Doll-A-Day 191: Singing Chatty Cathy and A Good Deed Finally Goes Unpunished

  I said I had a story to tell, and here it is. You know the phrase, "No good deed goes unpunished"? I've most often found this to be true. You try to be a good person and do the right thing, treat other people well and be fair and honest. And usually you'll get done over at every turn. It's hard to be a good person and do what's right. It's not always the easiest path. Sometimes you feel like it doesn't matter, because you always seem to end up with the dirty end of the stick in life. Well, for once, being the good person 'paid off'---literally.
  A couple of weeks ago I had taken Fuzzy to work, filled the radiator with water (again...)and started home. It was about 10:00 at night,and pitch dark, of course. As I was coming down the Boulevard, which Emma used to refer to as "Rich Town" when she was little,(It's a street where a  lot of the rich people live.), I saw a young woman at the edge of the street with her hand up, as if to stop traffic. She was dressed in a white blouse, black bow tie, black pants,and black apron. This struck me, since it was so familiar: Ken has been a waiter for years, (He's been offered manager positions, but can't afford to take the pay cut! Weird, huh?),and his work uniform has looked a lot like that at times. Also, we have the world's worst luck with vehicles, so there have been plenty of times when Ken has had to walk to work or back home. There have sometimes been kind people who have offered him rides. Ken always makes a point of stopping when he sees someone stranded, since he knows how it feels, and would appreciate the help if he needed it. So I pulled over. The young lady was behind me then, so I opened my door and looked back. She was walking toward me and told me to wait, she was coming to me. I asked her if she needed some help. She got to me and said, "I don't know what told me to stop, but something told me to stop. You were the only one who stopped to see if I needed help, so this is yours." And she put money in my hand! I was sort of stunned and didn't know what to say. It didn't seem right to accept money for doing nothing. "Are you sure you don't need any help?" I asked. "No, I'm fine.You have a good day." I told her that when I had seen her there, she reminded me of my husband, who is a waiter, and we've needed help lots of times. She said yes, she is a server. I asked where she worked, but she just said, "That doesn't matter now. You were the only one who stopped to help me,so you take this and you have a good day." I was still stunned and confused and didn't feel right taking the money, but I asked again if she was sure she didn't need anything. She assured me her car was running fine and she walked away.
  I couldn't believe somebody just gave me money for nothing. It turned out to be $20. I have been sitting on it, wondering if I should indulge myself somehow, or use it toward having Dad's Veteran's plaque installed. (We're still about $50 short for that. I'm trying to sell my dolls on Etsy to pay for it,because I wanted it to be money I earned, not out of Ken's pocket. He has enough right now anyway,trying to get together that radiator repair money.) So that's the story.Being a good person finally paid out in cash. I suppose I should donate it or something, since I didn't really earn it.
  And now to today's doll. Recently I showed you a bunch of vintage dolls I got at Salvation Army. They have had so many. There were a lot I didn't buy because they were a bit expensive. The other day, since I was out that way, having taken Ken to work,I stopped to check there again. It was a good thing I did, because they had marked some of the very expensive ones waaaay down, plus there was also this one that hadn't been there before. She's Singing Chatty Cathy.

This is what she looked like when I got her. Her hair's a bit of a mess and she has crud in one eye, but yes, she was $1.99

She was made by Mattel in 1965, as part of the tremendously popular 'Chatty' family of dolls..

Here she is after her brief, initial clean up and hair combing.

I've done a post about Singing Chatty before, so I won't go into too much detail.

She's 17" tall and is supposed to sing nursery rhymes, but this one's string is missing, probably zipped back inside her.
Singing Chatty came in blonde or brunette. The other Singing Chatty I posted about before was a brunette.

Her blonde hair is made up of several shades of blonde.

 Her face is still rosy and her eyes are clear, unlike the other two I have. (One of which I'm not keeping.)

She even still has her freckles, which show up better in person, and all her eyelashes.

Her left eye is sticking a little in a lot of these pictures because I had just cleaned it.It's ok though.

She has a sweet look about her...

...and unlike the brunette...

...this blonde one doesn't even look like Bobby Goldsboro...

"Me and Tam are hearin' Chatty sing..."

 ...or 'Ralph' from "Green Acres".

"That's not funny."

(Funny story here: When you Google "Ralph Green Acres' you get pictures of not only the lady above who played "Ralph", actress Mary Grace Canfield,but also this guy:

Ralph Wayne Smart, who "attended school at Green Acres". The weird thing is, he looks like "Green Acres" Ralph! )

Ok. Now that's funny.

Singing Chatty does, however, look a lot like Mattel's Dee Dee doll.

Is this the same face or what?! The main difference is Dee Dee has painted eyes instead of inset.

