The story behind a story

  I have always loved miniature versions of real things.I can remember begging my mom for one of her metal bobbins (They were all metal in those days.) because it looked like a miniature film reel. I don't know what I would have done with it. (She would never give me one.) I might have just kept it because it was a cool miniature, or I might have come up with some movie scenario to play just to use it. To this day when I look at a bobbin I see a film reel. That has come in handy when dealing with dolls and miniature scenes and things. I look at something and see something else in it, something else I can use it for. It's the miniaturists equivalent of seeing things in cloud shapes. (I do that too.)
  So, my favourite parts of the old Barbie Bazarr magazine were the 1/6 scale dioramas they included, usually at Christmas time, and the column "Small Talk", which was all about finding things originally meant for something else that you could use in miniature settings. My kids talked me into having my own Barbie scale dollhouse when they were little because I loved to find things for their doll houses---and then annoyed them by rearranging their doll houses the way I thought they should be. I loved playing with the miniatures!
  That brings me to the reason for this post. Since I love doing the miniature scenes and things so much I thought I might do some photo stories. I have had this thought for a while, but I keep putting it off. I keep saying I don't have time, or I can't decide on a cast, or I'm not sure my sense of humour is going to suit my "audience". Ken keeps pushing me to do them, assuring me that I'll do fine.It would be a nice outlet for various things.I've always written stories. When I was too young to read or write I did picture stories. I sat down every morning and did a new story in a continuing line of stories about some characters I made up. I wrote stories all through school. I thought of becoming a screen writer because I always saw the stories like movies in my head. When the kids were little I wrote stories for them. (I even made them a movie once, using their favourite dolls as characters.They loved it.After Fuzzy the Doll packed the car {with: a fireplace (in case it got cold), a mailbox (in case he got some mail while he was gone),a snowman (for no apparent reason), and another car (just in case)}, and his suitcase {with his best friend.},Emma and Fuzzy the Dolls went camping,were chased by dinosaurs, abducted by aliens, questioned by Mulder and Scully from X-Files,and hunted by apes on horseback.You know I had to fit that in there somewhere.) Our playing allowed me to make up stories and dialogue.I still write a story now and then. But now that the kids are older I have less and less outlet for my imagination.It has to go somewhere! So I suppose I will do some photo stories. What's the worst that could happen?
  That brings me to the characters. Originally I just thought of one story. I was going to use my vintage Barbie and family dolls. Then I couldn't decide if I should use them or the dolls the kids and I had played with when they were little. The play dolls already had personalities. Story ideas came out based on their personalities, making them easier to come up with. But would anybody be interested? At least with the vintage dolls there was something interesting to look at if you didn't like the stories. But would anybody want to look at a bunch of fairly recent dolls doing stuff? Well, people do. I do. Ok. The play dolls it is.
  But then that takes some introduction, or at least explanation. Where did these 'people' come from? First of all,the name of the characters.They ended up with the last name 'World' because of this doll.

She started life as a Kaybee Toys exclusive.

I can only describe that dress as Asian Old West Dance Hall Girl.  

   Anyway, I debated opening her. After all, I'm a grown up. But of course I couldn't resist. As I didn't have many current Barbie type dolls at the time, she was recruited to be the model when Emma and I were making doll clothes. She looked great in everything we put on her. Eventually we started referring to her as "The Most Beautiful Doll in the World".
  The next thing was my love for the When I Read I Dream dolls. There were four,each based on a book character: Heidi,Jo from Little Women,Anne of Green Gables, and Fern from Charlotte's Web. Eventually I had them all. For a long time they just stood on a table in the living room.

  I had made the kids dolls of themselves when they were very small. Emma was 6 and Fuzzy was 2.These became their favourite playthings.They went everywhere and did everything with us. I happened to say that if someone made a doll of me when I was little they would probably want to use Fern, because she has red hair in a ponytail  and bangs,like I used to wear when I was a kid.

