Throwback Thursday review: Little Miss Revlon clone

And the Moon Girl's fondness for clone dolls lands her another poppet that she needed like a hole in her head.  As y'all may or may not remember I'm a Little Miss Revlon fan.  I have one, my lovely little Wendy, who was the focus of a review a couple of years back.  In the time that's elapsed since then I...haven't done much with Wendy.  I clean her earrings and make sure her elastic is still holding strong, and of course I'm always on the lookout for new clothes, but other than that, nothing.  It was during one of these hunt-for-clothes-on-eBay sessions that I stumbled across this young lady.  I've chosen to name her "Belle," and she is a Circle P doll, or Little Miss Revlon clone.

Since Belle IS a Little Miss Revlon clone it should be no surprise that she and Wendy are the same height.

Just for grins and a reminder, here's how these dolls compare to the 11.5-inch height standard set by Barbie.  The Barbie in this case is my mother's #3 ponytail.

Brief tangent:  I found a nice old vintage dress for Barbie!  The dress in question is "Fancy Free."

Pardon the yellow cast in that picture; the sun was setting when I took it, on the same day that I took this picture of Annika.  LOL, I remember that day quite well; we'd had a lot of rain and I made the mistake of sitting on the ground in my late grandmother's yard.  Normally that wouldn't be a huge deal, except that Grandma's yard used to be the site of a sizeable frog pond, and to this day it still gets marshy when the rain comes.  My butt and knees were covered in mud, but Barbie and Annika came out alright.  LOL, there's a story for y'all!  Maybe Belle and Wendy can wear Barbie's new dress, though???  Sometimes Barbie dresses could fit on these Little Miss Revlon dolls, so I'll test that later.

Nitty gritty time now!  Some of the Circle P dolls are not as pretty in the face as Little Miss Revlon is, but Belle...Belle holds her own against Wendy.  See?

In fact, Belle outshines Wendy in one crucial way:  her eyes are clear.  Wendy's are not, and she looks a little DEAD as a result.  I wonder why Belle's eyes remained shiny while Wendy's did not?

Before we ponder eyes too closely let's move up to Belle's hair.  She wears her dark, curly hair short, as many women in the fifties did.

The fibers are wiry and have a mind of their own, more so than Wendy's do.  The plugs are of an average size but are well spaced; indeed I had to dig some in order to find a decent gap for photographing the roots.  The plugs are tight in there, and what scalp I could find was painted brown.   So...here's the hairline.

Belle has apparently spent a lot of time either lying down or leaning against something, as the back of her hair is pretty flat.

Nothing a nice dunk in some warm water won't cure, though I'll have to take care with those eyes.  I suspect that it may be moisture that causes doll eyes to fog up, though I may be full of crap.  Wouldn't be the first time, LOL!  I have based my assumption on circumstantial evidence though, in that Wendy's eyes didn't fog up until after I washed her hair.  I didn't shield her eyes in any way, and now I'm ruing that.

NOW let's talk about the paint.  I think Belle looks a little more mature than Wendy in the face.  Here's the same picture from above so y'all won't have to scroll up.

I think it may be those eyebrows that age Belle a little.  Belle's are wider and less arched, making her look more sure of herself and...less naive, I guess?  She just doesn't have Wendy's placid innocence.  Sort of like a geisha, in a way; the more senior the geisha, the wider her eyebrows.  I tend to place that rule on these two as well, even though Belle and Wendy are definitely NOT geisha.  On a more positive note, Belle's eyebrows are centered.  Wendy's are not, nor are the eyebrows of a great many Revlon dolls that I've seen.  I wonder why that is???  I'm not terribly bothered by this apparent Ideal idiosyncrasy, but I still wonder why so many Revlon dolls have off-kilter eyebrows.  Anywho, here's a better look at Belle's eyes, complete with her perfectly centered eyebrows, and her less-than-perfect eyelashes.  Notice that the lashes don't connect to the eye socket (Wendy's lashes do).

See how clear Belle's eyes are compared to Wendy's?  Poor Wendy is starting to look a little possessed, with those eyes fogging over.  Wendy has promised to slap the first person who calls her "Annabelle," by the way (LOL).  Both Belle and Wendy have sleep eyes, and this sleep motion is where Wendy evens the playing field.  Wendy's eyes slide shut with no problems, but more often than not when I recline Belle THIS happens.

In fact, both eyes can do this!

