Doll-A-Day 214: Talkin' 'Bout Boys Week: Otis O'Brien

  As the title says, this week we're talking about boys. Today specifically, Otis O'Brien.

Otis is a ventriloquist dummy, or vent doll, as they are sometimes called.

He was made by Uneeda in 1972.

Otis came wearing the same little girl's bow flats (shoes) as all the other dummies.No wonder there are so many evil dummies! They all have a complex from being made to wear girls shoes! Check out the kid with Otis. Who knew Matt Smith did child modelling?

"What's she talking about? That kid doesn't look anything like me..."

I love his red hair and silly face. I found him at the big doll show a few years ago and couldn't resist.

Ivy thought he looked like Tessie Talk's big brother.

Otis with his 'sister' Tessie Talk.

"Mom! Take the picture!"

Since I didn't know who he was at the time, and he was a bit disheveled,we named him Messie Talk.

Otis is about three feet tall, but of course, being a ventriloquist dummy, known for their dangly legs, he can't stand up.

A lot of people are freaked out by ventriloquist dummies. The movies that have been made about evil dummies don't help. Two of the best are "Magic", with Anthony Hopkins, and "Dead of Night", a 1945 British movie made up of several stories. The dummy story stars Micheal Redgrave.

Anthony Hopkins, when he was still a hot babe,and his creepy dummy "Fats" in "Magic", from 1978. He learned ventriloquism for the part.Thirteen years later he became creepy himself, as Hannibal Lector in "Silence of the Lambs". Apparently the director and writer wanted Gene Wilder for the part of 'Corky', the shy magician and ventriloquist with a problem. (Hopkins was actually too old to play the character, and Wilder was even older.) But the producer didn't "want any comedians in" the movie. "Magic" had the world's creepiest commercial too. People who never saw the movie still remember it with a shiver. Watch it HERE. I saw the movie at the drive in with my Mom after begging her to take me.

Micheal Redgrave with his creepy dummy, Hugo, in "Dead of Night", 1945. Sir Micheal Redgrave was the father of actresses Vanessa and Lynn Redgrave. The sequence with Redgrave and Hugo is probably the most memorable one from the movie, but there are several others and they are all excellent. The theme of a ventriloquist who loses himself  in his aggressive dummy is a popular one, and has been used many times: the idea that someone who essentially has to be two people could one day actually think he is...  

I've never had a fear of dummies, and I love both of those movies. I highly recommend them both. "Magic" is R rated, and not for children, but "Dead of Night", which features at least one story that I read a version of in one of the books of scary short stories I have from when I was a kid, could be enjoyed by older kids. It makes a great Halloween movie! (Pre-watch it. You know what your kids can deal with.Some of the stories are scarier than others, and one is even a humorous ghost story.)

See you tomorrow for another 'boy'.

Doll-A-Day 151: Happy 124th Birthday to Stan Laurel:Stan Laurel Ventriloquist Dummy

  I decided to put off my post on my flea market find until tomorrow, partially because it rained before I could get all my pictures taken, and partially because I had already planned on a specific doll for today. So I'll get to the Flea Market post this week, probably tomorrow.
    Today's doll is a Stan Laurel ventriloquist doll/dummy, in celebration of what would have been Stan Laurel's 124th birthday today.

 Stan was born in Ulverston, England on this day in 1890. For more information on the real Stan, and to see some other Laurel and Hardy dolls,check out my Oscar Week post on the Hamilton Laurel and Hardy dolls.

In case you forget which one is which.

This dummy was made by Goldberger, who produced many different ventriloquist dummies, also known as 'vent dolls'.

 There was also a matching Oliver Hardy vent doll.The dolls also came in two sizes. (I mean there were two different series. Of course Laurel and Hardy were different sizes.That was kind of the point.)

The string in the back of his neck controls his mouth.

 And also, to some extent, his collar!
 This doll did come with a hat, just not when I got him.