  After that they started referring to Fern as Tammy the Doll. (Like Emma the Doll and Fuzzy the Doll, that I had made for them.) Then Emma started insisting that I had to bring dolls to play too. I had to bring my dolls, and not just play with hers. It wasn't a selfish thing. She just though I should play with my dolls. So I started bringing 'Tammy' to play. Eventually Tammy needed a Mom. We automatically thought of The Most Beautiful Doll in the World. She had to have a name though. We couldn't keep calling her that. For one thing it's too long. But from that came her name: Dolly World. I thought it was funny. (See what I mean about that sense of humour not appealing to everyone...) When Tammy needed a Dad I dug out a Cinderella Prince Charming that I had bought for myself when Emma was tiny. I just liked him. Since his last name had to be World, what else could his first name be but...Wally.
  After that, every time I got a doll, it just seemed like they should be related to the Worlds. Well, until my kids said,"That's enough! Not every kid can belong to the Worlds! They have too many kids!" So the World family ended up being a bit large.They're like the Doll Duggers!

  
  I may have to have some of the kids not appear in the stories, like on old situation comedies when characters would suddenly disappear after a season or two and just never be mentioned again. Like Richie Cunningham's older brother on Happy Days and the oldest son on My Three Sons. Both went off to college and were never mentioned again. Or the little sister on Family Matters. Only the World kids will still be members of the family. (Can't tamper with my kids' childhoods!) We just won't see them...or talk about them.
  Members I know I will use are Tammy's identical twin brothers Todd (Identified by his hat.), and Simon.

  Todd's a bit of a trouble maker. Simon is a smart, well behaved kid. I'll also use Tammy's girly girl sister Jo, and her rambunctious little brother Gareth.

    Tammy is sort of based on me as a kid,but I would never have said some of the smart remarks Tammy said to the teacher of Doll School when the kids and I were playing! Like me when I was a kid, she's a bit of a tomboy but still  likes pretty old fashioned things, has a big mouth, and loves The Beatles and Planet of the Apes. (I need to redo their whole house, but Tammy does have a Beatles poster and a Law Giver statue in her room.) Dolly has some of my mom and some of me,and some of what I guess I would like to have been like. Since I have always been a frustrated writer I made Dolly a successful writer of children's books. Gareth is based on sort of a combination of me and my son, whose real name is Gareth. He likes to draw and paint, so he has a child's easel in his room, and a desk. He's a bit short for the age I wanted him to be, but he matched Fuzzy the Doll, who is a Tommy. (I originally wanted to make Fuzzy's doll from a vintage Todd, but they were too expensive. It ended up being a good thing though, because there's no way a bendy rubber Todd would have survived all the stuff Fuzzy put him through. He may have been a doll, but he played like an action figure!) Gareth originally had a regular Tommy/Kelly body and Bunsen Burnie Kiddle's head. Later I changed him to a bendy knee Kelly body.He's wearing my favourite outfit for him, which I stole from Gap Kelly.I had been wanting that outfit for ages, (I used to dress real Fuzzy like that when he was little!His 'hook up pants', as he called them,were his favourite clothes.) but didn't want to pay Ebay prices for it. Then I found Gap Kelly at a garage sale for 10 cents!
  I debated on using Jo's fraternal twin Anne...

...and the youngest World's, Betsy,(the brunette) and Rosie, who are also fraternal twins.

   I know a tendency toward having twins is passed down from mothers who have a genetically linked tendency to 'hyperovulating', or releasing more than one egg at a time, but this is doll world and this family  gets it from the dad. Mr World has a twin brother.Also, the tendency for identical twins,(who look alike and are always the same sex), called Monozygotic, which is one egg dividing and forming two embryos, is unrelated to the tendency toward fraternal twins, (who look no more alike than regular siblings and may be two different sexes) or Disygotic,which is two eggs being released at the same time.Disygotic twins also have no known genetic link, so just because someone has identical twins doesn't mean they would be more likely to produce fraternal twins.There. At least this has been educational. There's a connection to my husband Ken with the twins, because he was a twin himself.
  See what I mean?! Too many kids! But it gave me the opportunity to use more of my miniatures to decorate all those bedrooms!
   There are also two older daughters.Kenzie is a college student with a boyfriend named Milo.

  The other daughter, Tina is married to Roger,the local mail man and has two kids.

   Roger 'delivered' the doll Christmas, Easter, and Valentine cards when my kids were younger.
   Then there is Dolly's mom.

