Doll-A-Day 2017 # 221:My Friend Becky

  Today's doll is this girl...or should I say,girls?

They're a pair of My Friend Becky dolls,from the My Friend Mandy series of dolls,made by fisher Price.

 I got the dressed Becky at a flea market last year. The other doll I got at a yard sale the weekend before last.

You may have seen my My Friend  Mikey from that series. If not,you can find his day HERE.

Cute freckles and dimples!

Becky was added to the My Friend Mandy line in 1982,three years before the line was discontinued.

The body is a firmly stuffed cloth, but the limbs and head are vinyl.

The arms can't hold a pose, but the legs are set in sockets in the body so the doll can stand unaided,and also sit down.

The dress is Becky's original, and so is the hat.

She should also have white shoes.

I now have to decide which doll I'm keeping. There are slight differences between them.

For one thing, they have different hair lengths.

Dressed girl needs her part rewoven. She's not really balding.

Has one had a haircut, or did they make them that way? It looks like it's meant to be that way.

Possible Haircut Girl has a cleaner,newer looking face.

But they are getting very attached to each other,sharing secrets and jokes.

I may have to keep them both...

The mystery flower that finally bloomed last year has bloomed again.

 It did something weird though. The leaves came up, as usual. I left them, since last year they finally turned into a real flower and bloomed, after years of being just random leaves that I left for months before giving up on them near the end of summer and mowing them down. But this year the leaves gave up on me, and died. I thought the flower wasn't going to do anything this year. But we had a lot of rain,days of it. I didn't go out into the yard for a few days, and when I did there was suddenly a flower stem about 2 1/2 feet tall where the leaves had been before they died off. It even had buds on it. And it has bloomed again,with more flowers than it had last year. I looked it up last year. I think it's some kind of Asian Lily.

See you tomorrow for another doll.

Some Rare Stuff At The Flea Market

   Several weeks ago my friend Lori and I went to a flea market. I am always looking for something I want, and something I can sell to pay for my thing. We went for most of the flea market without me finding anything I wanted, although I bought some records for Ivy and Emma. Finally, we were looking for a place for Lori to rest, since she had recently had another problem with her heart. (She's having a procedure to have her problems fixed next month, so any good wishes, prayers, or whatever you believe in sent her way would be appreciated.) We passed a building with a vintage doctor doll, about 24" tall, standing just outside the door, and the promise of more toys inside. I got Lori a bottle of water for her dogs, and sat with her while she gave it to them and geared back up to continue. When she was ready and decided to buy a water for herself too,I made a quick run back to that building to check it out while she drank her water. Here's what I bought:

  I got a bunch of stuff from one seller. She had it all priced individually for a total of $30.First, this Galoob Baby Face So Shy Sherri was priced at $5. Love her red hair and bright green eyes.

Isn't she gorgeous?

 
Galoob made the Baby Face dolls for only two years in the early 90's. They were designed by toy designer Mel Birnkrant, who was heavily influenced by Kewpies and Betty Boob. His influences really show in the Baby Faces, with their big eyes, cartoonish expressions, and those hands with the pudgy, spread fingers. There were 19 head molds and over 30 dolls made from them. The clothes, which my doll is missing, were designed by Judy Albert, who also designed the clothes of Baby Face's big competitor, Cabbage Patch. 

This signed Lee Middleton baby was priced at $10.

 I'm not into Lee Middleton,and closed eyed baby dolls creep me out, so baby goes bye bye.
I also got the electronic Hogwarts Castle and three Harry Potter playsets,with some figures. It was priced at $10.

And something I've been wanting for a while, a Fisher Price My Friend Becky,was priced at $5. I bought her, and have already misplaced her in my clean up and consolidate raid! She looks like this though:

 

 Now I have Mandy, Jenny, Mikey, and Becky. Becky and Mikey are my favourites.(You may have seen my post on Mikey. If not, you can see it HERE.) The Fisher Price My Friend series of dolls was launched in 1977, and ran until 1985. I bought Mikey for Unsentimental Niece  when she was little. There was also an African American Friend named Nicky, but I have never come across her. The dolls are 16" tall, have silky rooted hair, vinyl heads and limbs, and firmly stuffed cloth bodies. Their arms and legs fit into sockets on the body that allow the arms and legs to be posed, so the dolls can wave, sit, and even stand unsupported.

