Doll-A-Day 2023 #358: Spunky

Spunky is a member of the Honeyhill Bunch, a series of small dolls that ran from 1976 to 1978. 

  The dolls came in a couple of sizes, with Spunky being one of the larger dolls, at 6 inches tall.

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Spunky is a boy or a girl. The Honeyhill Bunch paper dolls seem to think he's a boy, as the girls are shown in one piece outfits that include a top, and the boys, which include Spunky and Solo, are shown in shorts/swim trunks only. Of course, L'il Kid is shown with no top, but wearing Mary Jane shoes, and the outfit include yellow pajamas, one outfit that looks baby boyish, (in fact, similar to Tiny Chatty Brother's clothes), one outfit with pink pants and a pink and white polka dot top, and one indistinct sailor suit. Sooooo...boy? or infant girl?

Spunky has cute freckles and a dimple.

The Honeyhill Bunch was made by Mattel, and they have typical Mattel faces of the era. In spite of the copyright on the tag, the series did start in 1976.

The dolls all have cloth bodies with vinyl heads and rooted hair.

Spunky has a funky fringed vest.

The kids all had an accessory too. Some of the accessories' were pets. Spunky's is a frog.

  The dolls have Velcro on one hand so they can hold their accessory, or hold hands with each other.

  Spunky's slogan, on his box, is "Nobody bothers me, 'cuz I'm tuff! See!" ('Tuff', but very bad with spelling and punctuation. See? Maybe Spunky could get some help with that from I.Q..)

  Check out today's other posts for more Honeyhill Bunch. We're going to hit 365 on time!

Doll-A-Day 2023 #357: I.Q.

I posted two other Honeyhill Bunch dolls today. This is the third and last for the day. She's I.Q..

IQ is one of my favourites in the series, and I didn't even remember that I have her! I found her at the house recently.

She's one of the smaller Honeyhill Bunch dolls, at 4 inches tall.

She has her vest, but is missing her accessory, a book. The book was made of nylon cloth, and actually could be opened and had (unprinted) cloth pages. Her slogan on her box was "I always get straight A's in school."

She also still has her sunglasses, on top of her head.

I think they're the same sunglasses Mattel used for the P.J. dolls, part of the Barbie line.

  I have read at least one thing that suggested I.Q. is a boy. Because she's smart and carries a book? The Honeyhill Bunch paper dolls show the boys wearing bottom clothing only, while the girls, including I.Q. wear one piece clothing with a top. The clothes provided for I.Q. have been described as  being more boyish, but really, denim pantsuits were totally worn by girls in the 70's. The other clothes included a pair of mint green footie pajamas, a sailor suit, with hat, and polka dot shirt, and a green suit, with shorts and knee socks. So you decide.

 

  I.Q. seems to have been part of the first wave of Honeyhill Bunch dolls.

    That's #358! We're getting there! Check out today's other posts for more Honeyhill Bunch dolls.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #356: Li'l Kid

  Today's doll is Li'l Kid.

Li'l Kid is a member of the Honeyhill Bunch.

  The Honeyhill Bunch was a series of dolls made by Mattel from 1976 to 1978. 

  As you can see in the pictures above, Li'l Kid originally came with a green sleeveless top, and a dog, named 'Good'. I do have Good. When I got the doll named Hayseed, she had Good with her. You can see them both in my post HERE. Li'l Kid's slogan, from the box, was "Me 'n Good Dog wanta play too!"

 Is Li'l Kid a boy or a girl? What do you think? The Honeyhill Bunch paper dolls show the girls in one piece outfits that include a top, and the boys, which include Spunky and Solo, are shown in shorts/swim trunks only. Li'l Kid is shown with no top, but wearing Mary Jane shoes, and the outfits for Li'l Kid include yellow pajamas, one outfit that looks baby boyish, (in fact, similar to Tiny Chatty Brother's clothes), one outfit with pink pants and a pink and white polka dot top and pink and white striped beanie cap, and one indistinct sailor suit. Boy or infant girl?

  The Honeyhill kids, which were between 4 and 6 inches tall, all had soft, stuffed bodies, and vinyl heads. 

  They have Velcro on one hand so they can hold their accessory.

  They all have cute little faces that remind me of the Baby Beans dolls.

  Her tag is huge on such a small doll.

  That's one of today's dolls. Check out today's 2 other posts for more Honeyhill Bunch.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #331: Dawn

   First of all, I have to apologize for not posting for the last several days. I had set the posts to go on before I left for my sister's house, but they didn't go on! So I have posted the two I had ready. I was supposed to come back Sunday, and I had a post planned, but due to circumstances beyond our control, I didn't get back until yesterday. Then Ken and I had stuff to do, and when we got back, I just wanted to relax with him a while before we fell asleep. So now I am 15 days behind for the year, and there are only 19 days left in the year! So it's going to be post, post, post, for the rest of the year! 