   I have always meant to finish a sculpt I did ages ago that the kids always said looks like my dad, to be Dolly's dad.
    I noticed at one point that one of the miniature skateboards in Todd and Simon's room was made by 'World Industries', so it was decided right then that Wally runs a toy company called World Industries. 
  Other families eventually developed. I found a cool 40th Anniversary Ken doll at Salvation Army one day.  Later he got a wife,a son,Harry, and three daughters: Vanessa,Heidi,...and the other kid. They even have a dog named Sherlock.

    I don't think he and his wife have ever had first names! I suppose if they're going to be in stories they'll have to have some.Their last name came about because the son was a Harry Potter doll, but I couldn't call him that because Emma already had one! Deja vu! That's what my sister used to do to me! So his name is Harry...Rettop. It's Potter backwards, alright?! You can pronounce it 'Rett-up' if you want to make it sound like a real name, but around here we call them the 'Re-tops'.Mr. Rettop designs toys at World Industries and is Wally's best friend.His wife is a former model and a bit full of herself.
  By the way, the 'photography studio' love seat in the pictures is one I made. It will be going on Ebay next week. It's more of a hot pink or fuchsia velvet than it looks in the pictures. It has a button back detailing and a soft, squashy seat so that it looks natural when a doll sits on it.(One of my pet peeves is doll furniture that is so hard the dolls don't even make a smoosh in it when they sit down.) I'll mention it again when it goes on.
  So there you go. You'll be seeing the story in the next couple of days.You have been warned!
 



  

October Reading Assignment #2 The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House by Mary Chase

  My second scary suggestion for the month of October is The Wicked, Wicked Ladies in the Haunted House, by Mary Chase. When I was thinking about writing the review for this post, I realized I had already sort of written one, in my description for the extra copy we're selling on Ebay.

   This book has always been one of my favourites and the kids loved it too. (Except Ivy. She doesn't like anything creepier than The Ghost of Dibble Hollow.) It makes a great scary read for Halloween. Not horrifying, but chills up your back scary and somewhat mystical and with great heart. Maureen,a girl known for her bad temper, lies, and fighting, wishes and pretends to be one of the Messerman's, a rich family which lived in a huge old house, now deserted and ruined.One afternoon, trying to escape an angry neighbor, she slips into the garden of the old house. She comes across what she thinks at first is a garden gnome. But then he speaks to her. He's a leprechaun, and he knows the story of the house and it's inhabitants. But he unexpectedly disappears. The next day Maureen again finds herself inside the grounds. When she and a group of neighborhood kids enter the house, Maureen the liar is determined to impress them. She's not afraid.The upstairs hall is full of paintings of ladies in beautiful dresses. Maureen insults all the pictures but one, but then she notices something. Have the ladies in the paintings...moved? When Maureen finds a strange bracelet like the ones worn by the ladies in the paintings she takes it home. That night she finds herself being watched by a strange lady in old fashioned clothes who demands her bracelet. Frightened, Maureen decides to return the bracelet the next morning. But she forgets. Walking home in the pouring rain she suddenly comes across a scene straight out of the past and finds her own home no longer exists. She is stuck in the past and must find a way to get herself back. There's a sad story tucked in there too, a life lesson,and of course the  magical leprechaun in the garden.Longing to return to her own time and home, Maureen learns to appreciate her family and her life.
  The original title was The Wicked Pigeon Ladies in the Garden. (Good thing they changed it!Not that the other title is much better!), and the author, Mary Chase is more famous for having written (and winning a Pulitzer Prize for) the play "Harvey", and cowriting the screen play for the movie starring Jimmy Stewart.I always thought  "Wicked Ladies..." would make a great movie. I could see Disney making it in the early 70's. And Jodie Foster would have played Maureen!
  I'm not sure if the book is still in print, although it was reprinted in 2003. (It was originally published in 1967.)This one isn't expensive second hand though, and it's totally worth the search. It's sold occasionally online. In fact, as I said, I'm listing ours on Ebay as soon as I finish this post.
  Age recommendation is 7 to 10 years, but it might be a little too scary for 7 year olds.(You know your child, so be the judge.)I think 11 to 12 year olds could still enjoy it. 
  Mystery,time travel, magic, and a spooky story. What more could you want?! 

