Oh how I loved my dolls when I was a girl. I would play with my dolls for hours, either by myself, with my older sister or with my friends. Because my mother was such a wonderful seamstress, my dolls had great wardrobes. My friends would bring their dolls to my house so that they could dress their dolls up in some clothes that my dolls had. I think that my doll wardrobes were probably the only cool thing about me as a girl since we didn't have a television or belong to the local swimming pool.
Just about every Christmas when I was in elementary school, I got a new doll complete with a full wardrobe made by my mother. There were years when both my sister, Linda, and I would get the current, must have, popular doll. My mother did a lot of sewing those years because in addition to the doll wardrobes, my sisters and I usually got new dresses made by mother. To this day, I don't know how she managed to do all that sewing and keep it a secret for the most part. I knew that she had special hiding places, because some Christmas mornings after all the presents had been opened, she'd remember something that she had made for us, but hidden away.
The first doll that I remember is my Tiny Tears doll. Tiny Tears would cry real tears when she was given water with the bottle that came with her. After "feeding" Tiny Tears, you would squeeze her tummy and tears would come out of little holes in her face just below her eyes. I played with her until she was well worn and I had graduated on to bigger dolls.
The next doll that I remember is my 14" Tony doll. My sister, Linda, and I both got our Tony dolls for Christmas. Mine was blonde and Linda's was brunette. We got complete wardrobes for our dolls. I remember that we would play together, changing their clothes and fixing their hair. I also remember I would play with both Tony dolls when Linda wasn't around. That was kind of a no-no, but I did it anyway. The Tony dolls were named after Tony home permanents. My sisters and I got those on a regular basis. My Tony doll was a blue eyed, blonde like this one.
The must have doll after the Tony doll was the Saucy Walker. Saucy Walker was about 22" tall. You could stand the doll up, hold her arm and she would more or less walk along side of you. I got a Saucy Walker for Christmas one year with a complete wardrobe made by my mother. I remember how excited I was on that Christmas morning to find Saucy Walker under the Christmas tree.
In about the fourth or fifth grade, I got a Ginny doll. She was an 8" doll and probably one of my favorites. When I got her for Christmas, she came complete with trunk. Ginny fit inside the trunk on one side. The other side had a drawer for her tiny shoes and socks. That same side had a clothes rack to hang up her clothes on tiny hangers. Of course, the idea was that little girls would want full wardrobes for their Ginny dolls and additional outfits were available to purchase. But my Ginny doll had a great wardrobe of dresses, coats and play clothes that were all made by my mother. She was so well dressed that she won "Best Dressed Doll" at the local summer playground. Ginny and I would often have matching outfits since her clothes were made from leftover fabric of my clothes. My Ginny doll was just like the one below.
The last doll that I got for Christmas was a Madam Alexander doll. Mother was afraid that I might be getting too old for dolls when I was in the sixth grade. She didn't get played with as much as the previous dolls, but I loved her just a much as the others.
Unfortunately, I no longer have any these dolls. I really don't know what happened to them. I think that when we moved out of the red brick house when I was in high school, my mother gave them away. I was working as a nanny during the week then and wasn't around at home when packing for the move took place. I would have loved to have had them around for my girls and granddaughters. I discovered that the Madam Alexander doll I had now sells on Ebay for over $400. I don't know what my mother was thinking when she got rid of all my dolls. I suppose that she just didn't want to move them and all their clothes. How sad.
My favorite doll was a Tiny Tears named Peggy. My friend's mom was a very pretty, nice lady named Peggy so my doll was named after her. That same Peggy is Peggy Wilcox in our ward!
ReplyDeleteI had a collection of little Madame Alexander dolls that my little sister gave baths and shampoos with lotion one day when I was at school. I still remind her how valuable those dolls would be today. She owes me.