COLLECTION #195: Barbie

This is my one and only Barbie. I don't mean my only Barbie, but my only original Barbie.  To be more specific, this is my own childhood Barbie. On Orphan Wednesday, I thought it would be appropriate to share one of my most special treasures, the Barbie that I got in 1961. She's one of the original 'bubble cut' Barbies, which came in the black & white striped swimsuit. Of course, I don't have any of the original clothing or accessories, but just the fact that I have her is special enough for me.  My best friend Davney got her ponytail Barbie at least a year before I got mine. We were a little older than children are today who play with Barbie. Actually, we were what would be considered 'tweens' today- 10, 11 years old. Perhaps that's why I still have her. I was old enough to take good care of her, not cut her hair, draw on her arms, or let my brother pull off her legs. (Ok, my brother did leave his subtle mark on her, but that's for another discussion). Davney and I loved our Barbies, but we only had one each. Little girls back then didn't have a dozen Barbies lying around naked in the bottom of a toy box. We dressed them carefully, displayed them lovingly, and took good care of them. I don't remember anyone who had more than one Barbie. (By the time Barbie's friends and cousins came out, we had outgrown dolls). Ken was not popular with my gang.

I keep her on display in my glassed-in display cabinet, and she has the place of honor on the shelf. I've fancied her up with an authentic Barbie Silken Flame dress, authentic purse, shoes, earrings, and necklace, and a replacement belt and sunglasses.  Isn't she awesome?

COLLECTION #179: Chatty Cathy Dolls

I never intended my collector blog to be a place full of unpleasant surprises, but I'll tell, you, I got one this morning. For Toy Tuesday this week I decided to feature my Chatty Cathy dolls. I love Chatty Cathy, and I was lucky enough to be part of the Chatty Cathy design team in 1997, when I was working at Mattel, to bring the original Chatty back on the market as an authentic reproduction doll. I worked for many months on Chatty, researching her, and becoming as much of an expert as was possible back then, before eBay. I relied heavily on Kathy and Don Lewis' books on Chatty Cathy, and her extensive family of talking dolls of the 1960s.  I met Kathy several times during the months that I worked on the project, and she was so helpful to me on the technical aspects of the doll.

So, back to my unpleasant surprise! I knew all of my Chatties would be very dusty, because I keep them on display in my home, and due to their large size, they are not behind glass. After all, these aren't really priceless dolls, even though they are very valuable to me! So, As I took them down, and brushed them off, and dusted their sweet little faces and freckles, and did a double take! Both of my reproduction Cathys had the scariest looking eyes! The one with the blue dress and blue eyes, was now a scary pink-eyed ghoul! The one with the red dress and brown eyes, now had frightening looking red eyes! Argh!!!! What happened to my babies? I never leave them in direct sunlight. Their pretty little dresses were not the least bit faded. Their hair and skin, although dusty, looked fresh and sweet. But those eyes! It's obvious that we selected an eye vendor, most likely in China, that produced poor quality eyes.

My original Chatty Cathy from 1961 (I used to know EXACTLY which one I had, but I'm now too lazy to go back and research her again) has startling blue eyes, just as she is supposed to. Although I don't have original clothes for my older Cathy doll, I love the cute little vintage red and white overalls she wears. Isn't she adorable?

So, here you are. Chatty Cathys gone over to the dark side. (But they're still cute!)