Flea Market score!

  Saturday my friend Lori and I went to the BIG flea market in Lucasville. Lori, who has been having trouble with her heart this year was definately feeling much better than the last flea market we went to.Thank goodness.I've been very worried about her. It was so good to see her pretty much back to her old self.
  I did get a few goodies...

Ho Ho Ho! Is it December yet? The Santa is not the usual 12" guy. He's way smaller. I notice he's keeping an eye on those deer.

A strange frog baby and his friend  in the Barbie Babysits basket. The dresser I actually got last. I only had 75 cents by then, so I had to borrow a dollar from Lori. The guy had $2 on it and I asked him if he would take $1.75. He laughed when I showed him my last 75 cents and how I was getting the dollar from Lori, and said ok! It's a picture frame, but I'm going to replace the glass with a mirror. It'll be the perfect doll dresser! I might replace the drawer knobs too.

...including some really cheap stuff for our turtle, our cats, and our bird,probably the last home grown tomatoes of the season : ( and some great Amish peanut butter cookies.) But as we were trying to work our way toward the exit I came across what I will describe as  'Toy Island': a whole corner of one row filled with dolls and toys. They covered the ground and several tables. If I hadn't spent most of my money by then I could have bought alot more from the lady running the stall. As it was I passed up a large non talking Family Matters Steve Urkel doll, (I have the talking one, but I've never seen this one.),a 12" modern Holly Hobbie doll, an 18" Fancy Nancy with all her original outfit including jelly sandals,and several others. I had started by rummaging through the tub of $3 Barbie sized dolls and the tub full of Bratz Kidz, Strawberry Shortcake,etc. I had already picked out  a Twilight Edward doll.
              

Bella digs scrawny pale guys.

   Too bad his vinyl is the weirdly white colour. (He's pretty pale even for an English guy.)I really like the body sculpt.It's very realistic.I also had the Steve Urkel ,and the Holly Hobbie.But then I spotted two bags of  old dolls. The dolls were $1 each. "They're old." the lady said.I started going through the bags and spotted some vintage trolls...

...this Uneeda Little Miss Revlon Wanna Be.She has strange hair: two types and two shades of red, but all original.

After that trip to the spa and the laundry I feel so much better.

...this Uneeda Ginny Wanna Be  Girl Scout walker doll.

Anybody ever tell this girl about sock garters?

...this purse doll...doll purse?

...and this girl.

But the find of the day was something that made me gasp a bit when I saw her in the bag under the other dolls.

AHHH!!!

This beautiful little 8" Betsy McCall!She has blushy cheeks, both her barrettes,and she's wearing actual Betsy PJ's from 'Pajama Party'.

Ok Betsy. You can open your eyes now.You're in your new home.

Hmm?

Well Betsy, what do you think?

I guess she likes it here. Betsy does the happy dance over her new home.

Is this my dresser? Uh...we'll see....

She's perfect.All her joints are tight,her colouring is bright. her hair is full. No cracks or splits. And she was only a dollar!I was so excited! Lori is not a doll person at all and could not appreciate what a great find Betsy was. All she could say was, "Who would pay more than that anyway?" Happily, my doll friend Connie was duly impressed when I told her yesterday!
  One thing though. I can't seem to get her to sit down? Any advice?
  In the end I had to put Holly Hobbie and Steve Urkel back.(Oh well. I prefer the cool plastic saddle shoes on talking Steve anyway.) But I got a great Betsy with blushy cheeks, which I really wanted.You win some you lose some.I think I came out on top!

Ever After High Huntsman Set and Clearance Deals on Dolls and Accessories

Just a quick post to report a few things in the stores recently.First of all, for those of you who like the Ever After High series of dolls, late last week I saw the set of Ashlynn Ella and Hunter Huntsman dolls at Meijer. Everybody knows how hard to find guy characters are, and how they usually only make one or two. So if you're into this series I would highly recommend getting out there now to get yours. Be forewarned before making a trip to the nearest Meijer however. I went to a different Meijer out of town yesterday and they didn't have the set yet.
  Meijer also has some of the La Dee Da and Bratzillas outfits and accessory packs clearanced. I got this Bratzillas Academy Style accessory pack for $1 at our local Meijer.

