The Doll Book of the Month Club: Doll Trouble by Helen B. Griffith

   The month, and the year in general, has flown by.  I've spent the last few days working on a project not for this blog, so even though I've had this post written for a while, I only just took the pictures. The last day of the month once again crept up on me. 

  This month's doll book is "Doll Trouble" by Helen B. Griffith, with illustrations by Susan Condie Lamb. 

"Doll Trouble" is actually a sequel to the book, "Caitlin's Holiday", but it works very well as a stand alone book. As explained in "Doll Trouble", in "Caitlin's Holiday" a girl named Caitlin spots a beautiful doll at a thrift store, laying in a case of pretty, hand made doll clothes. On impulse she 'trades' the doll she has with her, for the doll in the case. 

  The doll, named Holiday, turns out to be alive. Like, really alive. She can talk, and run, and do anything a person can do. Of course, Caitlin is the only one who knows, and Holiday has to be careful not to be seen being active by anyone other than Caitlin. Caitlin fears that if people found out, Holiday would be taken away and experimented on. I wondered at first if Caitlin was just pretending that Holiday was alive, but no. She truly is.

   In "Doll Trouble" we learn that Holiday misses her custom made clothes, and is jealous of  Caitlin's old doll, Jodi, who now owns them. (Jodi is the doll Caitlin 'traded' for Holiday.) 

  Jodi and the clothes are now the possessions of a girl Caitlin knows, named Jennifer. Jennifer is pretty unpleasant and forces her company on Caitlin, and Caitlin's friend Lauren. Jennifer doesn't take good care of the clothes or Jodi, and Caitlin begins to feel sorry for the doll she abandoned. 

The sorrier she feels for Jodi, the more jealous Holiday gets. Holiday is not only jealous, but heartbroken that her friend Caitlin would rather have Jodi than Holiday.

The trouble starts when Holiday finds out that Jodi is also alive. When Jodi begins to sabotage Caitlin, Caitlin blames Holiday, and her jealousy. 

In turn, Holiday is afraid she's losing Caitlin to Jodi. Holiday and Caitlin, once the best of friends, begin to fight. 

  The ending is pretty satisfying. It's funny, adventurous, and has a cozy finale with a special surprise. I won't give it away, but I will say there is a part that's reminiscent of Toy Story. Just so you know, Caitlin and Holiday do figure out what brought Holiday and Jodi to life, but exactly how is left a mystery.  

  The book is a simple to read chapter book of 128 pages. It's recommended for ages 8 to 12, but younger kids could enjoy having the book read to them. I thought the book was fun, and just the sort of thing Emma, with her very special Emma the Doll, would have enjoyed when she was a kid. I think it's a great book for kids who love their dolls, or just kids who like a good story about friendship and a little bit of adventure. There's nothing scary here. There's nothing creepy in the live dolls. It's basically a story about friendships.

  That's this month's book. See you again soon.

I Just Discovered Milly's Miniatures! A Look at A Tiny Robin Hood

   As I have mentioned before, Ken and I have been taking one or two days a week, when he's off from work, to just take off in the car and have a 'Fun Day'. We pick a direction and just drive off. If we come to something we think is interesting, we stop. Yesterday we ended up in a town an hour or so away, and were looking for somewhere to eat, when I spotted a store that looked like it had antiques amongst it's cottagy décor items. So we went in for a look. I was looking in a showcase when Ken pointed out a little Robin Hood doll. He was about 3 and a half inches tall, maybe, with nice detailed clothes and a tiny bow.

  He's standing on a piece of paper that says he's a 'Milly's Miniatures' and that he came 'From the birthplace of James Whitcomb Riley'. Below that, written in pencil, it says 'Robin Hood'.

He's stuck to the paper, which makes it hard to read. 

He has a velvet tunic and a brown pipe cleaner bow. I'm not sure what his feet are made of.  

I did have him out of the showcase, but I didn't think to have Ken take some pictures until he was put back and the employee had gone back to her other work. So, sorry, these are through the showcase glass and hard to see.

I was confused by the blob of fuzzy brown yarn in the lower part of his face. Is it a mustache? A furry mouth? What?

  I was quite taken with little Robin Hood, despite his weird fur blob mouth...or nose. but NOT by his price! He was $135! What?! 

  I had never heard of Milly's Miniatures. When I got home I researched 'Milly's Miniatures'. I found a picture of another Milly's Miniatures Robin Hood, and he doesn't have the blob. He does, however, have a satchel and a little arrow for his tiny bow, (which is wooden and not pipe cleaner like the other guy's.), and a feather in his hat. I could see something was missing from the other guy's hand.

This picture is from his 2018 auction listing, where he was estimated at $400 to $600!

 He was a local boy too, as his auction was in Parma Ohio. That's your neck of the woods, Barb.

