Finally, What I Got at the Doll Show: Mitzi, L'il Sister, Dodi, and More

   I posted Saturday's doll show pretty quickly, before it got as strung out as the last one! So here I am, finishing up on the last one, by showing you what I got.

  I was trying to be good. But there were a few things I regretted not buying at this show last September. (You can see the post on that show HERE.) I intended to see if they were at this show, and maybe buy them.   

  The first thing I bought was a Mini Brands book. "A Christmas Carol"! Some of you may know that's one of my 'things'. I hadn't seen the Mini Brands books before, and they actually contain print! I may be picky, (Okay. I am.), but I like a miniature book to have real printing in it. It was $4, but I figured that was a lot cheaper than  buying a ball, especially when I could buy 50 of them and not find this book. Unfortunately, the book starts out as the real book, but about 3 pages in, it turns into nonsense printing. What the hey?! Why would they bother to do that? I'm pretty sure that book is public domain now, although some of the Mini Brands books that were there aren't.

  When we finally got into the actual sales room, I headed for Margie Schultz's table. Last time Margie had some Basic Fun Kosmic Kiddles keychains. Kosmic Kiddles were some of my favourite toys when I was a kid, and I always wanted the little keychains. I could never find them when they first came out, and then they got very expensive on the secondary market. Margie's were loose, and not a bad price. I wished I had bought one. Well, she had sold the loose ones. All she had was a set of NRFP ones, that was $200. Oh well. 

  But one thing I also regretted not buying last time was a Mitzi doll she had. I decided before the show that I was going to look for that Mitzi. Well I didn't have to look As soon as I put down the Kosmic Kiddles and turned, there she was, laying on top of all the dolls in her tub, waiting for me. And she had even been marked down since last time!

As you can see, my lilacs have been blooming. They're nearly gone now.

  

Mitzi was a Barbie clone, made by Ideal in 1961. Some of those Barbie clones are downright scary looking. I thought this Mitzi was the prettiest one I've ever come across. I think she's beautiful.

She could use slight touch ups to her lips and eyelashes, and her cat's eye eyeliner is nearly gone. But I can do that if I decide to. That's fairly easy, especially the eyelashes. My only worry would be the cat's eye liner. I should be able to fix that too though, if I'm careful. The irony? I will paint it with a cat whisker! 

  She was naked when I bought her, so she threw on this outfit out of my stash of non-Barbie Barbie sized clothes. She could do with something more refined.

  She's probably had a bit of a haircut, but that's okay.

 

Could do with a combing too.

I think she still looks great, even with all her flaws.

  I love the colour of her hair. That's the colour of red hair I would have loved to have, instead of the orange stuff I got stuck with.

  Moving on, I got this great tiny sweater for $2! It looks to be handmade, and it really buttons!

  The sleeves are a little long for Tammy World, but otherwise it would be prefect. Maybe my sister can fix that.

  I got this Made To Move doll for $2 too.

                                                        

  She's like new.

  Moving on around the room, I got these clothes for $1 EACH. 

  The Bionic Woman outfit is perfect. Our Bionic Woman could do with a nicer outfit. The blue hoodie is also perfect, but the red shirt is a bit worn, and the dress needs a shoulder repair. It looks really familiar. It's not Barbie though. Does anybody recognize it?

  There was another thing I wanted last time, but didn't buy. I had been looking at a Skipper clone. She didn't have a price, so I waited to ask for one. The dealer was really busy though, so eventually I just gave up. A lot of her stuff was overpriced anyway. But I thought I'd see if she still had her this time. She did, and this time I was able to ask for a price. When the dealer said $5, I said okay.

  She could do with a little cleaning, but she's pretty good. She's made by Eegee, and wearing her original outfit, so I'm pretty sure she's L'il Sister.

  Cute, isn't she?

  When I was looking for her I noticed there was also an Ideal Dodi, in her original dress. On the off chance she would be cheap too I asked about her. She was also $5!

She's wearing her original dress, but it's missing the big tassel from the front.

You may have seen my Dodi's HERE. I have two, but one is blonde with a slight haircut, and the other is a redhead, but she's had a severe haircut. The Dodi I spotted at the show was a redhead, which I wanted. She kind of  seems to have lost some hair in the front, but with the style  that Dodi is supposed to have her hair in, it won't show at all!