It was the only one they had, but it's the one I would have bought, so, perfect!

  Although yesterday the Meijer out of town I went to had a better selection, they still had theirs priced at $5.I have never been into regular Bratz, and my kids were never allowed to have them. They just looked too sleazy for my tastes. But I like some of the Bratzillaz. I really like the House of Witchez dolls. I think since they aren't supposed to be 'people' people they come off differently. Also the faces look more 'wholesome', let's say. I still don't think I would have let my kids have them though.
  The Meijer out of my town also had One Direction dolls clearanced  for $10, and Brave Merida dolls complete with fancy dress and bow and arrow set clearanced for $10. Their Novi Stars and glow in the dark Midnight Beach Bratzillaz dolls were clearanced too, but I can't remember the prices. Sorry!
  Another item of note: Hobby Lobby have their Christmas decorations out already and there are several ornaments that would work well in doll dioramas. My two favourites are a vintage style stand mixer (In a couple of different colours.), and a really cool metal Coca Cola washtub full of 'ice' and 'Coke bottles'. Both things are perfect 1/6 scale. The Coke ornament is actually VERY realistic. I'm trying to talk Ken, who collects Coke things, into wanting it so I can borrow it sometimes! 

A Show, Skippers, Skooter,and Squeeze (Well, Glenn Tilbrook anyway.)

  Well, I have done alot of traveling in the last week.I was supposed to be doing a doll show in Cincinnati on what I thought was Saturday the 6th of October. I had it in my head that the show was Saturday and that Saturday was the 6th. I got everything ready for the doll show on Friday night, got up at 5:30 Saturday morning and Ivy and I set off. I got about half way there and passed a sign advertising a fall festival to be held "Saturday October 5th and Sunday, October 6th." "What?!" I said. I quickly turned around to recheck the sign, and yes, the 6th was indeed a SUNDAY, not a Saturday. I pulled off the road and called Ken to have him look on the internet and verify the day for me. There was a reason I was confused. He found listings for the show that said Saturday, AND Sunday, but the general consensus seemed to be that it was on Sunday. Pooh! I got about 2 hours sleep in the end! For nothing! Ivy and I headed home. We passed Young's Jersey Dairy on the way. I pointed it out to Ivy who said, "Do they have CHEESE?!" I said, "They have ice cream, and they probably have cheese." Ivy has been on a search for great fried cheese curds since last year when we bought some at the Circleville Pumpkin Festival, so we stopped to find out. They did indeed sell fried cheese curds. We ordered some and shared them. They were good, but very greasy and not nearly as good as the ones from the pumpkin festival. Ivy also talked me into sharing a cream horn as big as my head. I'm not much for cream horns, as they are usually mostly dry shell, but this one was actually good. I managed to cover the table and myself with powdered sugar, while Ivy didn't make a mess at all. Very embarrassing. We stopped at a few yard sales on the way home, but there wasn't much to be had.
  So we had to do the whole thing over again on Sunday. Of course, on Sunday our alarm didn't go off, so we were already a half hour later than I wanted to leave when we got up. Once again we drove all the way to Cincinnati. When we came to the road where we were to turn off to go to the show there were no doll show signs and we couldn't even find the right road. We drove up and down the same street for ages. Finally we spotted the road about 20 minutes before the show was to begin. When we reached the Holiday Inn  where the show was to be held there were still no signs! I started to think maybe the show was on Saturday. It might as well have been for all we sold.
  When I entered the room I couldn't believe how small the room was. I'm used to doing the huge Columbus, Ohio doll shows. Those shows are gigantic. One doll artist (Sorry, I can't remember her name!) who did the Columbus show last year told me the show was bigger than the United Federation of Doll Collectors show, which she had also done.(The fall show is at The Aladdin Shrine Center on Stelzer Road,on October 27th if anybody wants to make the trip. It's totally worth it. There are dolls of every era and type. BJDs and their clothes and accessories have been gaining space at the show in the last couple of years, but there are still plenty of antiques, new dolls, including Tonner,R.John Wright,Mattel, Monster High,etc. And I'll be there if anyone wants to say hello!) We hardly sold a thing. Competition with the pouring rain and the Cincinnati Bengals game that day was too much for the show.
  One nice thing about being a dealer: people try to sell you stuff. At the end of the day, shortly before pack up time, a lady came around with a luggage cart belonging to the hotel. It was filled with Barbie, Ken, and Skipper cases and a box of furniture from the first Barbie Dreamhouse. I asked if that was her shopping, but she explained that she was trying to sell the stuff. They were hers and her sisters childhood dolls.She had two Kens,an Allan, an American Girl Barbie,a Twist and Turn Barbie, and a case of Skipper stuff. I zeroed in on the Skipper case.