  A little note, some of you may remember my Mrs. Beasley post, where I talked about how much I always wanted a Mrs. Beasley, and how I found the perfect Beasley at a yard sale for $3, glasses and all. Well, I have been rummaging in our bedroom lately, and it looks like my Beasley is probably pretty blackened from the smoke. I will clean her when we get back in, but I'm not sure if her little face will ever be peachy again, or the dots on her clothes be white. As for her glasses, they were on the vanity, just inside the door. I checked them the other day, and they appear to have shrunken a bit from the heat! They didn't exactly melt, but one leg is now way shorter that the other one. On the plus side, the broken spot appears to have fused back together! Someone left a comment and an email address on the post a couple of weeks ago, saying they wanted a Beasley for their daughter, who just turned 55. I have a spare Beasley I was going to sell. She is perfect too, all her clothes and her glasses as well. I had just happened to come across her in a tub at the storage right before I got the comment, so I knew where she was. Her glasses had been in the dollhouse for  'safekeeping', but the dollhouse got jostled and most of the contents were removed and packed up. The whole dollhouse was moved. But, amazingly, the glasses were still in there, and still perfect. So I offered the Beasley to the person. I haven't heard from them though. I told Ken  that if they don't want her, I have decided to keep her, since mine may never be the same.

  We're going to start off the post-a-pa-looza with a sequel to the last post. In that post we saw Dawn's boyfriend Gary. So what's more fitting to see next, than Dawn herself?

  Dawn was made by Topper Toys from 1970 to 1973.

  Dawn was a mini fashion doll at 6 1/2 inches, with tiny rooted eyelashes and a twist waist. She was so popular during her three year run, that one year she outsold Barbie.

   The dress she's wearing here is called Gold Glow. It's from 1970. Originally it came with yellow shoes, a yellow hanger, and a dress stand. 

  When I tried to button it, with the thread loop and the tiny pearl bead, the bead popped off! I decided to not even try the other one, and I was lucky enough to find the bead that popped off. Before I really did lose it, I popped the bead into the ziplock bag with the spare boot, purses, hanger, and Gary's one shoe.

I also have Dawn's Shocker Frocker dress, from 1970.

It originally came with a fancy telephone, a dress stand and pink shoes.

  Dawn's not in the best shape. She's missing some hair.

Her body isn't as bad as some Dawn's. Most of them have melted places where the harder plastic body has reacted with the softer rubber legs. This one has a bad melt place on her thigh. She doesn't have a twist waist.

  I have a few Dawn purses and a boot and a hanger, as I said.

The Dawn hangers came in various colours to match the outfits they came with, and they have Dawn's name on them.

I thought this dress was homemade, but the other day I saw the same dress online somewhere. Of course, now I can't find it again.

  This poor Dawn has a twist waist, but she also has even more problems than the other doll. 

She has a better face, but more of a haircut.

As you can see, she has some bad leg problems. That's why it's good they have long dresses.

Twisty waist.

  All of this stuff, and Gary, are ready to go, if anybody wants to pay postage and rehabilitate them.

That's today's doll, but don't be surprised if there's another doll or two...or more, posted today!

Doll-A-Day 2023 #330: Gary

  Today we're going to look at Gary. Sorry for how much of him we're looking at! 

 Gary is about 6 1/2 inches tall, the same as Dawn.

I just don't have any of Gary's clothes except for one brown shoe that I think is his. (I think he came in black shoes though.)

Too bad he doesn't have the other shoe, to cover up his injured foot.

  Gary was the boyfriend of Dawn, Topper's mini fashion doll, sold between 1970 and 1973. I never had any of Dawn and her friends as a kid, but I remember seeing plenty of them at school. (Kids don't seem to be allowed to bring toys to school these days, but we did  it all the time back then.)

Poor Gary isn't in the best of shape.

  Gary came in a wild, multicoloured shirt. It was a bit hip for a guy with a somewhat Robert Goulet-like appearance.

"If ever I would leave you..."

  The long sideburns were a thing of the times, and I still hate them.

He does have a lot of detail on his tiny little head. I will say that.

This Gary doesn't seem to suffer from the problem a lot of Dawn dolls do, which is the reaction between the soft rubber arms and legs, and the harder plastic torso, which causes them to sort of meld together. Other dolls have the same problem, like Kenner's Dusty.

  I'm not sure if other Garys also escaped the problem, or if this guy just got lucky. Or maybe Gary was made of a sightly different plastic than Dawn.

  Gary was released in the second series of Dawn and friends, along with another guy named Ron. Ron had brown hair in a swoopy, across the forehead style. Later there was a third guy, an African American named Van. 

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