Friday, January 18, 2019

Doll-A-Day #18: Some Super Tiny Special Things,and the World's Smallest Barbie,G.I. Joe,Gumby and Pokey

  Yesterday I announced that today's post would be about a doll I got for Christmas. Well, it still is,but not the one I originally intended. I'll show you that one in a later post. I'm showing you a couple of dolls in this post,but they also give me the opportunity to show you something else. I have been really anxious to show you something very special that Ivy gave me for Christmas. It isn't a doll,but it kind of 'goes with'  dolls. Tammy World is going to show it all to you.
  First of all,our actual dolls today are these little guys.


You may recognize them. They're Gumby and Pokey.


Gumby and Pokey are the creations of Art Clokey,and some of the most famous stop-motion characters of all time.


Like regular size Gumby,these guys have a wire armature and are bendable and posable.






Gumby had his own TV show in the 1950's and 60's,and again in the 80's,after he had a resurgence thanks to Saturday Night Live and Eddie Murphy. ("I'm Gumby damn it!") I don't specifically remember watching Gumby when I was a kid, but I had several Gumby dolls. (I upgraded him when the first one got his legs cut off by my sister after they went limp from being posed too much.) I still have them,along with the Pokey my sister got me for Christmas when I was really little.


Gumby started airing again on Nickelodeon in 1992,and little Emma and I watched it every afternoon. She had her own set of Gumby toys, but they are standard size. It's the large set that includes his dinosaur friend Prickle,and later characters like Gumby's sister Minga,,and his arch enemies,the Blockheads.


These tiny versions of the famous Gumby and Pokey are from the 'World's Smallest' series of miniature cool toys,made by Super Impulse.


Gumby stands only 1 1/2 inches tall...


...while Pokey is only 1 1/4 tall.


Other toys by 'World's Smallest' include G.I. Joe,Barbie...
 
I got these at Toys R Us when it went out of business,but I forgot to include them in that post. Joe comes with tiny binoculars,and Barbie comes with tiny sunglasses.


...Etch-a-Sketch,Fisher Price toys like the Little People school bus,Rock-a-Stack,and Chatter telephone,Stretch Armstrong,Magic 8 Ball,Hot Wheels,and Pez.



 I wouldn't call this the 'world's smallest' Barbie. The original mini Barbie that came with a Skipper outfit and a Tutti outfit,in the 60's, was way smaller. The 40th anniversary Barbie doll,and some Hallmark ornaments came with Barbie's even smaller than the 60's one.


It's a shame the Barbie and G.I. Joe aren't to scale for Tammy.
 

But they must be in scale for some doll.

"Sorry Joe. Go find another kid."
World's Smallest even makes a sock monkey,which doesn't seem that small to me. (And, like all the other 'World's Smallest',it's package proclaims 'really works!' It really 'sock monkey's I guess.) They also sell a lot of mini arcade games and retro toys. You can go to their website HERE.  (Under the heading of 'World's Coolest' you'll find a 1/6 scale record player and a slightly larger mini Polaroid camera, (with sound!).

  Some Gumby trivia that I found interesting:
Other than a film made when Clokey was in college,Gumby's first public appearance was on the Howdy Doody Show. Gumby has long outlived Howdy.
The name 'Gumby' was based on the clay mud on the farm of Clokey's grandparents,which they called 'gumbo'.
Gumby's look was based on The Gingerbread Man,except for his pointed,curved head, which was based on Clokey's father's haircut!
Gumby's big feet were so the model could stand up for filming.
Gumby is green because Clokey decided green represents life,and is racially neutral.
  Now,on to the really cool Christmas present Ivy gave me last year. This is SO great!

Tammy has taken up origami,courtesy of Ivy.
Ivy had a friend at college make me these tiny origami butterflies,foxes,and cranes.

The crane.
The fox.
They're so small! I've been afraid that just getting them out to look at them I'll drop them and lose them,or crush them!
Another crane.
A fox.

The fox is about an inch tall.


The butterfly is even shorter.

Excuse my pruney fingers. I'd been washing dishes.
The crane is only about half an inch tall.


Ivy got the idea when her friend made regular sized origami. Ivy asked her if she could make some miniature ones for me as well. Luckily her friend was willing to give it a try. When she was successful Ivy asked her how much she would charge to make some for me for Christmas. Her friend couldn't come up with a figure, so Ivy took her out for coffee a lot! 


I knew when people saw them they would be crazy about them,so I asked Ivy to ask her friend if she would be interested in making them to sell. College students can always use some money. Her friend messaged back from England, where she has gone home for break,and said she would. School commences again at the end of January and she'll be back in Ohio. So if you're interested, she can make more!(For those in Europe, school is out in May and she'll be back in England,so you can save on shipping.)



  That's all. tomorrow we'll see another doll of a more regular size!

28 comments:

  1. I love these tiny toys. But some of them seen very large. They are in so many different scales...

    I ordered Lincoln logs and some other building toy on EBay. The logs would not cooperate, but flew here and there like leap frogs (or the little suction cup that you turn inside out, and it jumps up). The other things got as big as a Tommy doll when built (but I could not have built them if very much smaller).

    I would have liked several doll scaled things, but they are so expensive on Ebay.

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    1. You're right. Some of them are way out of scale. I have some Tinker Toys that I think are Basic Fun. The toys themselves are fairly in scale, but the container is nearly as tall as a Tommy doll,and much bigger around.

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  2. Really cool items for show and tell.
    I remember Howdy Doody! My favorite regular on his show was Princess Summer Fall Winter Spring.