 
  Soon there were another couple of ladies digging through her stuff with me. No one else was interested in the Skipper things, so I hung on to the case. She had a couple of beautiful Skippers, a lipless Skooter,messy Tutti, and some clothes and shoes, and the Ken baseball bat, which was the only thing I was missing from the Ken baseball set. I sorted through the Barbie case, the two Ken cases and the other Skipper case.I moved everything I wanted into the Skipper case and prepared to make her an offer. At first she refused to sell anything separately.She discussed it with all of us and repeatedly took advice from the lady in charge of the show as to how much she should ask. (Who was apparently giving her retail, and not dealer prices.Dealers can't pay the same as the public because they have to make a profit. A lot of people don't understand that and think they are going to get the same they'd get selling on Ebay or to individuals. The one lady who was looking at the stuff with us said she only pays 20% of what she's going to sell it for.)
  Finally the lady decided, at the prompting of her husband, to sell what she could, since nobody wanted to give her what she had been told to ask for the whole lot. She had a particularly pretty American Girl Barbie, which she was going to sell if she could get $300. She finally let it go for $250. She asked her 'source' what to ask for the Skipper stuff again, and asked $100 for the case full. I discussed it with her husband while she was running around trying to sell her American Girl. When she came back I offered her $60. Her husband said he was going to tell her to take $70, so we split the difference and she took $65. I was very guilty, since I had barely made that much in sales, but also very thrilled, because the Skippers were gorgeous! I figured I could sell the clothes that were repeats in my collection,use some of the others to upgrade my collection,and hopefully come out even at least.

As you can see, I got a few Barbie items too, and a cool raincoat. It's probably generic, but if anybody recognizes it I'd love to hear from you. The white and pink flats are Hong Kong, not Japan.

  When I got them home I was a bit disappointed. The beautiful colouring on the dolls faces was not what it seemed. The lip paint was removable with a little water and some rubbing.(The eyebrows might be fake too.)
I did the test carefully, because even if it isn't original, the dolls were still beautiful, and since I was going to keep them,it doesn't matter so much. I like them the way they are.I didn't want to remove enough of the paint to ruin their appearances. And I'm not NEARLY as disappointed as the buyer of the American Girl will be when she finds out, because  I suspect her lovely face can be attributed to the same thing. At least I didn't pay $250.I don't know if this was something the lady or her sister did as kids, but it doesn't look like kid's work. Ok. In that case,was she trying to cheat us?She seemed genuine."Buyer beware".

"Does she,or doesn't she...?", as the old commercial went. In this case, "...have fake lips?"

  The case is in pretty good shape. The blonde Skipper belonged to Karen, the lady who sold her to me.

  The other Skipper has magnificent two tone dark auburn hair.

To remove the rest of the lips or not. That is the question.

  She belonged to Karen's sister Linda, who has passed away.How can I possibly separate these sisters? I'll keep them as a family. It's nice knowing who they belonged to.
  There was one positive thing about the fake lip paint. What looked at first like Skooter had lost her lip paint was in fact, what was left of the fake lip paint on top of Skooter's own light pink lips. She's not bad now that I have removed the leftover extra paint.

  The Tutti had some of the paint on her face and arm. She actually cleaned up well.  She doesn't have all her bends, but she's presentable.For some reason I didn't grab her sun suit amongst the Barbie stuff, or the Skates to Skipper's Skating Fun. I know I saw them. I think I hadn't yet seen the Tutti and didn't think I'd bother with the sun suit.
  I also got this Skooter from one of the dealers.

