Toy Show Haul, Including Pippi Longstocking

   Holy cow. I have missed the Doll Book of the Month Club for the second month in a row. Honestly, I can't find my books. I brought two from Emma's that I was going to do when we moved back to the house, plus one here, and I can't find any of them. I really need to sort some books out.

  And it has been a month and a half since my sister and I went to the toy show, and I still haven't shown you what I got. Today I am taking a sit down day because yesterday my bad leg and my back were hurting so much, and I was so stiff, that I could hardly walk. So, it seems like a good time to look at that toy show haul.

  This toy show has loads of dolls. It seems like it has more dolls all the time. That's good, because I collect both. However, it's kind of messing up my old thing about getting good deals on dolls at toy shows because the dealers aren't used to dealing with dolls. A lot of these dealers are.

  I didn't buy much, and some of what I bought wasn't dolls. For instance, the set of limited edition Beatles cards that complete my 90's set.

  This mini guitar isn't a doll either. but it can be used with one.

These are quite expensive, but this one came with the case and a stand, (which I forgot to photograph), and it was only $15. 

  I bought something that is actually a doll, but it's going to be a gift for someone, so I'm not showing it. But I will show you this tiny doll.

He's marked My Toy 1965.

  He's about Kiddle size, at 4 inches tall, only with a very similar body, but a larger head. He originally came wearing a blue and white striped one piece outfit with a neckerchief. (I'm not sure if it was attached to the outfit, but I think so.)  He might be a My Toy Half Pint doll. If not, he at least has the same head and body, but may be a different series.

  The last thing I bought was this very familiar doll.

She's about 11 inches tall.

She's a 1972 Horsman Pippi Longstocking doll.

  Pippi is a much beloved character, from the books by Astrid Lindgren.

The dealer sold her to me for only $5, because she thought Pippi was in really bad shape! I forget how she put it, but she shrugged at my saying I'd take her for the $5 she asked, and said basically, that she was rough or something. She seemed to think she was beyond fixing! I don't really see much she needs though, besides her hair combed. She has her complete outfit, including shoes, socks, and undies. She has all her hair. She just needs her ponytails done up again. This version didn't have her hair braided, or sticking up.

  I have a weakness for red haired dolls, dolls with freckles, (Both things I never wanted myself. At least I avoided the freckles.), and dolls with goofy faces. Pippi dolls usually hit three bullseyes.

  So that's what I got. Doll shows seem to be over until about August. The next toy show I go to is in October. But I'll be around.  

Doll-A-Day 2023 #319: Police Woman

   Today's doll has a little problem with her wardrobe: She doesn't have one. So excuse her plastic nudity. She's Police Woman.

She's 9 inches tall.

  "Police Woman" was a TV series, that ran from 1974 to 1978. I remember watching it. Friday nights, I think. Yes. Apparently the first two seasons aired on Friday nights. The show was based around the main character, police officer 'Pepper Anderson', played by Angie Dickinson. The doll is supposed to look like her.

It doesn't really look like Angie Dickinson, except for the hair is a bit messy on this one. I always thought that, "Police Woman" era Angie Dickinson anyway, looked like she didn't own a comb.

As my dad would have said, her head looks likes a wall mop...whatever a wall mop is.

The doll does have her dimple though. 
 

 The doll was made by Horsman, and came wearing a red jumpsuit and a trench coat.. 

She's marked 1976 on the back of her head.

  She has jointed knees, similar to Barbie, and hinge jointed elbows and wrists.

  

This doll has the same problem as dolls like Dawn, Dusty, and others, in that her plastic body reacts with her rubber legs, causing a sort of melting, making her hip joint frozen in place. 

    There were separate fashions available for the doll, that included a skydiving set, and undercover outfits like a stewardess set, (see above), a scuba diving set, and a motorcycle set, and a thief set that included a black cape, a mask, a bright red swag bag with a dollar sign on it, jewels, the safe to steal them out of, and a couple of bundles of dynamite to blow the safe up with! What side of the law was she on?! 

  I like that the costumes were fitting for a police woman of action. Unlike the Bionic Woman, for example, there don't seem to have been any evening gowns made for Police Woman. The series wasn't really kid friendly though, considering some of the crimes and undercover situations dealt with on the show.

