Doll-A-Day 2023 #117: Freaky Fusion Neighthan Rot

    I spotted today's doll recently, and was a bit surprised. I haven't seen a Monster High doll at a thrift store in a while. And even when I did, I almost never saw the male dolls.  I have one, but he's missing a foot. So I nabbed this guy. His name is Neighthan Rot.

  He's from a 2013 line of Monster High dolls called Freaky Fusion. He's supposed to be 'two monsters in one'. I guess he's a zombie unicorn? (Apparently he calls himself a 'zombiecorn'.) Thus the name: Neigh-than (Nathan), Rot. He is decomposing. One side of his face and one arm and hand are decomposed.

But the rest of his face and his other hand are fine.

And he definitely has a tail growing out of his back, just above his pants.

He has ears and a horn sticking out of his hat, which also has horns. Or at least spikes.

The hat has raised stitching details.

    A zombie and a unicorn? For one thing, a unicorn isn't a monster, just a magical creature. For another thing, a zombie...human? Mated with a unicorn? We're getting into weird territory here.

  He has a multicoloured tail and ponytail.

  Another thing that impressed me when I found him was that he's so complete. Other than his big yellow boots, he has his complete outfit: the hat, a shirt that looks like his internals...

...and a pair of pants that look like...?

  Like all Monster High dolls he's nicely articulated.

  That's the doll for today. Emma got her stent put in today, and has stopped leaking externally. She's feeling better and less in pain by now. She was still not allowed solid foods today. Hopefully she will get to go home tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #116: Malibu Barbie

  I'm trying to get caught up, and I am getting a couple of reviews ready. But mainly today was doing some cleaning, and visiting with Emma. She was transferred to a bigger hospital today. She may have the stent put in tomorrow, but it seems they probably won't put the camera down her throat and look at her insides tomorrow. I'm guessing that kind of thing won't get done on the weekend either, so she may be there until Monday! She's feeling much better though, which is great. She had been having so much pain and was feeling terrible for so long. This gall bladder removal may also be the end of some other problems she's had for years. If anybody is experiencing severe stomach pain, chest pain, vomiting, etc., obviously you should get yourself checked out. But make sure you ask about the possibility of gall bladder problems when you talk to your doctor. Emma went to see the doctor just a week or so ago, in the midst of her really severe troubles. She was told she might have GERD, and gall bladder was never mentioned. If this had been caught early, she could have been in and out with the removal in a day. Instead, her gall bladder was so deteriorated that she was extremely sick and in great pain, her gall bladder became infected, and she developed a leak in her liver. She went in the hospital Tuesday morning, and as of tonight, (Thursday night), she's still not home.

  On to today's doll. She's Malibu Barbie.

Malibu Barbie, first produced in 1971, became the idea of the quintessential beach girl. She had long blonde hair, blue eyes, a heavy tan, a 'perfect' figure, and lived at the beach. 

Pardon her dirty swimsuit. The ocean waters ain't what they used to be.

Yes, she does seem to have had a piece chopped out of her hair.

Personally, I never thought she was one of the more attractive Barbies. She was made with the Stacey head sculpt. Stacey is my favourite Barbie and Friends doll. But Malibu Barbie was given weird little 70's eyebrows, spikey lashes, and a cancer inducing complexion. Also, the hair on Malibu Barbies is usually coarse and unattractive. (Must be all that swimming in salt water.)

Malibu Barbie came in a light blue swimsuit, and originally would have had sunglasses attached to the top of her head. The ones I have mostly seen are a thin nylon, like the extra suit pictured below with Barbie. This doll though, was wearing the suit you see on her here, which is a heavier fabric. The colour difference is probably due to fading, but the fabric difference has me confused.

The staining doesn't make it easy to see the colour difference clearly.

But maybe you can tell from this close up that the suit she's wearing is a heavier fabric than the extra suit. It's much more structured looking.

  Malibu Barbie was part of a line that included Malibu Ken, Malibu Skipper, Malibu PJ, which used the Steffie head sculpt, Malibu Francie, which used the old Casey head sculpt, and Malibu Christie.

  Malibu Barbie was first reproduced in 2008, as part of the 'My Favorite Barbie' line, to coincide with Barbie's 50th anniversary the following year. She was also celebrated on her own 50th anniversary, in 2021, with a reproduction doll, sold alone, and as part of a gift set with reproductions of Malibu Christie and Malibu PJ.

