My story is not really different than any of the others. A doll collector is the last thing I ever thought I would be when I was growing up.
However, unlike most collectors, I don't remember playing with many dolls as a child. It's not that I didn't have them. I remember having all of the dolls that were popular in "my day" (waaaaaaaay back in the mid-60's
hahaha ). I remember the Barbie's, the Dawn dolls and the first "hair to floor" Crissy. I just don't remember ever having that warm fuzzy kind of love for any of them.
I use to think this might simply be due to my life at that time. At age 8 - my "prime" doll playing days - we lost our home & all of it's contents to a massive flood. The following year - just as we were recovering from this loss - we lost my dad,
age 30. Don't get me wrong. I didn't have a miserable childhood. Far from it actually. Maybe it's just that after 2 such devastating losses at such a young age, I kind of grew up rather quickly. Or maybe I just didn't have the innocence or imagination left after such a heavy dose of reality. Whatever the reason, I simply don't remember playing with them.
But, through all of this, I did remember one doll. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to love her very long. No, she didn't get swept away with the river waters. My wonderful talking Mrs. Beasley doll met with a far worse fate than that. My twin brother dissected her! (Hmmm, maybe boys shouldn't play with
dolls after all! ) He just had to know what made her talk. So, with my little sister acting as his operating room nurse, he cut her open, ripped out her stuffing & totally destroyed the only doll I ever remember wanting desperately.
I cried my heart out for days until my grandmother & mother took me shopping to replace her. To my total "horror", they no longer made the talking version - just the "boring" old Beasley who didn't say a thing! What fun was that? Besides, she wasn't MY doll! Being a stubborn child, I refused to settle for less than a "perfect" replacement.
I didn't know it then, but this is the "stuff" doll collectors are made of. Because Mrs. Beasley is stuffed cloth she is usually found dirty & ripped. She is also usually found "mute". It took 26 years & 5 "battered Beasleys" to find a clean, complete, working replacement for my doll. It was a long way from my original dismembered Mrs. Beasley to my current clean, displayable, talking Mrs. Beasley. But, it's been great. I've learned a lot (about dolls and about myself) & laughed a lot. I just can't imagine something I'd rather do that hunt down dolls, unless maybe it is cleaning them up. It is a great feeling to take a dirty, disheveled doll & turn her in to a displayable "dream".
A few years ago, as my sister sat playing with her new baby on my living room floor, I crawled up behind her with my "beautiful Beasley" in my hands & pulled the magic ring that makes her talk. My sister stopped dead in her tracks when she heard "Long ago, I was a little girl - just like you". As she spun around to see the doll I am sure she hadn't seen since that "fateful" day, she had a huge smile on her face & the first thing she asked was "Am I forgiven now?"
Not only are my sister & brother finally forgiven, they are to be thanked. For, if not for their little adventure playing "doll hospital", I would have missed all of the fun, the joy & the rewards that collecting, buying & even selling dolls can bring.
As I said before, I use to think that I wasn't "in to" dolls because of my childhood. I was wrong. Now I think I was just born "too late" for all of the really great composition, hard plastic & early vinyl dolls that I love so much today. While the dolls I mentioned above - the dolls of my youth - are wonderful & a lot of fun, to me they just don't have the magic, the glamour, the imaginative design or creativity of the "Golden Era" dolls. In my opinion, there is not a doll today that can compare to the dolls created in the 1930s, 40s, 50s & early 60s by such well known doll companies as Arranbee, Effanbee, Ideal, Madame Alexander, Terri Lee, Vogue and,
of course, Mattel - who created my favorite talking dolls -Mrs. Beasley & Chatty
Cathy.
You know - maybe I wasn't born too late after all. The dolls just must have been early and lucky for me, they were constructed so well, they all stuck around & waited for me to catch up.
BY THE WAY: This past Christmas, while my
brother was visiting, he saw my Chatty Cathy collection. The first
thing he said was "Do you ever see any of those talking dolls that
I cut up on you? What's her name? I told him "Yup - see
them all the time."
A few minutes later I went upstairs & brought down my Mrs.
Beasleys. The first thing he said was "Oh, let me see
one!" I laughed & hugged them close & said "No
way!" before handing one over. Then he wanted to know where
their eye glasses were. That is when I got serious & say
"NOT ON YOUR LIFE!".
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