Doll-A-Day 2023 #241:Olivia Newton-John Dolls

   Today we're looking at dolls I would never own myself. But I photographed them to show Ken, because Ken loves Olivia Newton-John, and has since she first got famous, and some of these dolls are really good likenesses. Olivia Newton-John is his ideal woman. He even likes her music, which I never did. He fondly tells of the Olivia poster he had on his wall as a teenager, which his dad built a frame around. It became  a permanent fixture, so much so that when they sold the house, the poster remained. Ken still regrets that! I saw these dolls at the recent doll shows, and I have never seen so many Olivia Newton-John dolls together in my life. I guess it wasn't that many, but it seemed like it.

  All of them are based on her 'Sandy' character in "Grease", which I also do not like. And why don't I like "Grease"? It has some catchy songs, and I guess some of the dance numbers are okay. What I don't like about "Grease" is the lesson it teaches. 'Sandy' is made fun of for being a 'nice' girl, for being a conservative dresser. I saw this movie when it first came out, in 1978. I was 16, and my thoughts then were, "Why can't Sandy be what she wants to be? Why does she have to change everything about herself for them to like her, for her boyfriend to accept her? If he can't like her as she is, if he lets his friends pick on her, if she has to change to what he wants, instead of him letting her be herself, who needs him?!" I've always been a big believer in being yourself, in individuality. I always taught my kids that what makes you different is what makes you you, what makes you interesting. Always be yourself, no matter what other people think. So Sandy having to totally change to 'fit in' really rubs me the wrong way. Ken points out that 'Danny' changed for Sandy too. And then I point out that yes, Danny changed...until everybody made fun of him. And he was uncomfortable when he changed. It wasn't him. So he changed back. But you get the feeling that when Sandy changed, she was going to have to stay that way. That everybody, including Sandy, was happy now, because now Sandy fit in, which made all right with the world. What about Sandy being uncomfortable being somebody she wasn't? Why was everything suddenly okay because Sandy was like them?

  Okay. Rant over Here are the dolls. The black outfit doll in the trunk is a Franklin Mint 16" Sandy doll. She has a wardrobe of clothes, all of which I'm not sure appeared in the movie. The doll is a pretty good likeness though. 

  I believe the insert behind Sandy folds down to make the bedroom from the sleepover scene in the movie.

Franklin Mint also made a Sandy doll wearing the yellow circle skirt and sweater, which is sitting on top of the trunk. I'm pretty sure it was the same face sculpt, and just painted differently.

  

  Mattel also made Sandy dolls in the yellow circle skirt and sweater, and the black outfit, as well as cheerleader Sandy. Those dolls just used the Barbie head sculpt though, and not an Olivia sculpt.  

Barbie as Sandy.

  There was a Barbie as Sandy dressed as she was in the school dance sequence of the movie too.

  Mattel also made a Sandy and Danny Kelly and Tommy set, two different Rizzo dolls, two different Frenchy dolls, and two Cha Cha dolls, (the really good dancer who dances at the school dance).

Lots of other companies made Grease dolls, including Madame Alexander's Sandy and Danny dolls, which both had that baby Madame Alexander face, and a really horrible series of Dolls by Premier, which included Sandy, Rizzo, and Frenchy. I think we bought Ken the Sandy out of that series one year...

  Olivia Newton-John was born, as Ken likes to point out, in England, not Australia, in 1948. She moved to Australia at the age of five. Her father was a scientist named Brinley Newton-John, who was part of the group who broke the Enigma code during WWII, and was the man who took Rudolph Hess into custody. Her maternal grandfather was a German physicist and mathematician named Max Born, who won the Nobel prize in physics in 1954. So she could very easily have gone into science instead of show business. But she gave up her original plan to become a vet, because she was afraid she couldn't pass the science tests! She began her singing career as a teenager, forming a singing group with some friends at the age of 14. Before she was out of her teens she was a regular face on Australian TV, and in 1965 she won a trip to England as a prize on the show "Sing Sing Sing". She recorded her first record at the age of 18. 

  Olivia went on to make many successful records, and a few successful and some not so successful movies. (Including one of the worst movies I have ever seen,"Zanadu".)  She was given an OBE by Queen Elizabeth in 1979. In 1988 she and a partner opened a chain of stores called Koala Blue. We visited one in Texas when we went to see my friend Lisa, in 1994. Ken got to take pictures and get a couple of small souvenirs. The clothes were too expensive for me! 

  In 1989 she released an album called "Warm and Tender". I found an almost life sized advertising standee of her in a record store, and managed to sneak it home without Ken knowing when the store was finished with it. We lived in an apartment with a balcony at the time, and I stood her looking in the balcony door and closed the curtains. I had Ken open the curtains when he came home and surprised him.

  In 1992 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She recovered, and became an advocate for breast cancer research, and later, when the cancer returned, for natural medicines and treatment.  She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 2020 for her services to charity, cancer research, and entertainment.

 In 2012 she opened the Olivia Newton-John Wellness and Cancer Research Center. Her cancer returned in 2013, and again in 2017. She passed away in August of 2022.

  Ken got to see Olivia in concert twice. The first time was in 1999. I was pregnant with Ivy and didn't go. The second time was in 2017 I think. Her cancer had already been announced. She appeared at a tiny town, at a very small theatre, not terribly far from where we live. I convinced Ken to go for the most expensive ticket, so he could be really close. I didn't go with him, so he could afford the best seat he could get. I drove him there and waited in the car for him. He had a great time, second row, almost center, and took pictures, even though he wasn't supposed to. I told him that if they were selling signed CDs he had to get one. Ken doesn't like to buy stuff for himself, so I really had to insist. He did get one, and guiltily showed me when he got in the car. The CD was displayed in our bedroom, but had been recently covered by his new signed Gilbert O'Sullivan CD that he got when we saw G.O. during our trip. Luckily the G.O. CD was only a little sooty, and it cleaned off, and the Olivia CD only had some soot around the very edges, which also cleaned off. 

  That's  it for today, See you tomorrow