Doll-A-Day 2023 #205 Nona

  Today's doll is this little girl.



She's Nona.



Nona is an 8 inch Madeline friend, made by Learning Curve.

  Eden had been the makers of Madeline toys, making the 8 inch dolls, case, and the great Old House in Paris dollhouse. The dolls were popular, and the number of characters, Madeline outfits, and various incarnations of Madeline produced were numerous over the years. They also made many plush dolls, including a talking Madeline doll. You can see my plush Madeline, and read about her creator, Ludwig Bemelmans, HERE. In 2002 Learning Curve acquired the licensing for Madeline. The first year they made the dolls with the same look as the original Eden dolls. Then in 2002 Learning Curve changed the look of Madeline and friends. They modernized the dolls faces and their clothes. Instead of the plaid school uniforms the Madeline and friends had worn in various coordinating forms, the school uniform was changed to this:

Even their teacher, Miss Clavel was given a more updated nun's uniform.

 

 Nona has a sweater with a built in white shirt...

...jeans with plaid cuffs...

...and white shoes.

The shoes are plastic, but they have strings that go through holes t the top, and the rest of the laces are molded.

  And she has a blue coat with a hood.

 

The new look wasn't very popular with Madeline fans, or the Bemelmans family,(the family of Madeline's creator Ludwig Bemelmens. You can read about him in my post HERE.). The family withdrew the license from Learning Curve. These days I think the Madeline license is with Yottoys.

  Nona has very thick, wavy pale blonde hair.

And big blue eyes.

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

Thrft Store Finds Part 3: Madeline Case and Miss Clavel

  If you have been reading the last few days you'll know I made quite a thrift store haul about a week ago. I showed you the Woodseys and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Today, in part 3, I'm showing you this Madeline Doll Case and the goodies inside, which I got at Goodwill for only $2.00.

The case is made to look like the 'old house in Paris'. The front shows Madeline and friends looking out the windows.

The case is from 1999, and was made for the 8" Eden Madeline dolls.

The back shows Madeline's friend Pepito upstairs, and more girls in the downstairs window and hiding behind a tree.

There's Miss Clavel in the downstairs side window.That latch is REALLY sturdy.

Miss Clavel was inside the case.The ribbons on the right are for storing two dolls.When the case is opened there is a little table printed on the left. It's a flap, which opens, and on the other side...

...is a vanity.

In addition to Miss Clavel there were several items of clothing and a couple of hangers stuffed in the two storage drawers. The yellow smock and blue beret are from a Madeline artists outfit.

There is supposed to be a bar on the left for hanging clothes, but this one is missing. It can be replaced with a  tiny wooden dowel.

There were also 5 socks, a pair of cozy slippers and matching robe,a pink and white striped shirt and bibbed overalls, a red plaid shirt,a school dress, and a yellow Madeline and friends hat.

You may have seen Tammy World wearing the same kind of red plaid shirt in my First Day of School photostory.

I love the Madeline dollhouse,(You can see mine HERE.), but the dolls never interested me much. There are some really cute clothes made for them though, and they fit the original style Barbie sister Stacey doll pretty well...

 Like this Stacey given to me recently by my doll friend Connie. Thanks Connie!The overalls are a little short, but if they were rolled up they would look like they were made that way.(Or Stacey would look like she should be in the 80's band Dexy's Midnight Runners...)

Come on Eileen...

She hasn't had a trip to the hairdressers yet, Her bangs are a little matted.

They also fit the When I Read I Dream dolls like Tammy 'Fern' World. That's because those dolls were made with the Stacey body. That's what interested me. I wanted the overalls and robe and slipper set.
  Miss Clavel is wearing her habit, but not her wimple.

She looks a little disheveled, but then, taking care of all those kids must be hard on the nerves.

She has quite an elaborate bun.

She wears some clod hoppers.

Maybe they aren't her shoes.They fit very loosely. They're really floppy on her feet. Is she missing some socks or tights?
  Another question: Her legs seem to be molded in a bent position.

Floppy shoes.

Bent knees. I thought at first she had bendable legs and they were in the slightly bent position. They aren't bendable though.

It makes her look a little bow legged. Is she meant to be this way?
  I still have more to show from that week's thrift store hauls. Keep watching...

Doll-A-Day 325:Madeline

  Today's doll is everybody's favourite little girl from Paris,Madeline.

Madeline stands 18" tall, (although she can't stand on her own.)

This particular Madeline is all dressed for winter, with her navy blue dress,navy blue and green plaid coat, white fur muff, and black 'velvet' hat.

Her hands come sewn to her muff, but when the thread is cut they can be taken out.

But if you want them back in, there is Velcro inside the muff to hold them. I think after a while the Velcro will leave her soft white gloves all snagged and fuzzy.

She has non removeable white tights (Which hide her famous appendix scar.),and black side button shoes.

When Emma was small she had a couple of vintagey looking coats with a built in cape like Madeline's,with matching hat and muff. It was just the kind of thing I wanted to wear when I was little. Fortunately, she loved them too. I even made her Emma the Doll a matching set to hers. When
Ivy got big enough to voice an opinion I found out how much she hated them.

This Madeline has some damage to the flocking on her hat. I am debating just taking all the rest of the flocking off. (It will peel off.) What do you think? I'm afraid it will be shiny if I do that.

  The Madeline books, which were famously set in Paris, were written and illustrated by Ludwig Bemelmans, who was born in The Tyrol, or Austria-Hungary, (What is now Italy.), in 1898.

