Say, say, oh playmate,
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rainbow
onto my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more more more more more!
Lori of Faerie Window is hosting a fun event today, My Dolls, to show off your favorite dolls and tell why you love them so! So come and join the fun!Dollies were my playmates when I was young and I did have a few favorites. Unfortunately my all time favorite doll, Bare Skin Baby, manufactured by the Uneeda Doll Co. in 1968, could not join us today as he seems to still be sleeping in my mothers attic where I must have left him after our last play date when I was young. You can read a bit about him here.(You will need to scroll down in the post to the picture of the blue and white dishes in the cupboard for his story.)
Try as I might I could find no pictures of he and I but I did find a picture of his brother on the internet! For some reason this doll was a boy doll to me. This dolls face seems a little different in expression than I remember mine being, but it still gives you an idea of my dear doll.
Look, you can tell I was his mommy, don't we look alike at birth?
I loved his sweet little expression and perfect rose petal lips and tiny dimpled fingers and real looking toes. He had a chubby little tummy with a belly button. His head and tummy section swiveled and to me he was a very real baby. He always wore a tiny soft white triangle shaped cotton diaper with a real diaper pin fastened in front, and a tiny white infant shirt just like the ones real babies wore. He had a soft yellow blanket that was one of my own castoff receiving blankets and a tiny pair of baby booties. I don't remember where I got it but I had a tiny red baseball like cap that he wore when it was cold outside. He napped in my hard rock maple doll cradle with its fancy spindles, dust ruffle, padded mattress, and cushy matching pillow. I sat in a matching rocker and pretended to read him stories from a story book while I gently rocked him to sleep with my little foot pumping the rocker of the cradle. Sometimes he needed to be fed and I would use one of those disappearing bottles of milk or orange juice. He was the very best of babies and I loved him so! (Still do!)This is a picture of me and another dolly friend when I turned four years old.
I have to be honest I don't remember much about this particular doll I am holding but if you look closely at the cake on the table, now that doll I remember well! You may very well be looking at Miss Sandy's very first formal entertainment. See those place settings? I did that and was so proud of it! This was my only real birthday party, well, except the one I threw myself much to the surprise of my mother! But, that is a story for another day. I was visiting my grandmother, who worked for a bakery, where she purchased the cake. I thought the doll on top of that cake was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen! She had what seemed to be miles of ruffles frilled out all over the top of the cake and she had curling brown hair topped with a pretty pink bonnet. Four pink candles burned in the middle of four white frosting roses.I remember it like it was yesterday, my party for three, just my grandmother, my aunt, and me! I used Granny's coasters and her milk glass tumblers, white saucer, napkins, and forks. By each place setting I put three pieces of candy. I could hardly wait to blow out the candles and get that doll off that cake. I remember thinking it was funny to have her legs sticking down in the middle of my cake and was a bit stunned to find out that she didn't have any legs!!! She looked like a complete beautiful doll but underneath all her ruffles was a pink pick which balanced her in the middle of the cake! My grandmother made quite the joke of it and we just laughed and laughed over it.
As it turned out she was much more fun as a doll on a stick! I could hold her in my hand over my shoulder and pretend she was a fancy parasol. I could place her pick between my little palms and by rubbing my hands together make her twirl back and forth like the best of ballerinas doing pirouettes across an imaginary stage. She could also preform the best of ballons (ba-lawn) or bounces in which a dancer bounds up from the floor, pauses a moment in the air and descends lightly and softly, only to rebound in the air like the smooth bouncing of a ball. This quick movement made the flounces of her tutu like dress flutter up and down just like a real ballerina. Ironic isn't it that my doll could dance the best of dances and yet she had no legs.
Here I am on the Christmas that I turned five with my big walking doll.
I wanted one of these dolls in the worst way. I would stand in the store and look at them through the cellophane window of their box and wish and wish and wish for one. I so wanted a dark haired doll. This one had dark hair and white gauze like dress with a red velvet ribbon and bow. She had little white socks, shiny black patten leather shoes, and a white satin hair bow. When you held her hands and walked backwards she took steps with you. I named her Rose-red after the character in a fairy tale as she had the same raven hair, milky white skin, and ruby red lips just like the picture in my fairy tale book. Rose-red liked to run about in the meadows and fields seeking flowers and catching butterflies while her sister, Snow-white sat at home with her mother and and helped her with her housework, or read to her when there was nothing to do. (You can read their story here.) My other grandmother gave her to me and she is resting beside Baby Bear Skin keeping him company at this very moment.This little bitty baby dolly in her christening gown was purchased by me one summer at a five and dime store in the small town my grandmother lives in.
