Doll-A-Day 2023 #217: Susie Slicker

   Quick post today. It was a bisy one. I apologize if you've seen this doll before. I photographed her last week, thinking she was the perfect doll to photograph on a rainy day, (and it was just about to pour when I took her picture.), but when I started to prepare this post, I checked, and found that she has actually appeared on the blog once or twice, with her 'relatives'. She's never had her own day though, and I have nothing else photographed, so there you are. She's Susie Slicker.

She came wearing the raincoat, with matching hat, tights, and boots. No clothes though.

  One curious thing about some Susie Slicker dolls, and Susie Sad Eyes, is that some of them were made with big green rings under their eyes. I hadn't seen any like that in person at first, so I assumed it was colour run from the eyes. It isn't though. Some of the dolls, including this girl, were made that way.

Susie Slicker, and her non-raincoat wearing counterpart, Susie Sad Eyes, was inspired by the big eyed paintings of Margaret Keane. (The movie "Big Eye", released in 2014, was the story of Margaret Keane.) There were loads of  the dolls made in the 60's, by several companies. They vary in quality, depending on who actually made the dolls.

She's 8 inches tall, with the standard 5 points of articulation.

  To see and learn more about Susie Slicker, Susie Sad Eyes, (and my personal history with them), and Margaret Keane, check out my Big Eye Week posts in the side bar. See you tomorrow!

Doll-A-Day 96: Susie Slicker

   The other day I told you about finding a replica of my stolen childhood Susie Slicker at Salvation Army. She fits right in with the theme I had planned for this month; April Showers. So here she is.

With only one boot, poor Susie has to be careful not to get her tights dirty. Too late!

She is wearing her original raincoat, tights, and one boot.She's missing her purple rain hat.

Susie Slicker also came with an umbrella.I remember mine was mint green plastic with a white plastic handle.The umbrella didn't actually  open.

The lilac buds are finally budding.Susie's coat is so stiff these days she can't raise her arms to touch them.

I still have my Susie's hat and coat,but she must have been wearing her tights and boots when she disappeared. I'm not sure I remember her actually having tights. Replacement purple Susie isn't wearing any, and I got her in her original box, so maybe they didn't all come in tights.

On the other hand, replacement girl doesn't have her umbrella either.(She does have her hat, but it's AWOL at the moment.)

Replacement Susie.

Susie Slicker was made in the 60's. Various companies put out Susie Slicker and Susie Sad Eyes, (the non-raincoat wearing version.), type dolls of varying quality. The look was based on paintings by Margaret Keane.

Susie Slicker in her original box. This one appears to be like my Susie. Replacement Susie came in a coloured hard plastic box with cut out flower shapes.

With auction Susie.Notice the big dark rings under auction Susie's eyes. I remember my original Susie didn't have those.I'm not sureif mine had the thinner bangs like new girl though. It was a loooong time ago!They both have the stiffer plastic raincoat though.

No one is immune to the dreaded One Hair.

 

As I said yesterday, we saw replacement Susie on line, and since she was wearing the purple raincoat and hat I assumed she was the same as my Susie. She has a softer vinyl rain coat and hat, and she's got a very red complexion. I remembered my Susie as being a much better quality doll.She was made of a better quality plastic,with nicer hair,and her raincoat and hat are a much stiffer, heavier, shinier vinyl. Some of that could have been idealized childhood memories, but I do have the hat and coat as proof it wasn't just that! Besides, this doll fits all those other memories, so maybe I was right.

See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 38: More Susie Slickers, Maudlynne Macabre, and J Doll Diamante La Calle

  We're wrapping up Big Eye week, or Sad Eyes week, whatever you want to call it, today. Tomorrow is another Skipper Saturday, so please come back for that.
  Today I we're going to look at more Susie Sad Eyes/Slicker dolls, and then at a couple of the modern versions of 'Big Eye' type dolls.
  I got these Susie dolls in a box lot at an auction recently.

I felt pretty lucky to get them as cheaply as I did, considering how expensive they can be these days. The pink raincoat is the thicker, stiffer kind like my childhood Susie came in.