Although most people think of Laurel and Hardy in suits, they did do several shorts dressed in bibbed overalls, but still with their stand up collars, ties, and derby hats.

If you ever check the copyright on a Laurel and Hardy item made from the 60's onward, you'll notice that it says   'Copyright Larry Harmon". Larry Harmon, obtained the rights to Laurel and Hardy's images from Stan and his wife, and Oliver Hardy's widow Lucille. Harmon was a friend of Stan's, and was known as the owner and portrayer of Bozo the Clown. (In spite of Harmon's frequent claims to have invented Bozo, Bozo was created by Alan W. Livingston in the 1940's,and was first portrayed by Pinto Colvig. Bozo even served as the mascot for Capitol Records, before Harmon bought the rights from Capitol in 1956.)

I debated using this guy, or an action figure Stan that Emma bought me. In the end this one was easier to grab and it was about to rain. But the action figure Stan will probably show up on here some day. He came in a really cool 'film canister' and has changeable hands.

Why 'Planet of the Dolls'?

  Ok, so you love your dolls. But do you sometimes feel a little overwhelmed? This blog is called Planet of the Dolls because, yes, it's a play on Planet of the Apes, which is one of my obsessions, (Yeah, I'm a science fiction nerd.), but also because sometimes it feels that way.My house, I mean. I love the movies "Magic", and "Dead of Night", which both have ventiloquist dummies that 'take over' their 'masters', and although I never liked the "Child's Play" (Chucky) movies, I did enjoy "Trilogy of Terror", with Karen Black being attacked and (Spoiler) eventually possessed by a Zuni warrior doll. In this house we have always said that those type of movies should be the most terrifying for us, because there are so many dolls in this house that if they came to life there would be no way we would come out alive. It would be like a plague of locusts or something! Kind of like the scene in "Small Soldiers" where they are fighting the Barbie type dolls that have been brought to life by the soldiers.
  Every now and then I look through my stuff and see what I can possibly live without, in an effort to thin the crowd. When I do this though, I usually end up weeding out very few dolls. I find myself using arguments like, "Well, these two aren't exactly the same." or "This one is so small, it really won't make much of a difference anyway." I recently went through about 4 boxes, (They were small boxes.), of Barbie sized and Kelly sized dolls to see what I could get rid of. Well, I ended up eliminating about 2 Barbie sized and three Kellys. Pathetic.  I've heard of the 'when a new one comes in and old one must go out' rule of doll collecting. I have a hard time with that one. Everything I have I got because I really like it.I rarely change my mind. That's why I have things I've had since I was a kid. I liked them then, I like them now. That's why Ken's fairly safe. I liked him enough to marry him in the first place, so he's not going anywhere.Now recently we made the buy of the century at an auction. I ended up keeping dolls that I hadn't even seen before, let alone been after for ages. These I question, and I may eventually send some of them packing. For now though, I have a Flirty Christina, a weird looking Ratti doll with freckles, teeth, and a somewhat creepy grin, and some others that I might not have even had a desire for had it not been for that darned auction.
  Ken complains that I have too much stuff, but then he goes and buys me more. You're just enabling me Ken! And he spoils me. He needs to learn to put his foot down and say no once in a while. When I whine at the checkout and want that candy bar, (Read: swear that I can make my money back if I bid on that Ebay lot and still keep what I want.) he needs to take my hand and lead me out of the store, (Read: tell me we absolutely can NOT afford it right now.) But NO! He just says, "I trust you. Go ahead. Just don't spend more than X amount of dollars." What can you do with a husband like that?! (In case you're wondering why I defer to Ken on the spending,it's because I make some of the money around here, but it's a drop in the bucket. I've been an at home Mom all these years and I am only starting to try to build a business with my hand made dolls and furniture.)
  I sometimes think, what if we had a really big place, and we could open a doll and toy museum? That would be really cool, and I could keep all my stuff and see it when I wanted to, but it wouldn't be in my way all the time.Well, I can dream, can't I?