This is a common problem with sleep-eyed dolls of all ages, and it's not a huge deal.  All I have to do is shake Belle gently and her rogue eye pops shut.  Strangely, I find this effect rather charming, as it reminds me of a scene in a book I loved as a teenager, a child's book by Rebecca Caudill entitled The Best-Loved Doll.  In this book the best-loved doll in question has sleep eyes, but only one of them works (among other problems).  Cute read, one that I may have to find for Malden Library (they don't have a copy), or just for myself for old time's sake.

Lovely day for tangents, isn't it???  Belle has a slightly wider nose than Wendy does, and her lips are red but are not painted in as fully.

The corners of Belle's mouth turn down a little, giving her a more serious expression than Wendy, not unlike that of a Coty Girl.  Her cheeks are very subtly blushed, much less so than Wendy's, and much, MUCH less so than the clownish high-color Revlon dolls.  Strangely, Belle's ears are not pierced.  Wendy has pierced ears, as do most of the Revlon clone dolls that I've stumbled across, but Belle has no holes at all.

On the back of Belle's neck is her mark, and the reason why she is often called a "Circle P" doll.

Dolls with this mark tend to make the world of LMR clones confusing, at least for this little black duck.  The Circle P mark was used on knock-off dolls from the God-Knows-Who Company that Belle comes from, but Miss Coty, an Arranbee product, also uses the Circle P mark.  I can't tell if Belle is an Arranbee doll or not, but judging from her expression I'm leaning towards the positive; Belle looks ever so slightly sulky like the Coty Girls do.  Oh, and as an aside, when I was browsing through pictures of Miss Coty I stumbled across this girl wearing a very familiar frock.  It's been eons since I last discussed this dress, so here it is again, modeled on Tammy.

I still haven't identified this dress, by the way.  But I own one and one of my friends on Facebook owns one, and now I've seen it on a Coty Girl so I know it's mass-produced.  If anyone has any info on this dress and who made it, let me know.  It fits Little Miss Revlon and all like-sized dolls, Tammy, Tressy, and TNT Barbie, and I probably am missing a few others who can wear that dress.  Digression over, I have no idea who Belle is now, though I haven't ruled Miss Coty out definitively.  There are a lot of differences between Belle and Miss Coty, but those faces are so similar!

Down to the body we go now, and to the main reason why I chose this particular doll over the other Circle P dolls that eBay had to offer.  This body is...ONE PIECE!!!

I have exactly two dolls with a vinyl body like this:  Eegee's Softina and Deluxe Reading's Psycho Cindy.  Oh yeah, I also have a Poison Ivy doll from Mattel, and her body is like this but it poses better, probably because she's much younger than Tina and Cindy.  Both Tina and Cindy sport a one-piece vinyl body that covers stuffing and a wire frame, and such a body works out well for large dolls like Softina and Cindy, though the vinyl does become immobile with age.  But I've never seen a similar body utilized for a doll Belle's size so this review should be interesting.  It LOOKS alright, but how does it move?  Well...her neck rotates...

...and that's the extent of Belle's movement, y'all!  I suspect that she has a wire frame inside her body and the vinyl was once soft enough to bend in a manner similar to Licca-chan, but the body hardened with time as objects made of vinyl will sometimes do, and thus I can't get Belle to hold a pose.  Both Softina and Psycho Cindy are this way, as I insinuated above.  This is just the way vinyl ages, but it's also a tremendous pain in the patootie in Belle's case since I can't seat her or move her arms around like I can with Wendy.  Wendy sits like a bimbo on Quaaludes, but at least she can sit!

Belle's lack of joints suggests very strongly that she is NOT an Arranbee doll, as all the Miss Coty dolls I've seen have joints.  Nor is she another Circle P doll that I've seen named Miss Marie, since Miss Marie also has joints.  She is also not the little cowgirl Sally Starr, since Sally was a blonde doll.  That leaves yet another Circle P doll named Little Miss Rose Mary (two words, yes), but I can't confirm that Belle is or isn't her.  Rose Mary's shoulders were covered in the two pictures I found, thus rendering it impossible to see if she has joints.  However, Doll Reference states that Rose Mary had pierced ears, and if that's the case then Belle is not her either, as her ears are definitely not pierced.

Okay, so Belle flunks the posing test with flying colors.  However, that stiff vinyl did take to a mold well, with her fingers and toes being free of big plastic tags and possessing all the requisite nails and creases.

Belle has painted nails just like Wendy does, but the paint is sloppy in places.  To be fair, Wendy's paint isn't 100% perfect either, especially on her toenails.