Unfortunately this girl is missing her hat, but she does have her tights and boots.(They came with no clothes under the raincoat,which is unfortunate if you want to take her coat off.)I have an extra pink raincoat I put on the black haired doll. It's so stiff she can hardly be made to put her arms down. She's like Randy from "A Christmas Story"!

Raincoat Girl also has the reddish complexion my purple coated Susie has. (Replacement Susie #2.)She and the pale black haired girl have the dreaded green ring thing under their eyes.It seems to be actually painted that way. Thank goodness all Susie's weren't!

Black Haired Girl is more like I remember my original Susie. She's a better quality vinyl, with softish arms and a pale complexion.Her head is a softer vinyl than pink raincoat girl, and they have different manufacturer markings, even though they are obviously made from the same mold.Both of them are a better molding job than my Sad Eyes doll, with her untrimmed fingers.

  It seems like on the tail end of Susie's production, some of the left over heads were used on cheap 'dress me ' type doll bodies like you used to be able to buy in the craft aisle.Like this one I got from yard sale lady Donna this past summer,

The kind with the solid bodies and moveable arms only.

I know they came that way, because I got one in the package that way from Salvation Army a few years ago. (I probably shouldn't have, but I opened her and removed her head for rebodying.)

I've also seen them online on the Dress Me bodies in plastic packages. Somebody was tying to sell one for $200!(Although I kind of doubt they got $200.)
The third girl is on the 'Dress Me' type body. Her head is just about the most unattractive I have ever seen on a Sad Eyes doll like these.She was obviously made VERY cheaply, with crappy vinyl.But still, same head mold.

She looks way better in this close up than in real life!

There is an orange haired Susie Slicker I don't have that I'd love to.Maybe someday I'll be lucky enough to come across one, because I'm definately not paying the prices they are getting online.

Moving on to the modern "Big Eye' types,here is Maudlynne Macabre.

Maudlynne is made by the Tonner company. She shares the same body as Little Mismatched,so she can wear LMM's clothes.But her head is all Big Eye.

She's a bit Goth, but not overly so. She still has a pink complexion and a little girl look. No drastic make-up.

You may remember seeing Maudlynne in my after Christmas post. Ken got her for me for Christmas, after I left the Tonner page up on the computer and kept reminding him that the sale was about to end...

Maudlynne is poseable, as you can see.It would be great if she had jointed ankles and wrists. She could be put in so many more cute poses. Also, her legs could do with being more poseable from the hips.That first picture, the standing pose with the crossed feet, requires her to have something to lean against so she doesn't fall over. If her ankles were jointed and her legs moved out from the hips that wouldn't be necessary.

I also recently bought a Diamante La Calle J Doll by Jun Planning. I haven't opened her because I'm still hoping to get to exchange her for a less depressing looking J Doll, preferably with red hair.

Diamante is a little too dead looking, even for me.

 I also would have liked a slightly taller doll (This girl is only 9" tall.), with more articulation. From what I hear, this series isn't as jointed as they could be.

But both these girls are examples of the 'Big Eye' dolls around today. Big Eye dolls didn't go away.They just got more expensive!

I do have my Leptospermum, but one of these days I hope to get a larger ball jointed doll like a Volks or something.I'll have to wait until one shows up at a yard sale though. (Too expensive.) But I'm not holding my breath. (Then I'd look like my J doll...)

 

Doll-A-Day 37: Susie Slicker

  Today is Susie Slicker day.

She's wearing  the raincoat and boots, and cotton undies. She also has a matching hat to go with her raincoat.

This is a Susie Slicker that Ken bought me one year, after hearing (about a million times),my sad tale of loss about my childhood Susie being stolen. I was so excited when we found her online. She had the purple coat and hat that my Susie had.  (Her hat is elsewhere at the moment, as are my Susie's hat and coat.)

But when I got her, she was different.(I'm never satisfied, am I?) Her hat and coat are a soft vinyl, while my Susie's are a stiffer vinyl. I don't think I could even get mine on a doll nowdays, without the hat popping off and the coat being so stiff the doll couldn't keep her arms down.
  She was also a lower quality than I remember my old Susie being, but that could just be me not remembering correctly. After all, I was only about 7 when Susie disappeared. I don't know what the difference is though.Susie Slicker came in cardboard boxes, like this.