  She was only $6, probably because her toes curl up a little. She must have been kissing somebody.

  Wednesday night Emma and I went to a concert, and guess where we had to go? CINCINNATI!! That made three times (Well, two and a half.) in 5 days.The show was very good though. We went to see Glenn Tilbrook, who was and is in Squeeze, one of my favourite bands. Squeeze were never huge stars in America, in spite of great songs and songwriting that was constantly compared to Lennon and McCartney. Most people who remember them will remember them from their songs Hourglass (Great video to that one too.), and Tempted, which was used in Burger King Commercials. Ironically Tempted, probably their most well known song, was sung primarily by Paul Carrack who was then holding the place of 'revolving keyboardist', instead of Glenn, who did most of the singing, or Chris Difford,who wrote the lyrics and only occasionally sang lead.

Thanks to Emma for the picture.

  Fortunately, although Glenn is a little grayer, and a little...larger than he used to be (and who isn't? I know I am. Larger anyway. Still keeping the gray away so far.) he can still hit those high notes and has an overall very strong voice. I was pleased he did my favourite Squeeze song,Up the Junction,(Something like the British equivalent of 'up the creek'.), a whole sad story arc in a pop song.
  After the show he obligingly signed autographs and I got my favourite Squeeze album, (which is also one of my all time favourite albums in general) signed, along with a CD by Glenn's other band, The Fluffers.

Drummer Simon Hanson, who played that night and is in the Fluffers also signed it.

  He still has several tour dates left in the U.S. and then moves on to England. I highly recommend seeing him if you get the chance. 

Happy Beatles Birthdays Part 2

    Finally, here is the second half of my Beatles dolls and figures review!(See the first part HERE.) It's been a while, but since there was going to be a gap anyway I thought I might as well make this one a Beatles birthday post too. Today would have been John Lennon's 73rd birthday. It's also Sean Lennon's 38th birthday. (And although it's not a Beatles birthday, it would also have been the 69th birthday of John Entwistle, bassist for The Who, one of my other favourite bands.)
  I have a couple of my doll sets in rather unaccessable boxes at the moment, so maybe I'll get to the Sgt. Pepper Applause dolls by February and do a part 3 for what would have been  George's 71st birthday.(See that post by clicking the link.)
   There is another set made by Applause that are slightly shorter than the Forever and Pepper dolls. The shorter dolls wear the gray collarless suits. They came in a box made to look like a stage, and they also have instruments.The faces look the same as the Forever dolls. I never even saw those in the stores and I don't own any. I wouldn't mind having a set though.   There's a new set of Yellow Submarine 'rag dolls' out now that would make a nice continuation of a collection of the Applause dolls. I haven't seen them in person, but they are for sale on The Fest for Beatles Fans page. (Used to be Beatlesfest.) One of these days if  I come across them at a cheap enough price...
  There is another set of vinyl dolls made by Hamilton in the early 90's.They are about 9 1/2" tall, and the set comes with bases, microphones for John and Paul, and Ringo's entire drum kit. I have these, but, like the Sgt. Pepper dolls, they are in hibernation right now, all but Paul.  Paul has need of some medical assistance at the moment, as his arm keeps falling off. This seems to be one of the problems with this set. The arms are only glued on and the glue has dried out over time. Paul is a multiple amputee, but it's all been the same arm...over and over again. The arms pop back on, but they should be reglued. The resemblances to the actual Beatles are pretty good though, and the little instruments look good. Ringo's body seems a bit concave. There is one other problem with this set. The legs turn red. Not a dark red, but it looks as though the legs were made of red vinyl and eventually it shows through the paint. In my set it was George's legs that turned red. 

I still think this set is worth having though. The likenesses and the little drum kit override George's legs and Ringo's body (Sorry guys.)
   This item isn't a doll or a figure, but it's doll related. 

  The Ya Ya Ya sweatshirt was made by Ideal in the 60's for their Tammy doll. It isn't licensed by Seltaeb,(the Beatles' licensing company.),but it's so obviously meant to be The Beatles. 

