Doll-A-Day 2023 #289: Pee Wees Clone Doll

   This post officially catches me up to only ten days behind! Today's girl is this little Pee Wees clone doll.

   She's the size of a Pee Wees doll, and looks like one. I have found pictures of  a doll that looks almost just like this doll, outfit and all. That doll is a Uneeda Pee Wees doll. But there are a few differences between that one and this one. That doll is described as a 1978 Uneeda Pee Wees doll. She has straight blonde hair, the trademark Pee Wees side glance eyes with unpainted sclera, an almost identical outfit, the same weird feet, (Why does it look like she has more than 5 toes?!), and movable arms.

  This doll has a one piece body and limbs, curly blonde hair, and eyes with BLUE sclera, (the whites of the eyes.),

Her head is the only movable part of her being. Uh, sorry about the price sticker!

  She says 'Made in Hong Kong' on her back.

   That's why I think this is a Pee Wees clone, and not an actual Pee Wees. If someone is a Pee Wees expert, leave a comment with your opinion. If anybody wants to adopt this kid, a couple of dollars and shipping and she's yours. Just leave your contact information. 

  To see my previous post on Uneeda Pee Wees go HERE.

  That today's doll. If my camera battery hadn't run out, I'd have tomorrow's ready to go too. It's always something! See you tomorrow.

 

Doll-A-Day 2023 #188: Thum-Things

   Today we're looking at an odd little person. She's a Thum-Things doll.

A babe in the woods...a naked babe in the woods.

 Thum-Things were made by Uneeda in 1973.

The name was sort of a joke: This doll is really thumthing! Uneeda tied the name in with the doll by suggesting that your thumb could be used to activate the doll's special feature.

And what is that special feature?  She has three different faces!

Her 'thilly' face.

Her 'thmart' face. Same face, only with a tongue.

And her 'thleepy' face.

Her face spins within her hair, as her hair is a separate piece. 

As such, it kind of stands out around her head.

 

  You'll notice that her nose is an indentation instead of  a protrusion. Her mouth is too, but at least that makes sense.

  My poor little second hand girl is naked, but Thum-Things came wearing a variety of dresses, and all the same style of shoes, only in different colours. 

The dolls themselves came in three hair colours, blonde, brown, and red.

Sorry about the blur!

  Thumb-Things is 4 1/2 inches tall. If I was home I would have had a dress of some kind to put on her, but I'm not. She is a little chubby for a Kelly dress, but could probably wear a 60's Heidi dress quite well. So, sorry about the vinyl nudity!

  She's just a fun little doll. I'll see you tomorrow with another one.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #182: Baby Gregg

   Today's doll isn't mine. I came across him the other day, and he sparked my interest. I had never heard of him before, and I can't find anything about him online. You know you can find anything online these days, if you look hard enough. But not this doll! He's made by Uneeda, and even the Uneeda page of the Doll Reference site doesn't mention him. He is an obvious clone of a doll I love, that I have never seen a clone of before. Look at this guy!

  Does he look familiar to you? 

You know you've seen this face and receding hairline before!

  His name is Baby Gregg, and, as I said, he was made by Uneeda.

But he's a very obvious clone of Tiny Chatty Brother! 

My childhood Tiny Chatty Brother. 

  At 20 inches tall, Gregg is a full 5 inches taller than Tiny Chatty Brother. He's the same size as Chatty Cathy.

  You may have seen my post on my own Tiny Chatty Brother, one of my favourite childhood dolls. This little guy is so similar, right down to his outfit...

Gregg's outfit is in red and white, instead of blue and white, like Chatty Bro's is. 

His hat actually seems better than Chatty Brother's, whose hat is so tiny that it doesn't stay on his head very well.

HIs outfit appears to be made of a heavier fabric than Chatty Brother's, and Gregg has an applique, as well as his name ribbon.