   She'll look great when I get her cleaned up and combed.

  So that's what I got. Mitzi and the bottom two girls will probably get their own days if I do Doll-A-Day again. They'll have gone to the spa by then and can show their full beauty.  See you next time.  

Doll-A-Day 2023 #242: Deanna Durbin

   Yesterday we saw some celebrity dolls. And recently you saw this picture. 

Today we're going to concentrate on another celebrity doll that was in that picture. She's Deanna Durbin. That's her on the far right. Deanna Durbin was a child actress and singer, who went on to a successful adult career. She's next to two other child stars: Shirley Temple to her immediate left, and Margaret O'Brian, to Shirley's immediate left.

Deanna Durbin was born Edna Mae Durbin, in Winnipeg Canada, in 1921. She was a singing prodigy and was taking voice lessons by the age of ten. She developed a perfect soprano voice, far beyond her years. She made her first film appearance was in the 1936  movie "Every Sunday". She and Judy Garland were cast in the movie together, as sort of a screen test, so the big wigs at MGM could decide which young singer/actress to keep. Garland was signed, but Durbin's contract option had expired by then. Instead she was signed by Universal, who renamed her Deanna.

  She made many musicals in the 1930's and '40's. Supposedly her movies were so successful that they saved Universal from bankruptcy. She was so popular that there were paper dolls and other products made with her name and image on them. Ideal made several Deanna Durbin dolls. 

You can see that the doll in blue and white still has it's original tag, with Durbin's picture on it.

  The doll is from 1938. She's 21 inches tall, and is wearing her original dress. The smaller doll to the left, in pink and purple, is also a Deanna Durbin doll. As was the practice at the time, the dolls would also have originally had a pin like this one.

The larger doll has six teeth and a felt tongue in her open mouth. Her eyes are sleep eyes with hair lashes.

 

This Deanna Durbin doll, (on the right), also by Ideal, from 1938, is a smaller size, but the dolls also came in several sizes, as large as 24 inches tall.

  The Deanna Durbin doll at the back, left, is very large.

   In 1936, at the age of 15, she auditioned to be the voice of Snow White. She didn't get the role, because Walt Disney thought her voice was 'too old'! It must have been pretty advanced, because that year she was also offered an audition by the Metropolitan Opera. She felt she needed more voice lessons and didn't accept. In 1938 she won a Juvenile Oscar. (You can read my post about Juvenile Oscars HERE. ) She wanted to make more serious movies as she grew older, btu the public preferred her in musicals. In 1946 she was the second highest paid woman in the country, after Bette Davis. She was married three times, and after marrying her third husband she retired in 1949, and moved to a farm in the countryside near Paris. She lived the rest of her life there, and died in 2013, at the age of 91.

  Those are today's doll. See you again tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #235: Patti

   Today's doll is Patti.

  Patti was produced in 1964. She was a Montgomery Ward exclusive, which accounts for her price. She was made by Ideal.

 

  Her bangs should be longer. This girl's are a bit worn. Patti has long, straight, dark hair, but their are supposedly a few rare blonde ones. This one is wearing a Pepper ballet outfit. Her original dress had a red skirt over a one piece playsuit that was white with red polka dots, with two pieces of red rick rack down the middle of the front of the bodice. I think she also had a red elastic headband.

  As you may have noticed, Patti is displayed here amongst Tammy family dolls. That's because she was Pepper's friend. 

Surrounded by Peppers.

   You can see that they are the same height, but Patti seems to have a larger head than Pepper. I'm pretty sure they share a body though, at least, the 1964 Pepper body, not the Posin Pepper that's next to her.

  There was also a rare Pepper and Patti doll case.  

  That's today' doll. Sorry about the bad pictures. The next post will be better, honestly! See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #231: Posin' Cricket

    Today's doll is one I saw at the show on Saturday. I really liked her, but she was only being sold as part of a whole group of Ideal's Crissy and Family dolls and extras.

  I hadn't seen  her before, at least, not in person. I may have seen pictures. But in person she is quite cute. Her name is Posin' Cricket. The 'posin' aspect is her swivel waist.