Unfortunately not mine. I'll be glad to remove the picture if asked. I wanted to show the different boxes.This doll is labelled Fun World.

But she also came in hard plastic boxes like this.

Also not mine. I'll also be glad to remove this if asked.

  The boxes were various colours. Mine is orange.
Here's mine:

This one is also marked Fun World.This is the one Ken's replacement Susie came in.
  One difference I see is that the cardboard box Susie has tights, which I think mine may have had, and the plastic box ones, including my replacement, has none.The solution to the question may be that several different companies made the dolls, even when they were sold by the same company, like these two Fun World Susies. The other thing is that it was much easier to get by with copying someone else's doll in those days. Look at all the clones of popular dolls that are so close they may even have used the same mold.
  Like this Skipper clone... 

 and this Francie clone...

Replacement  Susie also has a very red complexion.

I don't think she's really any shorter. She was just being photographed on a squashy surface.

Her plastic is a better quality and her hands are molded much better, but she's way more red faced than my childhood replacement "Sad Eyes Doll", that you saw yesterday.Her hair is more brown than Sad Eyes girl's hair. It's rooted much better though.

Her face seems a lot more round than Sad Eyes. It could just be an optical illusion though, due to the way  the hair falls on them.

  There are also alot of the Susie type dolls that have developed large black or green rings under their eyes. I guess the moral of the story is, if you're buying one of these girls, make sure you get to see her first, and look her over carefully.
  They never made a Sammy Slicker. That would have been cute.Food for thought if I ever find one that needs a redo I guess.

Another Margaret Keane painting.Awwww.

  Tomorrow we'll take a look at a couple of modern successors to the Big Eye title.

Doll-A-Day 36: Chadwick Miller Sad Eyes Doll

No, she's not Susie Sad Eyes.

She's a doll I bought as a kid to replace my Susie Slicker doll.Her box just calls her 'Sad Eyes Doll'. Can't deny that.

She looks  a lot happier on the box.

 She was made for Chadwick Miller in Hong Kong. But made by who?

She's wearing her original dress, tights, and shoes, and as you can see,I have her box. For years I kept doll shoes and combs and stuff in it.I'm sure I kept it because of the pictures though. I've always been like that.

She's about the same size as Penny Brite, about 8 inches tall.

She looks so left out. In truth, she and my Penelope, (on the left.) hung out a lot. (I think they were both adopted kids of the Brennan's: see doll-a-day post # 20, from January 20th.) My sister's Penny, (on the right), was a bit of a snob.

If you've been following Big Eye week here at Planet of the Dolls, you'll remember I said in my Little Miss No Name post that my cousin stole my Susie Slicker.So, I bought this doll to replace her, but I never loved her as much as Susie. For one thing, she was a poorer quality doll...

Hers are the hands on the left. You can see how badly molded they are. The hands on the right belong to tomorrow's doll,a Susie Slicker Ken bought for me to replace my Susie.

...and didn't have the warm glow Susie had. Her hair was a cheaper fiber too.But she was a big eye doll, which I loved.

Susie came wearing a purple plastic rain coat and hat, boots, and she 'carried' a mint green umbrella with a white handle. We had gone to my grama's for the only time that wasn't for a summer vacation. It was Easter, and we went because my uncle drove us when he came up from Florida.(Grama and Grampa lived in Kentucky.) I don't remember much about the visit, but I do remember  this: there were lots of other relatives there. My sister went down early one morning to find that baby cousin Pernell had left his calling card on the couch, (which my sister referred to as "a Pernell poop".). And that I had taken Little Miss No Name and Susie with me, and after leaving Susie on top of my suitcase in preparation for leaving, I returned to the room to find her GONE!

My cousin just had a stupid talking pillow. No wonder she needed Susie.

I immediately suspected my cousin, who had been a pain in the butt the whole time we had been there. (For the record, I only saw this cousin half a dozen times in my life, and as she got older she did improve.) She denied everything, and Susie was never found. I still have Susie's coat and hat though, as a sad reminder.
  I always say I started collecting various dolls I remember other kids having when I was a kid because at one point I decided I wanted some of those "other kids' dolls". Maybe that's what my cousin was thinking back then. 
  Tomorrow we'll have a look at the doll Ken bought for me, to replace Susie.