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    1. I knew of Howdy, and had a Howdy ventriloquist dummy as a kid. (He went through three kids: me,my niece,and my son.His legs and feel have been patched,and he's kind of dinged up.) Howdy was actually before my time though.

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  3. I have a couple of the Worlds Smallest toys from a blind box set they put out. The tiny Hot Wheels car is pretty neat but man was the apex dispenser a disappointment! Tammy looks so happy with her new toys, especially Gumby and Pokey!

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    1. I'd like to get the Hot Wheels set with the track. Are the cars 1/6 scale?

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    2. I’d say a little bigger. The car really rolls though, which is pretty cool!

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    3. There used to be a line of mini cars called Micro Machines that have wheels that really work, that were really good for 1/6 scale,(as large toy cars, not actually 1/6 scale Hot Wheels. that would be amazing.).They were made by Galoob. i have a bunch of those. There were also some mini reproduction race cars. I can't remember what they are called, but i came across some of mine the other day. I'll have to check and get back to you. they were really good though.

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    4. I still have some Micro Machine cars somewhere, I would say the worlds smallest HW is probably about the same size, yeah.

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    5. Okay, I dug out my toy cars and compared: The World's Smallest cars are actually noticeably smaller than the Micro Machines! I posted a pic over on my blog if anyone's interested.

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  4. I have the Basic Fun Rock a Stack and Corn Popper from Fisher-Price. They work pretty well as toys for my Emma Jane doll (formerly Lilah, Ann Estelle's little sister.) I'd like to get some more mini toys for my dolls from Basic Fun and World's Smallest; the right opportunity has just never come up. Oh yes, and I think somewhere I still have the Basic Fun Scrabble game set. That's too small for Barbie and family. Tammy World looks very proud of her origami animals.

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    1. I recently purchased a lot of Basic Fun mini games from my favorite thrift store. It was a bag lot, so some of them were duplicates of ones I already had. If you're interested you can contact me through my blog, Fashion Doll Memoirs.
      Signed, Treesa

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    2. I know you're making the offer to Barb, but if she's not interested, I am. I tried to email you through your blog and I wasn't able. If Barb isn't interested,please comment with your email address (I won't publish.),and I'll contact you.

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    3. Hi Tam,
      I haven't heard anything from Barb yet, though if the email link on my blogger profile page isn't working that might explain it. However, Barb seemed to imply in her comment here that she was more interested in the mini toys than the mini board games, mentioning that the Scrabble set she had is too small for Barbie size dolls. Since a number of the duplicates I have are board games and not toys, though I do have some duplicate toys as well, I'll leave my email address for you here and keep you posted on whether or not Barb contacts me. You can email me at fashiondollmemoirs@gmail.com
      Signed, Treesa

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    4. Hi Tam,
      Just a heads up, Barb did contact me asking for a list of what Basic Fun items I had duplicates of. For some reason the message ended up in my spam folder. Barb said she was looking for specific items, so there's a good chance I won't have anything she wants. I'll keep you informed.
      Signed, Treesa

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  5. I saw the Gumby and Pokey on line thought that they were wonderful! I just love the Joe and barbie. The origami looks hard to do! How do you store them so that they are not squished?Your doll looks like she is having a ball with all these toys!

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    1. I'm sure I couldn't do origami. I have tried when Ivy got interested years ago. I recall not being good at it! I left them in the little box that a necklace or something came in,which Ivy gave them to me in. I live in fear of squashing them!

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  6. I think the term 'world's smallest' Barbie was used in this case because the figure has working articulation, while the 1960s mini Barbie did not.
    Signed, Treesa

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  7. I really like the tiny toys, especially Barbie as that is the one Barbie I had as a kid (and still have now!) but yes, she looks a bit bigger than I would expect for the 'worlds smallest'. I do love little miniatures of real life things though....and am going to have a look at their website next.
    The tiny origami is amazing, your daughter's friend must have very nimble fingers :)
    I have heard of Howdy Doody but not of the two characters, Pokey and Gumby, but they're cute and interesting.
    xx

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  8. I have always loved tiny versions of real things too. I have made some tiny stuff, but I can't imagine making that tiny origami! I cn't even do the full size ones.

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  9. I would love to see that 60's teeny Barbie. I bet tons of them were lost! And yes, put me in the love tiny things group. lol

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    1. Now I'm wondering why I have never shown one! (Or have I?) And it's funny you should say that about them getting lost, because my sister has one...that she found at school when she was a kid!

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    2. If you showed her, I haven't run across her yet. But if you haven't, there's an idea for another post! I wonder how many ended up vacuumed up?

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    3. I don't think I have, and yes, that was what I was thinking.

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    4. I DID show the 60's one! I thought I must have. Here she is: http://planetofthedolls.blogspot.com/search/label/Skipper%20doll?updated-max=2014-08-26T19:30:00-07:00&max-results=20&start=13&by-date=false

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    5. I just went to the post and don't see this one - "The original mini Barbie that came with a Skipper outfit and a Tutti outfit,in the 60's, was way smaller. The 40th anniversary Barbie doll,and some Hallmark ornaments came with Barbie's even smaller than the 60's one."

      The mini Barbie that came with a Skipper outfit, etc.

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    6. Oh for crying out loud, I just found it. Sorry about that. She is teeny! I am still impressed your sister found one.

      I think I misunderstood and thought you meant the Barbie came with an outfit for Skipper and Tutti that fit HER. ROFL Not even sure how that would have worked!

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    7. Well the Skipper fashion did come with a skirt that fit her.

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Thanks in advance for your comments.