Doll-A-Day 2023 #234" Hansel and Gretel

     I had planned to take a day off yesterday, because I have been working steadily for the last couple of weeks on Emma's bridal shower cake and gifts. I'll show those to you soon. But on to the post.

  Today's dolls are movie stars. They're Hansel and Gretel.

Gretel kind of looks like actress June Lockhart.

   The dolls are 15 inches tall. They have vinyl heads with sleep eyes, lashes, and rooted hair, and hard plastic bodies. They are jointed at the neck, shoulders and hips with 'pin joints', which are a type of hinged joint.

   These dolls of Hansel and his sister Gretel were made in 1954 by Horsman. They were sold as either  Montgomery Ward or Sears exclusives, I believe. The dolls  were made to look like the characters in the "Hansel and Gretel" movie released that year. 

The movie, made by RKO, was a musical, based on the opera by Engelbert Humperdink. (No. Not that Englebert Humperdink. The original composer, born in 1854.)  It was a stop motion film, using puppets called Kinemins. Advertsing for the movie called the Kinemins "lifelike little people" that "walk,..dance...sing...they almost breathe!" 

  This was before all the wonderful Rankin and Bass stop motion specials, like "Rudolph" and "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". In fact, "Hansel and Gretel" was the first American feature length animated film not using traditional animation, (In other words, cartoon type animation.) It was also the first American feature length animated film not made by Disney since 1941.

  RKO put a lot into pushing the film, since they were about to lose their distribution deal with Disney, who had already created their own distribution company, Buena Vista. Lots of movie tie ins were licensed, including Nabisco's Hansel and Gretel cookies, colouring books, (as seen above, with the dolls), puzzles by Jaymar, etc.

  The movie features detailed sets designed by Evalds Dajevskis for Myerberg Productions. Unfortunately they were only made of paper mache and applied paper cutouts, and after the movie's production they were sold to an amusement park, where they were put on display. I don't think they still exist. The daughter of the lady who sang the part of the Dew Drop Fairy says that she and her brothers were given the witch's house, and played with it until it fell apart. So that is definitely gone. The Kinemins themselves are also gone. The year after the film was released, the animation studio was broken into and looted, and the puppets were destroyed, apparently except for the witch at least, who was still around at least until 1999. 

  There's a good article on the film HERE.  You can watch a clip from the movie HERE.

  See you tomorrow for more dolls.

What I Got at the Doll Show, Part 2: Hollywood Alice and Animal!

   Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Summer?! It is far too hot here. I've been hanging laundry, pulling weeds, and watering some plants in the hot sun. (I know. You're not supposed to water plants in the hot sun. But it's better than not doing it at all, and with my memory these days, I need to do it while I'm thinking about it, or I may not do it at all.) Here's a tip: Do not buy potting soil at The Dollar Tree. I bought two bags because I needed to do some repotting. When I was pouring it in the pots I thought it looked like the dirt I dig up around my yard, and not like 'potting soil' at all. I think Dollar Tree dug my dirt for their potting soil, because this stuff was dry and gray, and packed down like a rock in the pots in about a week. I'll probably have to go buy some real potting soil and replace this crap. 

  Speaking of crap, since Lori moved to Georgia, I have nowhere to get my horse manure for the plants or garden now. I don't know anybody with horses, although I'm sure Lori could put in a word for me with somebody. Ken and I were talking yesterday about how it would probably be a bad idea for me to haul a couple buckets of poo back from Lori's when I go to see her in October.  

  And that's another thing. Should I even go to Georgia in October? I'm having second, and even third thoughts about it. I wanted to see Lori, and she's really looking forward to it. It's her 60th birthday. She is planning to take her week's vacation, which she hasn't had in years, and she has a bunch of things planned for us to do, but I'm wondering if it's going to be safe to do them. We could just hang around her house, and yes, she is vaccinated. I do have to actually get there though. Ken suggested that if I do go that I take food, so I don't have to stop along the way. I will have to get gas at some points though. I can use the credit card at the pump and not come in contact with people. I hand sanitize like crazy, as I told you. I don't touch any of my things with the one hand I use to touch other things, until I have sanitized. One hand for touching, and the other kept clean to reach in my pocket and get the sanitizer.

  On another subject, Ken is doing the Charlie Brown happy dance because yesterday we bought another FIVE DOZEN, (And 'Baker's Dozen's at that!), ears of yellow corn from the same farmer we got the last two dozen from.