Every summer I would spend a week or two with her and my mom would always give me a bit of spending money, usually a dollar or two. While I was visiting there would always be a trip to town with an aunt or two and the boy cousins. We would wiggle and squirm with excitement in the back of the old pickup truck as we peeked through the slats of the cattle guards waiting for a glimpse of town.Town was one square block with a courthouse in the middle and all the stores ringing it. On one corner was our desired destination, Ben Franklin's. They had the most wonderful merchandise. I loved their toy isle the best. The shelves had thick green glass dividers that created long narrow bins that were filled with penny candy and an assortment of toys. All the candy and toys in the bins were usually priced at several pieces for fifty cents up to a dollar. On the shelf above the bins were toys in boxes. Now here is where the decision making came in. You could get one big toy or a lot of smaller toys for the same amount of money. The boy cousins and I stood clutching our dollars agonizing over our decision.
This particular day they were set on buying penny candy and plastic toy soldiers or cowboys and Indians. I usually went along with the plan and I would have if I had not seen the doll! They tried to no avail to get me to purchase the boy toys and to play with them but I refused to budge. I bought the doll. Here is the funny thing, I never ever played with this doll, I only looked at her. Part of the proof lies under her little cap. Look very closely and you will see that she still has the protective band around her hair to keep it from getting mussed up in the packaging. I did take her out of the box but that was it. I was totally content just to own her and to look at her and to occasionally rock her cradle back and forth.
When we got back to our grandmothers house that day the boy cousins ran outside to play. I carefully unpackaged my doll and set her cradle and all on the floor. I lay on my stomach, chin resting on the back of hands and just looked at her. I blew out small puffs of air to watch the sheer fabric move under the power of my breath. I rocked the cradle with the poke of one finger and I imagined what it would be like to be that tiny and to lay and sway in that satin and sheer canopied bed, thinking it must be magical.Time has faded her bedding which used to be the palest of pink sheer fabric with a pattern of pale pink flowers on it and white lace trim. Her christening gown and bonnet used to be snow white but have yellowed a bit with age. Her cradle is molded brown plastic. I think she represented a romantic girlhood fantasy of owning or sleeping under a canopy bed. She mostly resides in a keepsake box along with some other childhood friends and on occasion, like today, I take her out and look at her, but she is still not meant for play.
These little dollies are named Laura and Mary. They belong to my darling daughter. They are part of her adopted doll collection. Adopted dolls once belonged to someone else and found themselves sitting on shelves among dusty treasures of yesteryear, waiting and hopeful, for that right someone to come along and carry them home. These are not dolls that were gifted but special dolls that were chosen.
We found them in a flea market at the time when we were reading through the Little House on the Prairie books. When she saw them she thought they must be the kind of dolls Laura and Mary would have played with if they had them. Notice that Mary, the blond one, is dressed all prim and proper in her pink and white embroidered gown, while Laura, with the brown hair, has on a dress covered in a frog print! Darling daughter thought this so appropriate as Laura was a tomboy and Mary the little lady! I love their little black painted china boots! Laura and Mary usually rest in a special box of keepsakes but every once in a while they get to come out for a tea party or two, here they are enjoying cupcakes! Sometimes they even make mud pies too!Here are two more of her adopted dolls. These darling dolls were also flea market finds and had a special appeal to her. She loved their satin dresses and fancy hats.
The larger of the dolls eyes open and close while the smaller one has painted on features. Their expressions are solemn, serious, and yet serene. Both have movable arms and heads but stationary legs with tiny painted on black slippers. I love the curls and swirls of the styled hair as well as the detailing on their gowns.
Atop each little head rests a unique little creation. This one wears a bonnet of pink felt trimmed with the palest of blue feathers.
This one has a pink netted veil with pale green picot trim.
They each have on tiny bloomers and underskirts to fluff out their dresses. Age has taken the fluff out of the underskirts so they don't stand out as they once did. Both have solid heavy little bodies and stand quite well upon their little slippered feet and one even carries a bouquet vintage velvet posies. They were both well loved and cherished by her and stood in a place of honor on a shelf above her bed. They too now spend most of their days resting alongside Laura and Mary in the keepsake box but decided to join in the with their dolly friends.One last favorite baby is a little paper picture of one.
This is a pretty common print but someone lovingly crafted it into a precious piece of altered art. Tiny slits were strategically cut around the baby to lift and tuck fabric in, around, and under to make it appear as if this little darling is sleeping on a pink satin pillow edged in white lace and garnished with silk rosettes and pretty pink bows. A tiny white flannel diaper has been added as well as a pleated pink and blue floral flannel print dress. The piece is topped of with delicate crochet booties and sweater with pink satin bows. The background is quite aged and stained but I love her just the same!
I look at these dolls and wonder who they belonged to originally and what stories could they tell were they to speak? What secrets did they share with their owners and what lovely times did they have at play? Were they gifts for special occasions like some of my dollies were or were they bought by little girls who saved their pennies until they had enough for the purchase? Were they just for looking at dolls or real playmates? I will never know their stories or hear their wondrous tales but I will always remember my dollies who were so dear to me!Blessings,
Miss Sandy
