Doll-A-Day 2023 #111: Pee Wees

  Hey! I posted that post so fast yesterday that I forgot to tell you: I went inside the house Wednesday! I actually got it together to go inside the back door, into the kitchen at least. Ken was talking to me from the doorway, and I heard my boys meow. I had to go in and see them. I got a cuddle with both Joey and Jimmy, and Ken said he heard movement in another part of the basement when he was down there with them earlier. That means Ark is still okay. (That and the fact that Ken is still finding cat food in the water bowl. Ark likes to dunk.) I couldn't help it, and I cried when I hugged the boys. Ken wanted to know why I was crying. I'm not sure myself. Relief that they're okay?

Today's doll is a group of dolls. They're Pee Wees.

The kid third from left at the top is probably a clone doll, that just says Made in Hong Kong on his back. He's a cheaper, shiny plastic. He could just be a later PeeWee though.

They were made by Uneeda.

And they made LOTS of them! There were several series, including PeeWees From Around the World, which were dolls in National costumes.

The Pee Wees were small dolls, about 3 1/2" tall, so a little kid could carry one...or more, around in their pockets.

He doesn't say PeeWee anywhere on him, but he says U.D. Co., for Uneeda Doll Company or Corporation. 

Some of the PeeWees say PeeWee on their backs, or the bottoms of their feet.

Like this girl. She's an early one, because she's wearing a felt dress. Not all of the early ones wore felt, but the later ones didn't. 

She's marked 1965.

 

Although there were Baby Pee Wees, they were pretty much the same size.

Baby Pee Wee on the left, regular Pee Wee on the right. Some of the clothing the Pee Wees came in is so simple, that you might think it was something a kid made for the doll. Case in point: this red haired baby. That's an original outfit. He may have also had a bib. This is the only one I'm keeping, because it reminds me of toddler Fuzzy.

The Baby PeeWees actually say Baby PeeWee on their backs.

This poor grubby baby is second from left at the bottom in the group picture above. I washed these guys to clean off the water stink from the fire, but didn't scrub them. So this babe still needs a going over.

  The regular Pee Wee, (as opposed to the babies), bodies are similar to troll dolls, with non moveable arms and legs that are all one piece with the torso. They could turn their heads though.

The babies have moveable heads, arms, and legs. Their legs are curved baby legs too, unlike the straight legs on regular PeeWees.

  Pee Wees had a very long life. They were made in various forms, from 1965 to the early 1980's! I say in various forms, because I believe the molds changed a bit over time. They also made different types of PeeWees. You may have seen my Posin Pee Wee doll HERE.

They were popular enough that there were loads of them made, and even nearly identical competitors.

I can't remember now who these two were made by, and they have gone to storage now! They were possibly Remco, because I know it was a name brand, and they bear a great resemblance to Heidi. You can see mine HERE.

There were even clone fashions made. Like these, by Shillman.

I found these in a junk store years ago. They were a bit dirty, but they didn't look this bad. Some of this happened when the fire fighters got water everywhere. The packages were wet when Ken brought them here for me to take care of. Apparently the fire hose had a leak, because they flooded our downstairs bathroom when they brought it in the house. (For some reason they didn't use the cherry picker bucket thing, and instead dragged the hose all the way through the house and upstairs, instead of just going through the window of the room where the fire was. Why?

  This guy may be a clone. I didn't wash this one because the clothes are glued on, and I was afraid the felt clothes would shrink or do something weird. 

  Some of the actual PeeWee merchandise that was made to go with the dolls, included clothing, a tote, a house style tote, and an actual house.

  There were all kinds of series' of  PeeWees, including Hee Wees, male 'little hero' dolls, supposedly marketed to boys.

There were also fairly rare 80's dolls called PeeWee Plumpees, which were also 3 1/2 inches tall, and described as 'a chubby little pocket pal'.

Uneeda had earlier made larger dolls called Plumpees, that were rotund babies too, but these were the size of regular PeeWees.
  That's it for today. See you again tomorrow.