  Later original editions of Malibu Barbie were made to 'tan' when laid in the sun. They actually stayed pale under their swimsuits. It's kind of weird looking, and you'll find many of the dolls with their 'pale paint' all scratched up.

  There is a doll that looks like a pale version of this Malibu Barbie, complete with a (different) light blue swimsuit. She was a European doll called Fashion Fireworks. You can see mine HERE.

  This girl will end up on the sales page. She was in the Room of Water, with the dolls I don't want, and she didn't even get wet!

  That's the doll for today. See you again tomorrow.

  

Doll-A-Day 2023 #115: Oliver Hardy

   Yes, I missed a day again. By the time I got the book post up last night I was too tired to do the regular post. The book post was farther behind, so it had priority. Now I'm EIGHT days behind for the year! I'll catch up some day. Hopefully I'll at least get this week's late post up in a few days.

  Emma is still in the hospital. She has a drain in her side because she has a tear in her liver, and bile would otherwise be draining into her body. She also has an antibiotic IV drip. She is supposed to be transferred to another, bigger hospital where they can put a stent in her side to drain the bile, while her liver heals. She is feeling better though, other than some leftover pain from all she's been through. They have no idea when they'll be moving her, as they have to wait until there is a bed free at the other hospital. Good thing she didn't have to go there to get the gall bladder out!

  Today's doll is Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy.

"Chin up! No,no, no! Both of them!": Stan, (who thinks he is 'Lord Paddington', and Oliver is his butler), to Ollie, in "A Chump at Oxford". 

  As you may have guessed from the multiple Laurel and Hardy dolls I've posted HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, I do love me some Laurel and Hardy. This guy was found at a yard sale or thrift store years ago. I had never washed him, even though I love to wash any second hand thing I can, because I was always afraid he would fall apart. His insides are at least partially styrofoam I think, so I was worried that wasn't going to stand up to the washing machine. Well, poor Ollie was in the Room of Water, so when he came here to be rehabilitated, a trip in the washing machine was his only recourse. He survived quite well, and looks wonderful.

  He's about 22 inches tall, but that's just eyeballing it.

Either he has unnaturally pale hands, or he's wearing white gloves, neither of which Oliver Hardy was known for.

  He's made by a company called  Toy Network. I think he's like a claw machine toy or fair prize. That type of thing.

He was made in 2004. 

To answer the question as to why Laurel and Hardy's likenesses are owned by something called Larry Harmon Pictures Corporation, well, allow me to rant. Larry Harmon was best known for, (other than his various Laurel and Hardy projects), playing Bozo the Clown, which he began doing in the late 1940's. He bought the rights to that too. (He's the guy to blame for all the local Bozo TV shows in the 60's. I hate that guy.) Heck, let me quote myself, from a previous Laurel and Hardy post:

 If you ever check the copyright on a Laurel and Hardy item made from the 60's onward, you'll notice that it says   'Copyright Larry Harmon". Larry Harmon obtained the rights to Laurel and Hardy's images from Stan and his wife, and Oliver Hardy's widow Lucille. Harmon was a friend of Stan's, and was known as the owner and portrayer of Bozo the Clown. (In spite of Harmon's frequent claims to have invented Bozo, Bozo was created by Alan W. Livingston in the 1940's,and was first portrayed by Pinto Colvig. Bozo even served as the mascot for Capitol Records, before Harmon bought the rights from Capitol in 1956.) 

And to complete that thought, here is my answer to a comment on the same post: 

  Oliver Hardy never had any children. Stan had a daughter, Lois Laurel Hawes, who is still alive.(She has passed since that post.) I'm not sure if Lois gets anything, but probably not, since Harmon owned the rights to the names and images. Sad really. Harmon was a friend of Stan's, but I kind of always felt he pulled a fast one on him somehow, getting those rights that way. Why would they sell them? It's like Jim Henson selling the Muppets. I know he sold them because he wanted to (so they would carry on after he was gone.), but it still irritates me when I hear "Disney's Muppets". They're not Disney's, and they never will be to me. Same with Star Wars. That and the Harmon thing reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum's character tells 'John Hammond', "...it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you wanna sell it. Well..." It irks me that 'Bozo' made, and Disney is making, a fortune on the hard work of others, and all they had to do was buy someone else's legend.