I think the blob was originally a mustache. If he was made in the 1940's, the memory of 1938's "The Adventures of Robin Hood", with Errol Flynn and his tiny mustache, would have been in Milly's mind.

The outfit was certainly based on his, but where is Milly boy's tiny beard?

  It turns out that Robin was made by a lady named Mildred Davis. She made the dolls from the 40's to the 60's.  Mildred was born in 1900, and lived in Greenfield, Indiana. One thing I read said that the dolls were made to raise money for the Riley Old Home Society, at James Whitcomb Riley's birthplace in Greenfield. I hadn't heard of Milly's Miniatures, but I had heard about  James Whitcomb Riley's home though, because we see signs for it every time we go to Ivy's college. James Whitcomb Riley was a very successful poet who lived from 1849 to 1916. His work was extremely popular, and he did live readings, at one point earning $1000 a week. He was born in Greenfield Indiana, and his boyhood home is now a historical site. He later lived in Indianapolis, and the house there is a museum now, fully decorated in the furniture and style of the 1800's. Doll people may be familiar with James Whitcomb Riley's work without even realizing it. That's because Raggedy Ann was named after two of his most famous poems, "The Raggedy Man" and "Little Orphant Annie". ("Little Orphant Annie has nothing to do with the comic strip/movies/character 'Little Orphan Annie', but it is the source of the phrase 'the goblins'll get you if you don't watch out'.)

   I managed to find a picture of the little booklet that came with the dolls, that lists the dolls available. There was a group of dolls based on characters in Riley poems, a group of 'Indiana characters', and a group based on nursery rhymes. 

Ken wondered how many she would have made of each one. Good question, but I don't have an answer.

  If the dolls were 'from the birthplace of James Whitcomb Riley', that would make them strictly a local product. That would be why they were described on line as 'hard to find' and 'rare', and it accounts for that price! The only way they would originally have gotten out of the general area of Greenfield is if someone visiting Riley's home from far away bought one of the dolls and took it home with them. That's possible, since the dolls seem to have been sold as souvenirs from the home. Of course, I'm not sure how far people would have come in the 40's or 50's to see Riley's home, but they might have visited while passing through. It might also mean that a lot of local people might have visited the home and bought some of the dolls. They might be floating around here all over the place, especially in Indiana. That brings me back to Ken's question. If only one lady was making these dolls, how many could she possibly have made? Just how rare are they? Will I ever find another one 'in the wild'?

  The dolls originally came on their piece of heavy paper, like Robin Hood, inside a small box like a box jewelry comes in. There were two different size boxes because the dolls ranged from 3 to 4 inches tall, . They also came with the list, and a small paper describing the doll. The dolls have embroidered faces and cloth outfits. They seem to have a pipe cleaner armature, but I'm still not sure what those feet are. From what I can tell, it isn't metal.

  I've developed a thing for small dolls lately, like Tiny Town dolls, the Caco dollhouse dolls and the Baps dolls. Milly's Miniatures gives me another series to be on the hunt for, and-- yay!---they're local! I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for these little guys now. I'm anxious for the next time we head toward Ivy's school, not only to see Ivy, but to hunt down some of Milly's Miniatures.

Well That's One Less Thing Anyway!

   My camera problem is fixed. I'm embarrassed to say that it was really obvious. It makes me feel a little better that Ken didn't notice the problem at first either. He was switching newly charged batteries, and trying this and that. Of course, he might not have noticed what it was because it was something that shouldn't have been a problem in the first place! My memory card door wasn't closed tightly! I wouldn't have thought that would have been that big of a problem, because you can actually 'take' pictures without a memory card at all. (They aren't there when you're done, but you can go through the motions!) He said it was because there's a risk of shorting the camera or something, so the camera won't come on. Anyway, problem solved, and Ken didn't have to kill me for breaking the camera!

   So soon I'll give you a better look at some dolls I got at the doll show. As for part 2 of the doll show post, Ken and I have been trying to think of ways to get the pictures off his computer, ways that don't cost a million dollars. I suggested we could try putting the hard drive into an old computer that will actually come on. We do have one, but he thinks it might not work. (Before you ask, it will come on, but not much else.) We'll try. We have a lot of family photos on there that we need to retrieve too. I also bought some dolls online that I've been wanting. I found them for an amazing price and weirdly, no one bid against me. So I want to show you those.

  I also still have a wonderful story to tell you, with a great happy ending. That's waiting on someone else though, so that's not waiting on me.