That adds up to $30, but I got a 'group rate', and got the whole bunch of stuff for $20!

  After leaving the building where I made the haul I nearly left immediately because Lori was waiting for me. But as I was walking away I noticed something sitting on the ground around the tables outside the other half of the building. I got pretty excited because I recognized it as something kind of rare.

The Barbie Goes Travlin' case from 1965. I had seen pictures, but I had never seen one in person before.

Barbie can sit inside and be "travlin" in a plane or a car. It was a pretty cute idea to make a case that could also be used as a toy like this. Maybe that is what accounts for the wear though.
I did some clean up on it before I took these pictures, so it did look a bit worse when I bought it.

It's missing the drawer from the spot in the upper left corner.The seat has a few melt marks, but it's not broken and is still attached.

It's not perfect, but it is hard to find. It was priced at $7, but when I asked the lady if she'd take less, (Because I only had $6 left!) she said she'd take $5!  I actually had money left!
  Elsewhere I also found an Annalee elf, on his cardboard base, for $1.
  And that doctor doll at the entrance to the building? Well, I didn't buy him because he was about $50 or $60, and I didn't know who he was. I did a little research, and turns out he was a 28"  Dr. Kildare. Dr. Kildare was a TV show which ran from 1961 to 1966. And the doll is pretty rare. The doll I saw had his doctor outfit, but was missing his stethoscope,pin, and doctor's instruments. So I'm hoping he wouldn't have been worth the $175 I saw someone trying to sell theirs for...

Doll-A-Day 216: Talkin' 'Bout Boys Week:My Friend Mikey

  Today's doll is the lone boy from the My Friend Mandy line of dolls by Fisher Price. He's My Friend Mikey.

The line was begun in 1977 with Mandy. Her friend Jenny followed in 1979. In 1982 Mandy and Jenny werestill being sold, and were joined by new friends Becky and Mikey. In 1984 the last new character, Nicky, was added. The line's last year was 1985.

I instantly fell in love with Mikey, as he reminded me of another doll I had wanted as a kid. (We'll see that doll later this week.) Unsentimental Niece was 5 that year,so, since, at 20, I was 'too old' for dolls at the time, (I've gotten considerably younger since then!), I bought a My Friend Mikey for her.

I don't know as she played with him very much. I know the day I happened to visit during her yard sale in the early 90's she had him in her stuff to sell. To this day I kick myself for just not buying Mikey back, along with my sister's Ken and Francie. 20/20 hindsight...

I finally got a Mikey...well, two actually, at an auction a year or two ago. (Unfortunately, both are missing their light blue denim jackets.) I couldn't decide which one was better, so, for now at least, I'm keeping both.

I did happen to also get the box that contained everybody's shoes though. Mikey's clothes and shoes are all removeable. He has rooted hair,a vinyl head, arms, and legs, and a soft stuffed cloth torso.

His legs have some kind of armature in them though, so he can sit down properly. One guy sits fine, but the other one can't quite make it. Apparently the hip mechanism, whatever it is, wears out. In the pictures above it's the same guy sitting both times.

As you can see here, their hair is thinly rooted.

See what happens when the other guy tries to sit?

Their design also makes them able to stand unsupported.

Mikey is about 16" tall. He's often confused with Fisher Price's Lapsitter Joey doll from 1975.

Joey has brown eyes and brown hair. Mikey has blue eyes and dark auburn hair.

As you can see, Joey is shorter and his clothes are not removeable.

"I don't think we look anything alike. Do you?"

"No, not really."

Fisher Price had already made another doll named Mikey, from a line called Fisher Price Kids, in 1979. That Mikey was 8" tall, with rooted brown hair, a vinyl head, and cloth everything else. His clothes were not removeable, but he also wore a red and white striped shirt and jeans.
Tomorrow is another boy.It's also a 'Treasure Hunt' doll auction. Hmmm..... See you then.