Doll-A-Day 2019 #243: John Dolly Darling

  I woke up somewhere in the middle of the night last night, to find my shoulder/back/neck were going out on me again. I was having trouble turning my head and was having a lot of pain. It bothered me today,but Ken pressed on it for me and gave me a bit of a massage, and it's not as bad as it was. The problem is under me shoulder blade and up my neck.I don't know what I did that strained it,but it has gone out on me before. When we first moved here, 24 years ago, carrying furniture and boxes got to me. I was cooking dinner one night not long after we moved in, when, suddenly, my shoulder went out. I couldn't move without intense pain. That night Ken had to help me dress for bed,and the pain was so intense that my speech was affected. Ken said I sounded like deaf actress Marlee Matlin. I think he thought I must be having a stroke or something,and he was scared. Since then he has lived in fear of me 'turning into Marlee Matlin' again. I have been being careful all day not to do too much, because I don't want to go through the pain, and also not be able to move!
  Today's doll is a little guy you may have seen before. I got him at the flea market last summer. He's John.

John was part of the original Dolly Darlings line.

They were all tiny 4 inch tall dolls.

They were called 'hatbox dolls' because they came in round plastic 'hatbox' style boxes with clear lids. John was the only boy.

He was called 'John and his Pets', and was sold with 2 cats,two dogs, a duck,two pieces of white fence, a can of 'cat food', and a  fake book called 'How to Train Cats'.

He was sold in 1965.

He is the only original Dolly Darling to not be later sold in a rooted hair version. His molded,painted hair was painted with a variety of shades and colours,and has plenty of molded detail.

All that paint and they couldn't have spared some for his eye brows?!

 

John is wearing his original jacket and shorts.

He should also have a white shirt with red bow tie.
 

He has weird little fisty hands.

Hey! Come back here with my shirt!

His blue knee socks and brown lace up oxfords are painted on.

 He's jointed at the neck, shoulders,and hips,so he can sit down.

You may have seen my other John, who made do with some hand me down clothes. If not, you can see him HERE.

That's today's doll.

Tomorrow we'll look at another one. See you then.

Doll-A-Day 2019 #27: Dolly Darlings Honey

  Today Emma and I are taking Ivy back to college. (Sniff!) I will miss her terribly. We had a nice long visit with her this time, as she came home before Christmas. Still, it's hard to see her go back. Her next break is short, and she's so far away that out of the three days we would spend a lot of it on the road. We may not see her again until Spring! The weather has been very snowy,so I hope the roads are clear for the trip. Today's doll is a Dolly Darlings doll.

 

She's 'Honey',made by Hasbro as part of the Dolly Darlings line.

Dolly Darlings were made from 1965 to 1968. Early Dolly Darlings were called the Hatbox series, as they came in round plastic cases with clear lids. Later dolls (beginning in 1967) were sold on cards.
For example,our girl today. She would have looked like this.

She is apparently part of the Parytime series.

Dolly Darlings are 4" tall.

Most of them have those one dot teeth and tongues.

As you can see from the picture of her on her card, she's wearing her original outfit.

She has her dress...

....flower headband...

It's a bit frayed on the ends.

...and painted on shoes. Somewhere under that dress there is also a pair of white cotton undies.

I actually have two of this particular girl. The one on the right is only in her underwear, but she is a better example of the original colouring.

There are those undies. The fully dressed girl and her clothes were very yellowed. I soaked her, completely clothed,in the Stain Devils for nicotine stains. Her clothes came up beautifully. Even her skin pinked back up a lot.
  Dolly Darlings are jointed at the neck,shoulders,waist,and hips.

You can see her jointed waist just above her underwear.

Most Dolly Darlings have rooted hair,except for the lone boy,John.

You can see my redressed John HERE. You can see my other John wearing his original clothes HERE.

Yeah...that headband is unraveled. It was still pinned to her head before I cleaned her though. I took the pins out when I washed her hair.

Does anybody else think she sort of looks like Ally Sheedy?

Ok. Maybe not.

I thought she looked like a flower girl in this outfit.

  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 2017 #343: Shrunken Saturday:Dolly Darlings John

  The worst shopping day ever. It was bad enough that Ivy wanted taken to Emma's by 5:30,instead of 5, like she told me the other day. That wasn't going to leave me much time to do the things I planned to do. I was going to drop her off, go during the other 20 minutes to some stores I needed to do some quick Christmas shopping at,and then come home and rearrange things in the living room to make room for the tree. As it turned out,I missed shopping at two of the places I needed to get to most. that was because most of my evening, and my night, was taken up with car trouble. The car kept over heating,in spite of the new radiator we got recently, and the almost whole jug of antifreeze/coolant I put in. By the time I got where I was going I was too late to shop at one place because it closed before I finished at Hallmark, and the other closed before I finished with another place. Then what should have taken me about 20 minutes--getting back to Emma's--- took me almost an hour and a half, because the car kept getting hot after only 2 to 5 minutes of driving, and taking longer to cool down. In the end Emma had to take us home. Now Ken and I have to go back tomorrow evening after he gets off work and try to get the car home somehow.
  Anyway! Today's Shrunken Saturday doll is this little guy.

His name is John.

This is much bigger than life size,so his rough face shows up.

He's a Dolly Darling.

The Dolly Darlings were a series of tiny dolls made by Hasbro.

He's wearing a Bratz Babies shirt. The other stuff is a mystery,but he was naked. I was lucky to find anything that fit him,because he's tiny.

I've read that they are 4 1/2" tall, but I measured John at 4".

John is from a line called the 'Hatbox Dolls',because they came in round 'hat boxes',with clear plastic lids.

His hair has streaky detailing.

John was the only Dolly Darlings male doll.

He was available in 1965.

He came wearing a sleeveless white shirt with a red tie, a blue and white checked sports coat with a crest on the breast pocket,and blue shorts. His blue knee socks and brown shoes are painted on.
 

"Hello. My name is John. Who are you?"

He was called John and his Pets.
 

Nothing but sniffing from the rabbit. But John edges closer,being careful not to scare him.

 He came with two dogs, two cats, a yellow duck, a can of cat food, four pieces of white fencing, and a pretend book called  'How to Teach Cats'. Pretend is right! You can't teach cats! (That's not true. Our cat Mow has been taught not to climb on the table,and he's very good about it.)

"Please don't be scared.I like animals."

The rabbit comes further out of the gate. John stands very still.

The other Dolly Darlings were released later with rooted hair,but not John. 

Finally John is able to get very close. He stands still so the rabbit can sniff him and get to know him.

He,and some of the girls, were available as paper dolls though.

Today was our first real snowfall of the winter.

This fence decoration has yellowed terribly.I think I may have to get a Tom Sawyer doll to paint it.

That's it for this week's Shrunken Saturday. See you tomorrow for another wintery doll.