She reminds me of somebody. I think it's a young Vickie Lawrence.

  Cricket was sold in 1971, thus the Jan Brady look of her dress. (It's actually the same style as the original Velvet dress. See the first picture, far left.)

  She was a Sears catalog exclusive, which may account for the fact that there aren't nearly as many of them around as the rest of the Crissy family. Crissy and Velvet are like weeds growing: They're everywhere. Mia was available in abundance at this same show.  I have even seen quite a few Harmonys in my life. But this is the first Cricket I've ever spotted.

  According to the site CrissyandBeth.com, there is a rare variation of Cricket with blue eyes, but that version will have darker red hair, more like Crissy's shade. Apparently the blue eyed doll is a variation, but an official one. She was supposedly sold in 1972, probably as part of a blue bridesmaid gift set. The blue bridesmaid was made to coordinate with the bride set that featured Ideal's Tressy, a large grow hair doll similar to the Crissy line. (Ideal had bought the rights to American Character's Tressy and Cricket dolls names and grow hair feature, although the American Character dolls were Barbie and Skipper sized.)  

  This week we'll see more dolls from the last two days of shows.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #215: Wake Up Thumbelina

   Today's doll is a cute baby. She's Wake Up Thumbelina.

She has a sweet little face, with painted eyes and rooted blonde hair with a ribbon bow in it.

She was made by Ideal in 1976.

  According to her box, 'she turns over...and much much more.

Doesn't look like she's doing much with these floppy legs filled with foam. In fact, her legs are so light weight, that she can't sit up. Her head and torso are so heavy, that she just slips down when you sit her up. She's doing a lot of leaning in that first picture.

  Her pajamas have a little ribbon bow with embroidered flowers.

  Leaning again. And her arms just reach out like that.

Why? Because she is meant to be laid like this.

She's about 19 inches long.

  Okay, so what all does she do? I'll let the side of her box tell you.

 

Her PJs have a trap door that her bottom tends to poke out of. That's where her batteries go.

  According to the instructions above, this weird shape in her back is what you press to put her through her motions. It's quite a complicated bunch of instructions for kids to follow: how you have to lay her, how her legs have to be crossed etc.

  Her pajamas need a cleaning, but her head will look pretty nice when her hair is combed. I haven't tried her out to see if she works.

  If anybody is interested in her, let me know. I can see if she works and come up with a price for you.

    You can watch a commercial for  Wake Up Thumbelina HERE.

That's it for today. See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #204: Pepper...Again!

   Yes, it's another Pepper! I know you may feel you have been inundated with Peppers in the last few months. And this one looks a lot like the Pepper I showed you back in January. But I swear she's a different one.

  I got her at the doll show where I won the door prize gift certificate that I bought the Coraline doll with.

She has the same strawberry blonde hair as January's Pepper, but her hair is much more full and curly.

She has the usual Ideal markings on her back.

  Let's go over the same old info: Pepper is Tammy's little sister. She was made by Ideal, between 1963 and 1965.   

She has five points of articulation: neck, shoulders, and hips.

Like her sister, Pepper doesn't have a very ladylike sitting position.

She had a $10 tag, but I think I managed to get her for $7.

  Do I need another Pepper? No. But, well....

  It's a little hard to resist that suspicious sideways glance, and the red hair, especially at such a good price.

She makes a good detective too...

I don't think they made any Tammy's with this hair colour. Has anybody ever seen one?

My sister had brown hair and mine was red. It happens. Read my posts on red hair for information on that.

The dress is one I picked up somewhere. I don't even remember any more. It had a hat too I think, or maybe it was bloomers. I know there were two pieces. It was laying in the dollhouse, waiting for a wash. So when I was given the boxes with my dollhouse stuff in them, there it was. So I brought it back and washed it up for Pepper, who was naked and waiting for her day on the blog.

  It required some repairs. I had to reconnect the bodice and the skirt on one side in the back, and resew the snaps. I don't sew well. And the dress was fraying on the edges. of the fabric. I wish I had my Fray Check here, but I don't. Don't judge me!

  For more Pepper you can click on 'Pepper' in the side bar.

  That's it for today. See you tomorrow!