Greetings, comrades. Looks like my AG Spotlights aren't the most popular things, since no one comments on them, LOL. If you're not a fan, all I can say is buckle up because I've got plenty more to do. Lindsey's personality hasn't been the easiest to put together, I must admit (she's my next doll). But today I'm gonna swig some water and do something I haven't done in awhile. I haven't done a post on Madame Alexander dolls since heck was a pup, and since two new-to-me dolls just moved into the house I figured I'd show 'em off now. This little one is Cissette.
In the time since I took the above photo both of Cissette's cute little shoes have disappeared. Shoes or no, one of Cissette's sisters made a cameo appearance here many moons ago, but she belonged to the lady who owned and later gave me Mary Jane. This Cissette is mine. She's MINE, MINE, MINE!!! LOL, pardon my excitement, but I've always had a fondness for Cissette, who has all of Cissy's beauty packed into a smaller frame and a smaller price. I don't think my doll is vintage like my friend's doll is, but oh well, she's just as good. Here's how she compares in size to my decrepit old Cissy doll, Peaches...
...and because I love Little Miss Revlon, here's how Cissette compares in size to Wendy.
I'm hoping but doubting that these two can share clothes since their measurements are a hair different. Anyway, older Cissette dolls date from 1957 to 1963 (the line was apparently felled by Barbie). Like her larger companion Cissette has been a ballerina, and she's also worn bridal garb, Southern belle costumes, and other frilly stuff like that. Some dolls have knee joints and some don't, with my doll being in the "have" category. Notice that she's also got little nylons.
Ugh...I have a love-hate relationship with this type of knee. It bends to a nice sharp angle, but it's also hard to bend and bad to break if treated roughly. Peaches has a broken knee, for example.
I need to bite the bullet and send Peaches to a real dolly doctor. I don't have what it takes to return her to her former glory. Now...I said that Cissette was discontinued in 1963. That being said, Madame Alexander still makes her from time to time. She's not as ubiquitous as Wendy, the little girl doll that everyone seems to love, but she still exists, most recently as Clara, from The Nutcracker.
Speaking of ballet, here's a better look at Elise. Ugh, those reflecty Madame Alexander eyes! Cissette doesn't look too bad, but Elise looks like she could be dangerous!
Elise is a bigger doll at seventeen inches. She's thus closer in size to Peaches, though not quite her size.
According to a fellow blogger Elise became Madame Alexander's "tall doll" of sorts after Cissy was retired. After her release Elise enjoyed about three decades of production, and it should be no surprise that she came in other costumes besides ballet costumes, though there are plenty that ARE dressed like ballerinas! I've even seen one that looks like Maria Tallchief, red dress and all. As far as I know Elise is no longer being made, with her run ending in 1992. Also as far as I know Elise does not see modern-day revivals like Cissette does, but never say never, right? By the way, Elise's joints are your standard joints that only pivot, meaning that though she's dressed as a ballerina Elise can't strike many ballet poses. For want of a stand I had to hold her in this position, so pardon my fat white lump of a hand. This is about as ballet a pose as I can get Elise to strike, stand or no stand.
Compare that to Aida, my Valentine ballerina. Valentine did a lot of ballerinas, some more jointed than Aida is. I wonder if Aida's name is supposed to be pronounced "aid-uh," or if it's "eye-EED-uh" like the opera and the broadway show? I guess I could do either one. Regardless, Aida outposes Elise by a fair margin.
Oh well, Elise looks the part, right? I always thought it was funny, by the way, that Madame Alexander dolls sometimes wear pointe shoes, but their feet are clearly NOT in the proper position!
Now this, I can explain, since Cissy and Cissette and Elise were all meant to be undressed and redressed if the owner so chose. Or I assume that, since Beatrice Alexander wanted her dolls to be played with to some degree. Sharply pointed feet would mean the doll couldn't wear regular shoes, whereas high-heeled feet mean that she COULD wear regular shoes. So this part, I get. It still makes me giggle, though! I guess it makes sense though, since ballerinas don't live en pointe. Indeed, just looking at a doll like Aida makes my legs and feet tingle, as she's eternally on her toes. How painful would that be??? Not all Valentine ballerinas have feet frozen en pointe, but Aida does.
Elise looks more comfortable, though I doubt she could be super-comfortable in all that scratchy tulle. Maybe she's waiting to go onstage, or she's milling about at a dress rehearsal like some of Edgar Degas's subjects were. Either one works.
So that's a much-needed break from American Girl blather! Don't get comfy, because next Thursday is cobalt-haired Lark's turn.
Cheers and pirouettes,
RagingMoon1987
I forgot about your poor rescued Peaches. I hope she can get to a dolly doctor sooner rather than later. I love my two Cissy dolls, but they do take up a lot of room. As a dance mom who sewed elastic/ribbons on eighteen different pairs of pointe shoes, none of the shoes that your girls are wearing look like pointe shoes. Pointe shoes are very flat at the toe; inside is the "box" that supports the ballerina as she balances. And yes, being eternally on your toes would be super-painful. As an aside, the Dancer has kept every single one of her pairs of pointe shoes, the only exception being one shoe that she signed and gave to her studio ( a lot of the students did this.) She has almost all of them hanging from a curtain rod in her bedroom.
ReplyDeleteI forgot about the toe box! No, neither Aida nor Elise have proper shoes for pointe dancing...unless they want to "break themselves," as one of My favorite YouTubers puts it. NONE of my ballerinas do, for that matter, except maybe Margot, my Swan Lake Barbie. The very tips of her shoes are flattened a bit. LOL, I know dancers go through a lot of shoes during their careers. Has your dancer ever counted her pairs?
DeleteCissy dolls can be demanding, can't they! If not storage it's getting them dressed in the right stuff or trying to keep them in one piece, like I'm doing. I'll let you know what goes down with Peaches; she's beat-up, but she's still worth fixing in my eyes.
The Dancer ended up with eighteen pairs of pointe shoes. I kept her first pair; I still want to put them in a shadow box, with the letter from the podiatrist saying that her growth bones had hardened, and she was ready for pointe.
DeleteI've heard ballerinas talk about how excited they were to hear that they were ready for pointe. I can only imagine how happy your little one was! I always like to see dancers take their first pair and compare them to a current or recent pair; it shows how much they've grown in the time frame!
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