The Doll Book of the Month Club: Henriette, The Story of a Doll

   This month's Doll Book of the Month Clun entry is Henriette, The Story of a Doll, by Tracy Friedman. The illustrations are by Verna Rosenberry.

  Henriette is a beautiful china doll from France. The book opens with Henriette in the warmth and comfort of her elderly owner's arms, in a cozy chair. 

When her owner, who was given Henriette when she was a child, opens a letter, out drops a gold locket. The locket belonged to the daughter of Henriette's owner. Henriette had been passed on to the daughter, but the daughter had moved away as an adult and left Henriette behind. 

The Civil War ensued, and after a time, the daughter, (and her husband), passed away, but not before having a child of her own. Henriette's owner had tried to find her granddaughter, Amanda, and finally the locket had been sent as proof that  Amanda had been located. She is in Atlanta, in an orphanage. Henriette's owner sadly decides that Amanda would be better off being adopted than coming to live with an old lady on a decaying plantation.

  When the owner leaves the room, Henriette knows what she must do. She was meant to be Amanda's doll, and she must get to Amanda before she is adopted and lost forever. And, a doll after my own heart, Henriette decides to take the locket back to Amanda too, as it should be with her. Henriette does something most dolls in books like this don't get to do: She communicates with her owner. She writes a note to her owner, telling her where she has gone, and promising she will try to bring Amanda back. She digs through her trunk of clothes and puts on a red velvet cloak and a straw bonnet, and sneaks out through the kitchen, and into the wide world. Luckily a load of cotton is about to be sent to Atlanta, and Henriette is just in time to hitch a ride.

  This book reminds me a bit of Hitty, or The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane , (Click on those titles to read my reviews), in that it tells of a doll's journey somewhere, and her adventures along the way.

 'Henriette' has neither the complexity of Hitty's story, nor the poetry of Edward Tulane's, but then, it's much shorter than either of those books.  'Henriette' is a short, 64 pages, and if you have patient children who can sit for somewhere between half an hour and an hour, (I didn't time my read, and I don't know how fast you read.), you could cover the book in a sitting. It's an entertaining book, although I wasn't quite satisfied altogether with the ending. It didn't really settle everything. It's almost like there should have been a sequel. And there was! The sequel is called, "The Orphan and the Doll". I think both books should have been combined into one satisfying story, but I guess there were a couple of years in between. I think I can still recommend 'Henriette'. 

Two Doll Shows in One Week! Am I Lucky or Crazy?

   I have been to two doll shows in the space of a week! I went to the first one on my own last Sunday, and would have skipped the second one entirely except that my sister wanted to go again. We went last year, and my sister, who has no interest in dolls really, enjoyed it so much that she wanted to go again! So we went Saturday, and I probably did better at the second one as far as finding good stuff. This post is going to focus on the first show, where I took pictures. I didn't take any at the second show, just because I didn't think that show lends itself as well to interesting photographs. So the post on that show will focus on what I bought there. (I did buy something I've been wanting at the first show, but I'm saving that for a special post involving some other dolls. The few other things I bought will be dribbled out as I get them photographed.)

  Before I start, to update you briefly on my leg, it still hurts. I'm still limping a bit and if I'm on my feet too much the leg and my back really start to get out of control pain-wise. So I'm trying to not overdo, and I think the leg is continuing to improve little by little.

  Now, on to the show...

It was held in Strongsville Ohio, up near Cleveland. It's about an hour and a half drive for me.

  My pictures loaded totally backward from the order I took them. The first dolls  I'm showing you were some of the last I looked at. This dealer had some very interesting and very expensive dolls. A lot of them were cloth or cloth faced, and they had great personality. I loved the 'modern major general' looking guy with the red feathers, and the wonderful girl in the red skirt.  

I've left this for a week, and now I forget where the girl was made. Czechoslovakia maybe?

The two googly eyed dolls are great.

This guy was the dealer's favourite and not for sale. She called him Good Time Charlie, and likes to imagine he's 'been out on a bender'. For those not familiar with the term, it means he's been out on a drinking spree.

The two gentlemen in the back were former museum pieces, created by an artist named Helmut Krauhs. Their prices were over $2000.

Sorry I photographed her paper badly! In too much of a hurry.

