Color me nostalgic OR Who was your First Doll?

[Sakurako]

Going back a bit. In 1959 I was 12, my favorite cousin was 10 and my at that time youngest cousin was 5. My grandfather played Santa Claus for my elementary school that year and borrowed the costume to wear for us at Christmas. That year both Janice and I received an 18 inch Revlon bride doll from Santa. She was my first 18 inch doll. I still have her and all the beautiful clothes that must have taken my mother MONTHS to make for my Christmas presents!



Going back even further, the first doll with jointed arms, legs and head that I ever received was a 12 inch Mary Hoyer doll. That would have been probably when I was 8, in 1955. My mother beat AG to the idea of dressing alike. She made us matching mother, daughter, doll outfits! I still have this doll and some of her outfits, too. My mother has the patience of a saint -- tiny doll clothes with real button holes!



<font color="#33CCCC"><font size="1">[ November 23, 2006 08:15 PM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font></font>

Who was your first jointed doll?

<font color="#33CCCC"><font size="1">[ November 23, 2006 08:17 PM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font></font>
edited to add-- the acute squint is part of every photo in my childhood. Dad thought you had to have your subject stare directly into the sun to get the proper exposure for the camera.

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 23, 2006 09:20 PM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font>

[kellid60]

>She made us matching mother, daughter, doll outfits

Oh,Cherry! Did you ever luck out in the Mom department!!! So sweet. Thanks for sharing your pictures. Its nice that you kept your dolls.

Best!

Kelli

[AG DRESS DESIGNER]

Love your matching dresses and the knee socks. You and your Mom look so much alike in the photos.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

[cowgirlsue]

LOVE the photos!

I remember a little vinyl baby doll that I loved as a wee child, but it mysteriously disappeared. I always wanted a Mrs. Beasley doll. I had Raggedy Ann and Andy, too. And to show that I was hip, I had a Swingy doll...see here for info: http://www.dollinfo.com/swingy.htm

I also had several Thumbelinas babies, the kind where you pulled the string and they all wiggled. I still have the Thumbelinas (two of which still work!)and Swingy...I should get them down for DD. They are beyond well-loved!

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 23, 2006 08:57 PM: Message edited by: EleanorofAquitane ]</font>

[heidiabigail]

my first doll was a small cabbage-patch doll with reddish-orange yarn hair. She wasn't the soft bodied kind. I didn't really play with her much though that I remember. I played with a different doll, that I borrowed indefinitely from my grandmother at age 2, and eventually adopted. Her name is Valen. She has a very soft vinyl head, legs, and arms. Her eyes are always closed. She is small, maybe 10 inches long at the most. She came to college with me too.

[PrincessRuthie]

Ooh, Cherry, you look so sweet as a little girl. [img]graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

My very first doll was a sweet little baby doll about the size of the AG mini dolls. She came in a bunny suit, and I loved her so much that I carried her around everywhere. She even rode in my buggy! I even lost her once, and to comfort me, my mom took one of my other little baby dolls and sewed another bunny suit for her. Nice, but not the same. Luckily, a neighbor found my first doll, and she still sits in the living room on the lap of my Adora Belle doll named Anchee.

My first girl dolls were Raggedy Ann, a Kid Sister (that I named Stephanie after a friend) and two of those Fisher Price My Friend dolls (the redhead I renamed Lissi and the dark-haired I renamed Julie I think).

[Sakurako]

Yes, I have donned my invisibility cloak!

I brought Bright Eyes to college with me. He was my primary best friend from age 5 onwards. He's a Schuco yes/no chimp and may be the only such animal to have earned an M.A. in medieval English Lit! He's also whom I learned to sew for. You start with sewing a facing around a tail hole in the back of a pair of trousers and go from there!



edited to add - This is his portrait, showing Bright Eyes and the bears that belonged to my mother and father when they were little, with my mother's old doll china tea set. M. painted it for me.

I also had Raggedy Ann, Andy and Mirandy Lou, a stuffed doll that my mother made for me what I was 3.

Does anyone remember Bendy Wendy and Bendy Billy? They were foam dolls with wires inside their arms so you could pose them.

The baby doll I loved which mysteriously disappeared was Bonnie, the little blonde toddler with tiny pigtails and two front teeth, who was the little sister of Sparkle Plenty in the Dick Tracy comics. I think that lost doll is why I loved American Girl dolls at first sight -- because they have teeth!

More stories, please?

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 23, 2006 09:06 PM: Message edited by: Sakurako ]</font>

[cowgirlsue]

More stories? Well, this isn't about a doll but about my boon companion of childhood, Chester O'Chimp. I don't know what the Mattel marketing people were smok...er, indulging in when they dreamed him up. He was part of a line called Animal Yackers. Chester was a chimpanzee who spoke with an Irish accent when you pulled a string on his back. Yes, an Irish chimpanzee. Here's a list of his more memorable phrases:

--Well, I'll be monkey's uncle! Oh,I already am!
--Let's go the zoo and see all the wild children
--When I grow up I'm gonna be a great big chump...er, chimp!
--Don't call me a baboon... that's Cousin Elmer
--Don't just feed me bananas...I like people food
--I speak English hahaha Can't you talk monkey?
--Ah it's marvelous, it is...how we look so much alike
--How about going into Monkey business?
--I'm just a little chimp, diddle, diddle dumb

All of this with an Irish accent, mind you.

Chester was a bit alarming, but I loved him. I got him in 1966 for my (cough) birthday. He lost his clothing along the way, but he still talks and has a place of honor in our game room. Ah, Chester. Google him if you're curious...he's well-loved by those of us who grew up in the 60's.

<font color="#33CCCC" size="1">[ November 23, 2006 09:17 PM: Message edited by: EleanorofAquitane ]</font>

[Sakurako]

ROFL! Isn't it odd how much we look alike? [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

[heidiabigail]

I had a raggedy Ann and Andy, but at some point I spilled orange juice on Ann's head, and it stained her, so her name became "Orange Juice Annie" to distinguish her from my sister's perfect Ann.