When his father, who was a painter himself, left the family and ran off with Lugwig's nanny,Mrs. Bemelmans took Ludwig and his brother and moved back to her native Germany, where Ludwig grew up. In Germany he was working as a waiter in an hotel when he reportedly shot another waiter and seriously wounded him. He was given the choice between reform school and emigration to the United States. He chose emigration.
  He worked in hotels in the U.S. until joining the army in 1917. Because of his association with Germany he was never sent to Europe. He became a U.S. citizen in 1918. In the 1920's, while continuing to work in hotels, Ludwig attempted to become an artist. He had a cartoon series called The Thrilling Adventures of the Count Bric a Brac in the New York World, but it ended after only six months.
  In the early 1930's Ludwig met an editor for Viking Press who liked his artwork and encouraged him to try writing children's books.His first children's book,Hansi, the story of two children and their dog, living in The Tyrol, was published in 1934. Ludwig married his wife Madeline in 1935, and she surely was the inspiration for the name of the character. His first Madeline book was published by Simon and Schuster in 1939, after being rejected by Viking. (It's not quite 'Decca turning down the Beatles', but considering the longevity of the Madeline books, I'm sure Viking were still pretty upset with themselves.)
  Ludwig also wrote travel books and humorous books for adults. His first book for adults was based on his wartime diary about his experiences, including working in a military hospital. It was called "My War with the United States". He also wrote screenplays, including Yolanda and the Thief".
  MGM's top musical producer Arthur Freed liked an article by Ludwig he read in the New Yorker. He brought Ludwig to Hollywood and set him up with an office at MGM, where he was supposed to be writing a screenplay, and ended up painting surrealistic murals all over the walls. The murals so freaked out studio head Louis B. Mayer that he had them scraped off immediately. (It wasn't only Decca and Viking then...) Eventually Ludwig came up with a treatment for Yolanda and the Thief, which then took 4 more  drafts before it was ready to film.
  Yolanda and the Thief starred Fred Astaire as a con man who pretends to be an angel to steal an innocent's fortune,and Lucille Bremer as the innocent, fresh out of the convent. It was directed by Vincent Minnelli, (Husband of Judy Garland and father of Liza Minnelli.). The opening sequence was based on the look of Ludwig Bemelmans' artwork, especially the Madeline books. The movie was made in 1945, and at the time was monstrously unsuccessful. It fared so badly in fact, that in addition to losing 1.7 million dollars at the box office, it ended Lucille Bremer's promising career, (She had had a great success the previous year playing Judy Garland's older sister in Meet Me in St. Louis".), and sent Fred Astaire into an early retirement after only one more film. (Thankfully he did come out of retirement in a few years and kept working almost up to his death.)
 It's not that Yolanda was a bad movie. I quite like it. It was just too different for audiences at the time, with the very surrealistic sets and fantasy plot.

 
Over the years Lugwig wrote for Town and Country, Horizon, and The New Yorker, and painted many New Yorker covers. He considered himself an artist first, and a writer second. Ludwig's artwork still graces Bemelmans Bar in the Carlyle Hotel in New York City, which is covered with his murals. It's the only surviving art commission of his that is still open to the public.

And don't think they don't take full advantage of Madeline's popularity.Looks like those partaking of the buffet can also purchase a variety of Madeline merchandise.

Ludwig Bemelmans died in 1962 from pancreatic cancer.
    Tomorrow we'll see another wintry doll.

First Great Yard Sale Find of the Season

First of all, welcome to our new follower, northstar62. Thanks for joining us!
  Today is Skipper Saturday of course,but that will be a separate post. I wanted to share with you my first great find of the yard saling season.Yesterday I swooped in on this cool deal:

It's Madeline's Old House in Paris dollhouse by Eden.

It only has three pieces of the railing for the roof, but you can't have everything!

I loved this house when it first came out years ago, but it was so expensive.I think it was sold in the mid to late 90's, when Emma was small.

It has a battery operated door bell and a working porch lamp, (It's detatched and laying on the roof. I can't figure out where it attaches!) I haven't checked them out yet to see if they work. The chimney pots look better when they're attached too.

 The roof is a little yellowed and the outside is a little sunfaded, but it looks alot better now after a wipe down.

It has a lot of the furniture that was available for the house, but not everything.

The house has apparently been taken over by two bears. This one waits for a phone call at the kitchen table. It's gonna be a long wait buddy. That thing's not even hooked up.

This room is the only one missing a window. That bear thought there was a draft...

Unfortunately the hamper is missing the lid. I'm not sure if the first aid kit on the sink is Madeline or not. The great vintage style trunk is by Shackman. The tray sits down inside, just like a real trunk.

Hey bears! Someone's been sleeping in your beds, and they're STILL THERE! This dollhouse family is squatting in the upstairs bedroom. At least they brought some extra furniture. This old set is painted wood. Anybody know the maker? The dog is Only Hearts Club.

 One comment on this house: Everything is scaled for the 8" Madeline and friends dolls,so what does poor Miss Clavel do?

There were also alot of other miniature goodies.

Complete bathroom gear,a dining room table with a removeable leaf, and an old fashioned stove. Just what I've been wanting for the kitchen in one of my 1/12th scale dollhouses!

See?! It's perfect! (Hey, this house looks pretty good...)
 By the way, don't mind that giant green fish in the frying pan on the stove.

The fish seems to be aware of his impending doom. Check out that look on his face. That stove needs a clean up.

Apparently Fuzzy stuck him in the dollhouse living room recently. I found him there and put him in the frying pan on the stove. I don't think Fuzz has noticed that yet. And dollhouse lady says don't look at the holes in her stockings...

Loads of other stuff, including a fireplace,a book case full of fake books, and more!

 This house and the furniture are still really expensive! Each window or piece of railing can get $5 or more.The furniture gets more than that. For all this stuff we paid $30! Ken put on his poor tortured man face when I bought it. He's just counting the $30 that he lost.
Check out my other post today for Skipper Saturday.