toes in. And off.

His hair is molded and painted.

But I have always wondered what set he's from. He doesn't look like your standard dollhouse or playset kid. He has a smart aleck look about him. He reminds me of a Chuck Jones character. (Chuck Jones was an animator and director, known for the later Warner Brothers cartoons, and "How The Grinch Stole Christmas". You know a Chuck Jones character when you see it!)

Looks like he's 'had his nose to the grindstone' too...

In fact, he reminds me a lot of the the animated version of the main character from the movie "The Phantom Tollbooth". 

Not enough hair on the doll though, and I'm sure they didn't make toys from the movie.

  "The Phantom Tollbooth" is a wonderful kids book by Norton Juster. I loved that book as a kid, and read it to Emma, I believe, when she was small. The movie I didn't like as much. (Apparently Norton Juster hated it.) It was directed by Chuck Jones, who had previously directed the Academy Award winning short film adaptation of Norton Juster's "The Dot and the Line", in 1965. "The Phantom Tollbooth" starred Eddie Munster...uh. I mean, Butch Patrick!

I guess Butch Patrick looked a little like a Chuck Jones character himself.

  The story concerned a crabby, bored kid named Milo,(Patrick), who comes home from school one day to find a mysterious package in his room. The package contained a build it yourself kid sized tollbooth and a kid sized car. With nothing else to do, Milo puts the tollbooth together, and as per the instructions, chooses a random place to go in The Kingdom of Wisdom, and drives through it. When he does, his room disappears and he enters into a different world. (In the movie, this is the point where everything becomes animated.) I always got a sort of Alice in Wonderland feeling from it. (The book, not the movie.) The previous "The Dot and the Line" used math to tell a story. 'Tollbooth' uses words. No. I mean it really uses words. It's full of imaginative word play. Unfortunately, not only kids, but most adults these days, might not get most of the puns, but that's all the more reason to read the book! 

  The movie was released in 1970, but filmed in 1968, which still means Butch Patrick was FIFTEEN when he appeared as Milo! No wonder he looks a little uncomfortable in that tiny car!

  A remake of "The Phantom Tollbooth" has been in the works since 2010. No recent word of the likelihood of it ever actually being made.

  That's the doll for today. I kind of strayed off on a tangent, didn't I? Sorry about that! If anybody can identify this kid, please leave a comment. See you tomorrow for another doll.