Doll-A-Day 2019 #74: When I Read I Dream Anne of Green Gables

  We're going to celebrate Women's History Month today with a famous female character from literature, written by a female author. Today's doll may look a little familiar, but she's not who you might think she is at first. She's Anne of Green Gables.

She's from the When I Read I Dream series,like Fern,otherwise known as Tammy World.

 

She shares the face sculpt with all the other dolls in the When I Read I Dream series,Fern, from Charlotte's Web, Jo, from Little Women,and Heidi,from,well,you know.

She's about 8" tall.

I used Emma's doll, since hers was still wearing all her original clothes...except her shoes. So of course I couldn't find the shoes to my Anne or hers! She does have her original dress,tights, hat,and her school books.

 

She's jointed at the neck,shoulders,and hips, and has click bend knees.

The When I Read I Dream dolls have the body used for Barbie's sister Stacie in the 90's. Before Stacie the body was  marked 'Those Characters From Cleveland', and used on the Lady Lovelylocks dolls.

  "Anne of Green Gables"  was first published in 1908

The book was written by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Montgomery was inspired to write her book by this photograph of model and actress Evelyn Nesbit. She said the picture showed, "a nostalgia for girlhood... a time of innocence, wonder, and discovery."

   There were several "Anne of Green Gables" sequels written, as well as a much later prequel written by another author, and authorized by Montgomery's heirs. There have been many adaptations of the books as movies, TV series', and musicals.
   It has been believed that Montgomery got the idea for the Anne books from a story suggestion she wrote in an old notebook. But it wasn't just one of her old story ideas. It was based on an actual incident. In 1911 she wrote in her journal: “The idea of getting a child from an orphan asylum was suggested to me years ago as a possible germ for a story by the fact that Pierce Macneill got a little girl from one, and I jotted it down in my notebook”. Pierce Macneill was the cousin of Montgomery's grandfather. He and his wife Rachel applied to adopt an orphan boy in 1892, to help out with chores on their farm, which was directly across from the Green Gables farm in Cavendish At the same time, their neighbors John and Annie Clark  also applied for a male orphan. But when the children arrived at the station,instead of two boys,there was a five-year-old boy and his three-year-old sister. The Macneills contacted the orphanage,but were told that there weren't enough boys, and the orphanage  wanted to keep the siblings together,so they had sent the girl with her brother. The Macneills did adopt the girl, who they named Ellen Macneill. Researchers have tried to find out Ellen's real name and family, but have had no luck. It's not even certain where the children came from, although it has been suggested that they had been brought from England or Nova Scotia. Sadly, neither family chose to adopt Ellen's brother,and no one knows what happened to him after he was returned to the orphanage. Although Anne was based on Ellen's story, Montgomery said, "There is no resemblance of any kind between Anne and Ellen Macneill who is one of the most hopelessly commonplace and uninteresting girls imaginable" . That's not very nice Lucy Maud!

  See you tomorrow for another doll.