  By the time Angie Dickinson played Pepper Anderson, a supposed hot looking babe, she was  43 years old, (47 by the end of the show's run.) I don't think they'd cast someone that old in a role like that these days. So you have to sort of commend them for that, I guess. 

    Apparently, "Police Woman" is the oldest TV series to have all of it's main cast still living.

  Trivia for today: Angie Dickinson was married to composer Burt Bacharach from 1965 to 1981. Angie is 92 years old, and still going strong.

  That's the doll for today. See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #273: Horsman Doll

  I got this doll at the toy show the other day. I have no idea who she is, as I looked her up on the Horsman doll identification page, and I couldn't find any doll exactly like her. But here she is.

She's about 14 inches tall.

She does say Horsman on the back of her neck.

  Her face has some damage There's a nick in the colour on her nose, and her eyebrows have apparently been drawn on with black marker.

Those eyebrows look like they'll be easy to remove.

  She ha sleep eyes with brush lashes.

And she has teeth. They are a bit off center though. 

She's strung, and jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. Her little knees are blushed.

Her undies have a built in short slip.

 Her hair is mostly in it's original set. It's a bit surprising her hair is in such good condition, considering how dirty and worn her face is. It's a nice colour too, sort of a dark auburn.

It's full of hairpins.

What a beautiful colour! That's the red I would have loved my hair to have been.

  I think her dress is homemade. It's a pretty good job, but I can tell from the stitches that hold the rhinestone straps on in the inside. (They are rhinestones, but they have darkened.)

Her dress does have a built in underskirt. She's also wearing undies.

  She seems worth saving. Think how cute she'd be with her face washed, new eyebrows, and her nose nick fixed, her hair tidied, and a cute little dress.

  She was in a box under the dealer's table, along with some more boring dolls and light fixtures and stuff. The dealers kept coming over and saying, "$8. The dolls in those boxes are $8." That's not bad, but you can't fault someone for trying! So I said, "Would you take 5?" He immediately came back with "Six." Done and done.   

  If anybody knows who she is, please leave a comment. See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #265: Ella Cinders

   Today's doll is Ella Cinders.

  Ella Cinders, an obvious transposing of 'Cinderella', started life in 1925, as a comic strip, created by Charles Plumb, Fred Fox, and Roger Armstrong. The comic strip originally followed a similar storyline to "Cinderella", with 'Ella' living with her stepmother and two horrible stepsisters, who constantly gave her work to do, and generally treated her badly. In 1926 the comic strip was made into a movie starring Colleen Moore. Yes. THAT Colleen Moore. The one with the amazing dollhouse which you can still go to see at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Being as it was made in 1926, it's a silent film. You can watch the movie HERE. Colleen Moore had a similar haircut to Ella's anyway, so she was perfect for the part.

  The comic strip ran until 1961. Over the years there were also books, comic books, board games, and of course, dolls, based on the character. The original dolls, made by Horsman, had composition head, arms, and legs, with a stuffed cloth body. This doll is a Horsman reproduction, made in 1996. 

  She has a hard vinyl head, and partial limbs. Her upper arms and legs, and her body, are stuffed cloth. Her arms and legs are jointed though, at the shoulders and hips, so they can be posed a bit and hold the pose.

 

 

  For some reason her shiny plastic head appeals to me.

I also like her freckles and her slightly worried look.

This Ella is 17" tall. There was also a 9" reproduction Ella made the same year, dressed exactly the same as this one.

  She's wearing her original outfit, minus her black Mary Jane shoes.

Her dress is accented with lace and pink buttons.

  

She has a pretty flowered apron that is separate from her dress.

 

Both close in back with Velcro.

Under her dress she's wearing white pantaloons.

 

She's wearing what looks like gym socks! They are elastic knee socks.

Since her hair is painted on, she has two pink bows stuck to the top of her head.

  In spite of her hard plastic head and shiny face, she seems very cuddly. I had had about half an eye on Ella Cinders, after seeing her online. I was excited to find her in an antique mall on our anniversary day out. Ken bought her, and the Gingham Dog and the Calico Cat book for me at the same place. I like Ella even better in person.

  That's today's doll Tomorrow we'll have a look at another one.