These were more of the dealer's gems. I love the cat and the girl in the chair.

These dolls are more Jammi Originals, like the girl in the chair, and the kids below.

I thought it was clever that the dealer had made use of a bakery stand to display all these small dolls.

These two French characters seem to be under the scrutiny of the gendarme.

These people look a little like potatoes.

These guys had such great faces. Their tag says they are Japanese dolls.

   Moving on to other dealers, I saw this Tearie Dearie, just like the one I got for Christmas in 1965. You can see her in my post on Christmas HERE.

  One dealer was promoting her own handmade resin ball jointed dolls.  

She designs them all and makes them using a 3D resin printer, (not the type that uses filament.) She sells them as finished dolls, and as kits for making your own.

The dolls are available in several sizes, and you can mix and match the body parts to create your own customized doll.

There were also anthropomorphic dolls.

The dolls range in size from larger, 12" or so dolls...

...to 8 or 9 inch dolls...

...to this little 4 or 5 inch doll that fit in the palm of my hand...

She had made a lot of Legend of Zelda characters, at her son's request!

...to the very tiny doll about 3 inches tall that you saw above in the picture with the unfinished dolls.

  She has a brand new website, so new that there isn't anything for sale on it yet. But she said you can order from her if you see anything here you are interested in, or want to buy a kit. 

Her website, mysfitdolls.com

Or you can contact her by email at mymysfits@gmail.com

And on to the rest of the show.

Such pretty girls.

A couple of nurses.

Must be a children's hospital. I think that's Deanna Durbin on the far right. Does anybody recognize the girl next to her?

I think that's Deanna, next to Deanna.

Two fellows that look to be Skippy, next to their girlfriend Patsy, or at least someone who looks like her. YOu can see my repro Skippy HERE.

This kid is Judy Splinters. I walked up just as the dealer was telling her story.

She was based on a ventriloquist dummy from a kid's show called "Judy Splinters". The show started in Los Angeles in 1947 as a regional show, moved to Chicago in 1949, and finally to New York, where it aired until 1950. It was even a summer replacement show, (Remember those?), for "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie". During it's run the show was nominated for a prime time Emmy award for Most Popular Television Program. Judy's performer was only 19 when the show started.

According to IMDB the show was only nominated for one Emmy, the one I mentioned above. This paper the dealer had says Shirley Dinsdale, the ventriloquist won the very first Emmy for "Outstanding Television Personality" in 1949. This is verified by other information on the web. It also says the award went to Shirley and Judy.

 

Shirley Dinsdale poses with her dummy, and one of the dolls based on it. The doll the dealer was selling was about 20 inches tall. Apparently the doll came in 18, 20, and 36 inch sizes, and had a string in her back that could be used to move her head, (but not her mouth, as she didn't have a hinged chin like a ventriloquist dummy).

Here's Judy in the 1950 Sears catalog.

  The lady buying Judy was telling about an interesting doll she owned. It was a Pepsodent toothpaste premium called Miss Pepsodent. She was made in 1953. Her teeth are printed on a ball that rolls when she is laid down. When she is upright her teeth are white, and when she's 'sleeping' her teeth appear yellow, as the ball rolls to reveal the yellow painted teeth. (You can see some good pictures of a Miss Pepsodent doll HERE.)I had never heard of Judy Splinters or Miss Pepsodent, but they were both fun to learn about!

More beautiful dolls.

The world's most shocked nun.

Gorgeous dolls!

Some Shirley Temples.

A very pretty Mary Hoyer doll with blushy knees.

Old and new dolls mingling together.

This kid wasn't very big, but she was full of personality.

Most people would probably be drawn to the baby, but I loved the big cloth girl.

I always love the felt faced dolls.

This Where the Wild Things Are doll was handmade by the dealer.

Unfortunately she doesn't make dolls any more.

I would have loved t have brought home this big Betsy McCall. But not for $100.

 She was about 30" tall. Her clothes are all original.

What a beautiful girl!

These cute little characters were 10 or 12" tall.

                                             How cute are all these little felt guys?

This magnificent felt lady was $5, and maybe I should have bought her.

Patsys or Patsy types.

  So that's it for that show. Stay tuned for the dolls I got at the show we went to yesterday, coming soon.