His outfit fits him much more loosely than Chatty Bro's fits him. His booties appear to be made of non stretchable cotton, unlike Chatty Brother's stretchy booties.

...and his hair...

The same style and colour.

...and my favourite thing about Chatty Brother, the teeth!

  The major difference is that Baby Gregg's teeth are not a separate piece. Tiny Chatty Brother was made by Mattel. Mattel had more money than Uneeda, and the materials their dolls were made of were of higher quality generally. Tiny Chatty Bro was made of a hard plastic, but not the thin, brittle kind. His was heavy duty and thick. His teeth are a separate piece of plastic, just like Chatty Cathy's teeth. That's why you can find dolls who are missing theirs, and you can buy replacement teeth! Baby Gregg appears to be made of a couple of different things. His head and arms seem to be rubber or soft vinyl. His head, including his teeth, is molded all in one piece. So, his teeth are a painted feature, and not a separate piece of something installed in his mouth. 

  Gregg's legs and torso seem to be made of the thin hard plastic a lot of baby dolls from the 60's were made of. Not the very hard stuff that almost seems like celluloid. The tougher stuff that a lot of drink and wet dolls were made of, like Fuzz's baby Sake, who was made by Eugene.

You can see the mold seam. Chatty Brother's legs are seamless.

  Unlike Chatty brother's very straight legs, Baby Gregg's legs are slightly curved, like a lot of baby dolls. 

One of the reasons Chatty Brother had to be made of, shall we say,  sterner stuff, than Gregg, is that Chatty Brother, as his name implies, had a feature that Gregg doesn't: He talked. Gregg isn't a talking doll, so he didn't require the heavy plastic to protect his voice mechanism.

  Gregg has sleep eyes, with lashes. like Chatty Bro, but his eyes are green, not blue.

  You'll also notice from the picture above, that Gregg has pinwheel eyes, and not decal eyes like Chatty B. 

 Gregg even has the same profile as Chatty B.

  You could get away with a lot more back in the 60's, as far as directly stealing someone else's product!

  I would love to see this guy cleaned up, with his outfit laundered, and see how beautiful he looks! He appears to be in nice condition, other than some mildew freckles that might clean off. Think how great he'd look in a Chatty collection! I think he's fascinating, because he's been out there looking Chatty this whole time, and I never knew about him!

    If Gregg has stolen your heart and you want to own him, he is an active auction on Ebay right now. I would love to own him myself, but neither the budget, nor the space are cooperative at the moment. Thanks to the seller, yurraus2014 for allowing me to use their pictures and bring Gregg to you. 

  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #147: Baby Trix

   Today's doll is one I found at an antique mall back before I lost my phone. (Hey! I found it! Now I have the pictures I took to show you!)

   I quite like this doll, so I looked at it more than once. I still haven't been able to justify paying $20 for it, since it's quite worn and I didn't know what doll it was so I could see what it should cost. I know who it is now though. It's Baby Trix by Uneeda. (And I'm still not sure how much she should cost!)

That's Baby Trix in Pink at the bottom right.

  Uneeda produced two Baby Trix dolls. One was sold in the 1950's, and was a drink and wet doll who 'moves without batteries'. I'm still not sure how it did that. This doll is marked 1964 on the back of it's neck, but from what I have been able to find, it was actually sold in 1965.

  This doll differs from the other Baby Trix doll in that it is not a drink and wet doll. It couldn't be, because the only way this doll 'moves' is that it has a foam covered wire armature, (with vinyl hands),making it bendy and able to be posed.

This kid is about 16 or 18 inches tall.

Baby Trix has inset brown sleep eyes.

  After finding this doll online,  I have seen versions in pink, red, red and white striped, and blue flannel pajamas, so apparently it was sold in a variety of colours. There would also have been white pom poms on the front of the jammies.

That's today's doll. Until tomorrow...