It came in a package by itself, and came in various colours, including white and mustardy yellow. It's just about the most valuable piece of Tammy clothing I think, because it's sought after by both Tammy and Beatles collectors. I've seen one sell for as high as $75! It's crazy! I got mine online for much less. It was in a bunch of Barbie related stuff that didn't even list it. Luckily I spotted it in the photos though. 

Tammy looks a little wary of Hamilton Paul, but she needn't fear him. To use one of Ken's old English jokes, "He's 'armless." (HARMLESS, that is. Use the Accent.)

  There is also this set, which technically are not dolls or figures. 

The glue dries out on ornaments too easily. One of my drums has jumped ship.

They did get the stances down pretty well.

   They are Christmas ornaments made by Hallmark  in 1994. They aren't very good likenesses, although they have John and George's,(especially George's), stances down pretty well. Unfortunately George's accurate stance makes it nearly impossible to keep the figure standing up! (Wonder how the real George did it...) He does tend to fall over and I have to resort to leaning him against the drum riser. Even that doesn't work that well. Of course, they are meant to hang on the Christmas tree, not stand, but I like mine out all the time. They stand on our piano (which none of us can actually play.) since they are musical guys. (I wonder how they feel about being accompanied there by The Three Stooges, playing a violin, the spoons, and an upright bass. Well, at least Larry did actually play the violin and the piano. Go Larry! He was one up on us. At least he could actually play the piano.) 
 

John: Being a musician makes it so easy to get chicks. Larry: It does?

  Again, I love the little instruments. I also like the fact that the instruments are separate pieces, and not part of the body mold. Unfortunately one of my kids, or maybe our cat, (Kitten off the keys.) broke one of Ringo's delicate little drumsticks off. Ringo also recently suffered a decapitation when the glue holding his head on dried out from age. Don't worry. As you can see he has gotten himself together.
   And while we're talking about ornaments, I also have the Hallmark Yellow Submarine ornament.

 And while I passed up the Hallmark mini lunchbox ornaments, (I think Hallmark made a dome top Yellow Sub and the early rectangular box.), last year I got both of the non Hallmark mini lunchboxes.

  

  I saw them first at a fancy ornament store in a mall and balked at the $6 price. I held out and found them at Walgreen's for a couple of dollars. There is a Please Please Me lunch box out this year, so I'm already on the lookout.
   I got really excited last year when I saw that there was a mini Beatles record player ornament, which was a replica of an actual Beatles record player from the 60's. It was made by Kurt Adler, and was just the right size to use with Barbie sized dolls. Then I got a good look at it and was VERY disappointed. The paint job wasn't very good and it was molded all in one piece. I passed it up. I was hoping the company that made the really good light up, music playing, mini record player ornaments last year, (They had Elvis, Marilyn Monroe--but not her voice! Boo!---Peanuts, Rudolph, and Disney Princesses.), would make a Beatles record player this year. But it looks like they have given the licensing to Kurt Adler for a while. This year is a Beatles record case, (to go with last year's record player I guess.) It looks a bit better than the record player, but it's also molded one piece resin. That's disappointing. It would look good from a distance in a display I suppose, as it's fairly 1/6 scale. I just wish it would open and have a separate latch instead of being molded. That's me though. I like realism in my miniatures. Maybe I'll have to make one myself.
  As I said in the first half of this post, I love the cartoon Beatles and my husband got me this ornament made by Carlton Heirloom. 

  I have no idea why they are yellow, and I think it should have played music, but other than that I love it. It's from a few years ago. Heirloom also made a Yellow Submarine ornament in a similar style, but as I said before, Yellow Submarine isn't my favourite Beatles thing, so with budget restrictions I let that one go.
  There were a series of Beatles cars ornaments last year too. If I were rich I would have them all, but I'm not. The Kubrick figures are pretty cool. They are sort of like large Lego people, only with detailed heads. The bodies are still squarish though. I might think about obtaining some of those someday.  There are loads of other Beatles figures, dolls, toys, ornaments etc. There is no way I am ever going to own all of them.

   To conclude, here I am with my favourite Beatles figure, and a fine one it is.

1986. I'm a bit stunned. I had just been thrown at Paul. I don't think he was happy about it. For the story behind the picture you can go HERE.  

 It's an old picture. My figure was finer then too...