  I still stand by that opinion of Larry Harmon and the whole situation. I think Harmon took advantage of his friendship with Stan, and the whole opportunity to befriend Stan in the first place. Stan left his number and address in the phone book until he died, so a lot of people made their way to his door, including Dick Van Dyke, who became a good friend and gave the eulogy at Stan's funeral, and Jerry Lewis, who considered himself a comic genius and wanted to probably discuss comedy with Stan, who was much better at it than he was. (Personal opinion!) Larry Harmon was one of those people who trekked to Stan's door, and ingratiated themselves. Oliver had already  passed away, so it was undoubtedly Stan's influence that allowed Harmon to buy the rights from Oliver's widow, Lucille.

  I'm sorry, but Larry Harmon really, to quote my dad, "Gripes my a**"! 

  And now back to Oliver! He has his classic tie, for 'twiddling'...

The famous 'tie twiddle'.

...and bowler hat...

  and of course, his little bangs and tiny mustache.

  Sorry he's very cat hairy. The culprit is this gentleman right here:

The long arm of the Cowboy.

His name is Cowboy, and he keeps me company most of the time. I think a lot of that is to get away from his stepbrother, Arthur, who loves to annoy him, more than a desire to hang out with me. But I'll take what I can get. He does leave his calling cards behind though, and they are hair.

For being cheaply made, and a bit cartoony, this doll does resemble Oliver quite a bit. 

  That's the doll for today. Hopefully we'll see you again tomorrow.

The Doll Book of the Month Club: Patsy Ann, Her Happy Times

   I totally missed the last day of April! And yesterday we had to go somewhere, and spent all day, and I was busy today because Emma went in to the emergency room this morning and ended up being taken in to have her gall bladder removed right away. She's been having stomach pains and throwing up, etc, for three and a bit weeks. She was told she just had GERD. but now we know she had a gall bladder going bad. What should have been a gall bladder removal and home by the end of the day has turned into at least an over night stay, and maybe longer, with a drain in her side and an antibiotic drip for the infection and inflammation. That was one bad gall bladder. I had mine out years ago, and it was nothing like she's had.

  So, I am just getting around to The Doll Book of the Month Club book for April. This month it's Patsy Ann, Her Happy Times.

  Patsy Ann was a doll produced by Effanbee. She was part of the Patsy family of dolls, which premiered in 1926. Patsy Ann was produced from 1928, into the 1940's. Patsy Ann, Her Happy Times was published in 1935. 

  It reminds me of the Edith the Lonely Doll books, with the cute pictures of Patsy Ann in every day situations.

And it is basically a picture book, with very little writing. What writing there is tells the simple story of what Patsy Ann does. But the pictures, of Patsy Ann going about her days, make it worth it. 

  One review I read said the book was basically one long commercial for Effanbee's products. I don't know about that. I mean, I'm not sure all of the stuff shown is an Effanbee product. And anyway, isn't that the point of every doll book? They're selling the book based on the doll's popularity, or promoting the doll by putting out a book. That's still being done today. But that doesn't make seeing a cute doll washing clothes or taking a walk in the rain, any less enjoyable. I've said it before, and I stick to it: Who doesn't love seeing 'live' toys? I thought the book was cute. I love the 1930's, and I love 'live' toys, so I had no complaints.

  You can watch the book being read aloud and see all the pictures HERE.

  That's the Doll Book for April. Also check out today's doll of the day. 

Doll-A-Day 2023 #114: Kelly as Little Red Riding Hood

   Today's doll is a boxed set: Kelly as Little Red Riding Hood.

This is one of those collector's sets featuring Barbie's little sister, Kelly. It was fourth in the Storybook Favourites series, which also included Raggedy Ann and Andy, Goldilocks, and Hansel and Gretel, This set was produced in 2001.

The back of the box gives a kindler, gentler version of Little Red Riding Hood than the one I grew up with. In this version, Grama was just hiding in the pantry, and comes out when a huntsman scares the wolf away. In the version we had as kids, the wolf eats Grama, and a woodcutter ends up cutting the wolf open with his axe and Grama is found whole and sound inside the wolf's stomach!

  Kelly  as Red wears a pretty dress, with attached apron, and her signature red hooded cape....

...while the Wolf wear Grama's  night cap and glasses!

This wolf could barely get Red in it's stomach, let alone Grama.

  Red has her basket of apples. In the story I know, she has a jar of jelly and some bread for Grama.

The elastic that held it to her hand has finally given up.

Red's cape has a hook and eye closure, but is stitched together anyway.

 The Kelly dolls in the collector sets like this seemed to have more realistic hair than the play line dolls. It's not crazy long, and not as terribly thick as the play line's.

  That's the doll for today. See you again tomorrow.