Doll-A-Day 2023 #111: Pee Wees

  Hey! I posted that post so fast yesterday that I forgot to tell you: I went inside the house Wednesday! I actually got it together to go inside the back door, into the kitchen at least. Ken was talking to me from the doorway, and I heard my boys meow. I had to go in and see them. I got a cuddle with both Joey and Jimmy, and Ken said he heard movement in another part of the basement when he was down there with them earlier. That means Ark is still okay. (That and the fact that Ken is still finding cat food in the water bowl. Ark likes to dunk.) I couldn't help it, and I cried when I hugged the boys. Ken wanted to know why I was crying. I'm not sure myself. Relief that they're okay?

Today's doll is a group of dolls. They're Pee Wees.

The kid third from left at the top is probably a clone doll, that just says Made in Hong Kong on his back. He's a cheaper, shiny plastic. He could just be a later PeeWee though.

They were made by Uneeda.

And they made LOTS of them! There were several series, including PeeWees From Around the World, which were dolls in National costumes.

The Pee Wees were small dolls, about 3 1/2" tall, so a little kid could carry one...or more, around in their pockets.

He doesn't say PeeWee anywhere on him, but he says U.D. Co., for Uneeda Doll Company or Corporation. 

Some of the PeeWees say PeeWee on their backs, or the bottoms of their feet.

Like this girl. She's an early one, because she's wearing a felt dress. Not all of the early ones wore felt, but the later ones didn't. 

She's marked 1965.

 

Although there were Baby Pee Wees, they were pretty much the same size.

Baby Pee Wee on the left, regular Pee Wee on the right. Some of the clothing the Pee Wees came in is so simple, that you might think it was something a kid made for the doll. Case in point: this red haired baby. That's an original outfit. He may have also had a bib. This is the only one I'm keeping, because it reminds me of toddler Fuzzy.

The Baby PeeWees actually say Baby PeeWee on their backs.

This poor grubby baby is second from left at the bottom in the group picture above. I washed these guys to clean off the water stink from the fire, but didn't scrub them. So this babe still needs a going over.

  The regular Pee Wee, (as opposed to the babies), bodies are similar to troll dolls, with non moveable arms and legs that are all one piece with the torso. They could turn their heads though.

The babies have moveable heads, arms, and legs. Their legs are curved baby legs too, unlike the straight legs on regular PeeWees.

  Pee Wees had a very long life. They were made in various forms, from 1965 to the early 1980's! I say in various forms, because I believe the molds changed a bit over time. They also made different types of PeeWees. You may have seen my Posin Pee Wee doll HERE.

They were popular enough that there were loads of them made, and even nearly identical competitors.

I can't remember now who these two were made by, and they have gone to storage now! They were possibly Remco, because I know it was a name brand, and they bear a great resemblance to Heidi. You can see mine HERE.

There were even clone fashions made. Like these, by Shillman.

I found these in a junk store years ago. They were a bit dirty, but they didn't look this bad. Some of this happened when the fire fighters got water everywhere. The packages were wet when Ken brought them here for me to take care of. Apparently the fire hose had a leak, because they flooded our downstairs bathroom when they brought it in the house. (For some reason they didn't use the cherry picker bucket thing, and instead dragged the hose all the way through the house and upstairs, instead of just going through the window of the room where the fire was. Why?

  This guy may be a clone. I didn't wash this one because the clothes are glued on, and I was afraid the felt clothes would shrink or do something weird. 

  Some of the actual PeeWee merchandise that was made to go with the dolls, included clothing, a tote, a house style tote, and an actual house.

  There were all kinds of series' of  PeeWees, including Hee Wees, male 'little hero' dolls, supposedly marketed to boys.

There were also fairly rare 80's dolls called PeeWee Plumpees, which were also 3 1/2 inches tall, and described as 'a chubby little pocket pal'.

Uneeda had earlier made larger dolls called Plumpees, that were rotund babies too, but these were the size of regular PeeWees.
  That's it for today. See you again tomorrow.