  Don't think Ken can't eat that much corn. Plus, since we got so much I'll eat some too. I usually don't like to eat it if Ken manages to find some, because he enjoys it so much more than I do. It's his favourite vegetable and one of his very favourite foods overall. He wants to share, but I think it's selfish of me, because he loves it so much. It makes him feel good, because I consented to eat some of it!

  Now! On to my doll show purchases!

  I didn't buy a lot of things at this show, but what I got was 'cherce', as Spencer Tracy said of Katherine Hepburn in "Pat and Mike". And I got it for amazing prices. As you may know, if you're a regular reader of the blog, I have pretty eclectic tastes. From huge dolls like the almost 3' tall bobble head rag doll you saw HERE...

...to the tiny thread dolls you saw HERE...

...to the beautiful, hand painted, realistic face of Tonner's Agnes Dreary you saw HERE...

...to this goofy looking kid you saw HERE...

This one is Ivy's. but I have one just like her from my childhood, in a green dress.

...I love all sorts. Today I'm showing you two doll show purchases that perfectly illustrate that point. The first is this little girl.

  She's about 8 inches tall.

She is marked Hollywood Doll.

I'm not sure if these are her original clothes. There's a slight homemade quality to them, beautiful as they are.

She has bloomers and a slip. Her legs have some problems.

But in these clothes she just says "Alice" to me. And you know how I love my Alice stuff. 

She may have been repainted. Her eyebrows definitely don't look original, but her cheeks do.

What do you think?

I'm still trying to decide what she's made of: compo, or bisque?

And speaking of her legs, here's another photo from the front. She appears to have molded ankle socks.

  She has definitely been restrung, because her stringing is so tight that she can't keep her arms in the downward position.

But there's another problem you may have noticed from that sock picture...

Is it just me, or did whoever restrung her, put her legs on the wrong sides?!

That fabric seems old, but is it old enough to be original?

I  haven't taken her bloomers off to check yet. That's  possibly why I was having a hard time getting her to sit down at first. I finally got her seated though.

She seems to have her original wig.

There is a glue problem on the one side. Fortunately it doesn't show very much.

  Overall, I 'm very pleased to have found her. She's cute, and she looks like an Alice, to me anyway.

She was only $5, so I can't complain too much. Her little Alice outfit was worth $5.

  And the second  doll show purchase I'm showing you today is sort of a direct opposite to the Alice girl. He's this guy!

It's Animal, from The Muppets. This is in fact, one of the first Animal toys that were made. (The other was a plastic figure about 4" tall.) He's a puppet. 

He was made by Fisher Price, and came out around 1978. 

  Inside Animal's head there are hand holds so you can move his big mouth...

...and a switch so you can operate his eyebrows!

At 26" he's quite a big guy. He doesn't take up much space though, because he can literally fold up on himself. He's very flappy. 

   I actually gasped and snatched him up when I saw him. I was thrilled to find him. I had one before and sold him, (because he's actually worth quite a bit), and I wanted to find another one to keep. I have told you before about how if you find toys at a doll show, or dolls at a toy show, you're going to get a better deal on them than if you found them at their 'appropriate' shows. This guy cost $10!

   Other than needing his eyes touched up, (which I have done on Muppets before, and it isn't a big deal), he's actually in really good condition too. A lot of them have disintegrating foam that leaves bits all over your arm if you operate him. This one only leaves slight crumbs.

  So those are a couple of my doll show buys. I have more to show you, and I'd better hurry! There's another doll show on Saturday!

Doll-a-Day 2019 #321: Indonesian Puppet Doll

  Today's Ivy doll is this one.

It's an  Indonesian Puppet.

There are a couple of types of traditional Indonesian puppetry. The puppets that are flat,and operated with rods behind screens, to cast shadows, are called Wayang or Wajang. The other type, which this one represents, is called Wayang Golek, Wayang Golek puppets are what are called rod puppets.This one is obviously just meant to be displayed as a doll,because if it were a true Wayang Golek puppet, it would have rods on it's hands so the  arms could be moved.

This doll is about 10 inches tall.

The puppet is made of wood, and has a detailed costume.

 

  Ivy became interested in Bali when she was tiny, through the Danny Kaye movie "Wonder Man". (The only six year old in 2005 whose favourite movie was made in 1941.) In the movie Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen do a song and dance number centering around Bali,which these days would probably be considered to be offensive. It's pretty innocent though. You can watch part of the number HERE.

 

  Ivy loved it so much that one year for Halloween she even had me make her the costume Vera-Ellen wore. She still keeps the headpiece displayed in her room.

Hey,I did my best. And remember,it's been sitting for over 10 years. There are actually sequins on there.

That's the doll for today. See you again tomorrow for another one.