Belle's feet are large and highly arched like Wendy's are, and I think these two can share shoes, but we'll get to that when we come to it.

Good place to segue into clothes.  Belle is currently not wearing the outfit she came in, but rather one that I bought for Wendy, one that was a smidge tight on her curvy body.  Belle wears it well, but for the record it wasn't what she came in.  THIS is what she came in.

This is a full-skirted, strapless number that fits both Belle and Wendy very well, though being strapless means that the occasional nip slip is inevitable.  The bodice is not hemmed...

...nor are the skirt or the wrap that comes with it.

The back does fasten with a snap, though!

Being a fashion doll with high-heeled feet, Belle unsurprisingly has high-heeled shoes.  These are plain black shoes in flimsy plastic with a fair amount of cracks.

This is the worst of the cracks, in the sole of the left shoe.

I'm hoping desperately that Belle and Wendy can share shoes, because I find these beat up black pumps rather unsightly.  I'm optimistic, but similar dolls can have different shoe sizes.

As it turned out Belle and Wendy can share shoes quite nicely, and I am glad.  Belle may be stiff as a board and not good for anything but modelling Wendy's clothes, but she still deserves to have some nice shoes.

Regarding clothes sharing, Tammy and Tressy ensembles are at a premium in the Moon House, but I've got a lot of Barbie stuff, including the new dress that Barbie now has on.  Even though Barbie is a lot taller than Belle, I'm just itching to try "Fancy Free" on Belle to see how it does.  Barbie can in turn wear the Revlon set...if it fits her, that is.

Mmmm...I can live with that.  "Fancy Free" is a lot longer on Belle than it is on Barbie, and the bodice is baggy around her smaller chest.  Interestingly, despite having a bigger chest, Barbie can wear the Revlon set quite well, though I have to admit that the shirt hangs better on Belle.  Notice that Belle can put her hands in the rather ample pockets of "Fancy Free."  I haven't tried that with Barbie yet since her hands curve outward some.

I think that settles it!  Can't think of anything else I want to say!

BAD
*Lacks any ability to pose other than turning her head.
*Eyes stick, but that isn't a huge deal.
*Painting isn't as precise as it is on the brand-name dolls
*Hair is wiry, but again this isn't a huge deal since Wendy's hair is also wiry.

GOOD
*Eyes are not fogged over...yet.
*NOT BLONDE!!!  Too many of the dolls from this era are blonde.
*Sturdy.  This is one of the few dolls who'd survive my "throw her across the yard and see what happens" test.
*Can share dresses with Barbie, albeit imperfectly.  Can also wear Little Miss Revlon stuff, though that's probably fairly obvious.

Hmmm...looks like I got suckered by a novelty again!  Oh, don't get me wrong, Belle is a nice doll.  She'd still make a nice plaything for a modern-day kid, tough as she is.  But that inability to do more than stand there probably would get annoying for a child of today, so accustomed are they to having dolls that can sit at least a little.  Belle probably could've sat when she was a younger doll and her vinyl was softer, but NOT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I think I'll try to avoid all-vinyl dolls of this age from now on, as they either stiffen like Belle and Softina and Psycho Cindy, or they wear out like Tutti, Todd, and the Liddle Kiddles.  As she stands Belle is only an attractive mannequin, rather like Mattel's Stardolls...but maybe she can take a rebody.  If I can find some Little Miss Revlon parts I'll try that out and get back to y'all.  But right now Belle is just Wendy's stiff second banana.  I like her enough to use her as a dress model, and I like her face, but she's not much for playing with.  She does look nice with a group of vintage dollies though, and her eyes aren't clouded over like poor Wendy's are.  Hopefully I can keep it that way.

Joy to the world,
RagingMoon1987

POSTSCRIPT:  I think I've identified Belle!  Doll Reference's Jolly Toys/Nasco page has absolutely nothing about Claudie, my little Tressy/Crissy wannabe, but at the bottom of the list of products it mentions a Little Miss Revlon-clone.  Jolly Toys's clone doll was marked "Circle P," was jointed only at the neck, had a hollow one-piece body, and was named Jean.  Thus I'm almost certain now that Belle is actually "Jean."  This creates potential for more confusion, as Nasco also had a little girl doll named "Jean," one that bears a passing resemblance to Claudie.  Does this mean that Belle and Claudie are sisters?  LOL, as to the name, I like the name "Belle" a lot, much more so than "Jean," so maybe my dolly can have two names.  Belle-Jean?  Jean-Belle?  I kinda like Jean-Belle, LOL!