  **Let me preface this next part by saying that I fully support getting the Corona virus vaccine. We desperately need to kill this virus off as soon as possible before it continues to mutate and becomes even more uncontrollable. Side effects are a small price to pay.** 

  As for what else I've been up to, Ken and I got our first dose of the Corona vaccine Monday. The shot didn't hurt much, as shots go, (and I am terrible with needles!), and we left feeling fine. Ken's arm was a bit sore most of the day, but I didn't even notice it. Then my shoulder/neck began to hurt when moved a certain direction, and my armpit, (lymph nodes) got achy and tender. I had a nauseous spell in the evening, but it got better. When we got home, (We were out on our 'Fun Day'.), we were both really sleepy and had a fever. Ken's was fairly low, at about 100. Mine was as high as 102.6, before I zonked out. The next day we both felt lousy, had low grade fevers, and slept on and off all day. Well,I did. Poor Ken had to go to work. I only got out of bed to pee, which, strangely, seemed to also be a thing for both of us that day. I didn't eat much, and couldn't stand drinking much either. It just didn't feel good in my mouth or taste good. That was unfortunate, since I maintained the low grade fever that went slightly up and down all day. It finally broke in the middle of the night, when I woke up sweating.

  I was pretty tired Wednesday, but had a fairly active day. Some of that tiredness could have been because it's so hot. I'm always draggy ,and feel lousy when it's hot. It didn't help that I was surely dehydrated from the fever and not drinking enough, (and peeing far too much!) The weird thing is, my hand, which had gotten to the point of all the fingers being sore and stiff, and my wrist hurting, improved during my fever. It went back and forth between how it's been lately, and almost normal. I've come to the conclusion that I may have psoriatic arthritis in that hand, because the fingernails on that hand are all lumpy too. I don't have psoriasis, but apparently the joint pain and stiffness can come first. Unfortunately, another of the symptoms is fatigue. No kidding?  I have so many things that can cause fatigue that it's a wonder I am ever awake. (To be honest, I'm not awake that much.)

  So that's what's going on. A post with pictures is coming soon! I promise!

World Doll Day and Some Updates

   Ken and I are still borrowing Emma's ancient computer. We still haven't gotten the other doll show pictures off Ken's computer, so part two of that post is still on hold. I was going to show you what I bought at the doll show, but then I remembered that all my camera batteries are dead, and my charger has disappeared! (What did I say last time? It's always something!) So that will happen when I get my batteries charged.

  To update about my fingers, you may remember I was having trouble with a couple of fingers on my right hand being sore and stiff. Well, it has never completely left, but there have been days when it was better. At the moment it's worse. It's more fingers, and my thumb, and has been extra stiff and painful. It may not be much, but I swear all the fingers are a bit swollen too.It has made it hard, or at least painful, to do things. It probably didn't help that I mowed the grass yesterday. 

  One day when the fingers weren't too bad I did some sewing and started to repair the big Linnea doll we found on the highway. I reattached the back of her head and her shoulder/neck. and sewed her legs where they had started to come off. I still need to put her one arm back on. That will wait until my hand is better, because the last work I did on her made it worse. 

  That reminds me. There are still a few dolls left from the ones we found on the highway. Still available are the sugar sack doll, the hand painted doll that needs resewn, the hand painted 'Wood n' Folks' doll, and the felt policeman with a stockinette face. If anybody is interested in a free doll, (but for the cost of shipping), don't forget to leave a comment on the original post that's linked above, and let me know which one you want, your address so we can figure shipping cost, and your email address so we can let you know. Beth in WV, don't forget to comment with your address so I can send you the postal cost for the doll you wanted.

  Thursday was Emma's 30th birthday, so we celebrated with her, her boyfriend AJ, her friends Zack and Erin, and, surprise! Ivy! We didn't know she was coming from Indiana, so that was great. She stayed until Saturday morning, so we got to spend a little time with her. She is staying in Indiana over the summer because she's doing an internship at the theatre. Emma celebrated turning 30 by getting nostalgic. She was thrilled with the rerelease of Pepsi Blue, one of her favourite drinks. She got some of that in, along with Doritos 3D, and Crispy M&Ms. The story behind the M&Ms is that Ken used to work in a store that sold the Sunday paper. He used to bring home all the leftover ads from it to get the weekly coupons. One week Emma scoured the papers and tore out all the coupons for free Crispy M&Ms, and spent the summer redeeming them. She ordered Papa John's pizza for lunch, which was one of the things we frequently did for her childhood birthday parties. To carry on the nostalgia I brought and hung one of her childhood Happy Birthday banners, and we gifted her with, amongst other things, a very soft mini Pooh Bear, since when she was a child we called her Pooh Girl.

  World Doll Day is coming up soon, on June 12th. 

 

You may have read about World Doll Day here or elsewhere. If not, you can read about World Doll Day at their website HERE. WDD encourages giving a doll to someone special on the day. It's also a nice day to give to children's charities, or to gift a needy child with a doll or other appropriate toy. The National Federation of Doll Collectors has online events planned. You can check out their page and keep up with what they're planning HERE.

 That's it for today. I'll see you again soon, when I get my camera batteries charged!