My new girl has her original shoes, and everybody knows those are the hardest parts of an outfit to find. (That's why my dolls are often short on shoes.)

But are these her original socks? I don't think so.

She has a slight scuff to her cheek paint on the left side of her face, but it's not bad, and not very noticeable.

Now I just have to find her a dress, and replace her red hair ribbon.

This Amazing Ally shirt is distracting to say the least, and this Build-A-Bear jumper keeps jumping off.

Tomorrow I'll show you another Salvation Army kid. 

Doll-A-Day 190: Skipper Saturday: Java Brown Sausage Curl Skipper

  Firstly, (See? I'm trying to vary my openings again.), welcome to our new follower Scott! Thanks for joining us Scott.
  For today's Skipper Saturday we're looking at a little lady that needed some rescuing. She still needs some, but we're working on it. She's a brunette Sausage Curl Skipper.

Sausage Curl Skippers have twist and turn waists, bendable legs, and rooted eyelashes, just like Twist and Turn Skippers. The sausage curl style was produced in 1969 and 1970. Unlike previous Skippers, she was only available in two hair colours: blonde or  'java' brown

 The sausage curl Skippers came in a different original swimsuit each of the two years of their production.The first was a one piece swimsuit with a checked top and a solid skirt. The second was an orange vinyl two piece swimsuit under a sheer orange cover-up with flowers and yellow vinyl trim.
When I got her her hair was standing straight up in one piece, and she was filthy. But then, that's why I got her so cheap.

Her hair is all there though, and thankfully the sausage curl style is easy to repair.

You might have noticed the other reason I got her so cheap:her missing thumb. She also has some chipping around her neck. She's awaiting a body transplant, but until then, she can display well if her hand is covered or behind her.

Her hair was washed and curled around a pencil! It was held in place with bobby pins until it dried, and voila! Sausage curls restored to normal! It's been a while, and I didn't notice until I looked at the pictures, that it's time for a bit of a redo. I replace her original orange hair ribbons, which were missing when I got her, with these red ones, since they match her outfit.


She still needs her eyelashes rerooted. She's missing quite a few. But her face paint is perfect.

Her mouth is an especially nice shade of dark rose.

She's wearing the Skipper fashion Patent and Pants from 1968.

Patent and Pants consists of a one piece 'jumpsuit', with faux denim bottom and polka dot top...

...the red vinyl jacket with 'brass buttons', lined in the same polka dot fabric as the top half of the one piece pants outfit...

The jacket has sort of a nautical feel to it.

...and red flats.

I like the way these pictures turned out. She looks like she's on a rocky outcrop at the beach.

There should be a red vinyl belt, which I am missing.

Careful if you have to wash this outfit: the pants can fade and the red belt loops bleed onto the shirt.

Patent and pants is made using the same pattern as the Skipper Pak fashion Summer Slacks, which came in a million different fabrics.

  Tomorrow I'll tell you that story I ,mentioned, and show you some new acquisitions.

Doll-A-Day 189: Arianna Furga Doll in Felt...as a Flower?

  To start with, (I got tired of saying 'first of all'.), before anybody thinks I have forgotten about the lemon blonde Skipper from the Skipper Saturday of two weeks ago, I haven't. I just can't find her! I quite literally 'lost my head'! I know where I put her, but somebody has apparently moved her, and, as usual, all I get from them is "It wasn't me." To be fair, she may also have rolled somewhere. I didn't want to get her clothes wet and was too lazy to remove them, so I just removed her head instead. I'll keep looking. Her poor body is just standing there waiting for a head.
  Today's doll is by Furga. Her name is Arianna. She was made in 1974.

I think she's supposed to represent some sort of flower. 

Furga is an Italian company who also made the very highly sought after 'S Girls' dolls of the 60's.

The S Girls are so called because all their names start with S: Simona,Sylvie,and Shelia.

This doll looks alot like an S Girl, but she's shorter, about 12" tall. She'd make a great younger sister for them.

 She doesn't have quite the same eyelashes. The S Girls have almost fur like eyelashes. She also doesn't have the same gracefully curved arms they have. She does, however, have the same turned up nose and 'kissy' mouth.

She has such beautiful colouring.

 She's instantly recognizable as an Italian doll.

She and her clothes are in such nice condition too.

I got her over a year ago at an auction. Boxes of dolls were going super cheap, so I ended up with A LOT of dolls. I sold some, gave away a bunch to a lady setting up a place for kids to go in the summer,donated a bunch to Goodwill, and I still have loads left. There were a lot of Italian dolls, including an S Girl and a half. (Really.) There were so many Italian dolls that I even dreamed I was sorting Italian dolls.

 That's all for today. Tomorrow I'm going yard saling with Emma and one of her friends, so maybe some goodies for Skipper Saturday. I also have a story to tell and new goodies to share.