Throwback Thursday review: Gerber baby

Last November I posted a sizeable string of reviews on baby dolls, but it turns out that I forgot a few!  I picked this doll up at the same time that I bought Anita, and it made for some hilarious photo ops.

Yep, I'm talking about the Gerber baby, whom I affectionately call "Gerb."

When I started this review (I've had it in draft form since late last summer) I had no idea who made this doll.  I merely knew that she was a premium doll, the kind that one gets when one buys X-amount of a certain product and mails in parts of the package with a dab of money.  Luckily, someone beat me to the punch with this review, as Tam reviewed her own Gerber baby last December.  Her doll still has her hang tag, and it reads "Atlanta Novelty, 1979," so now I have an idea of where my dolly came from.  Gerb is about twelve and a half inches from head to toe and thus a little smaller than Anita in size.

Frankly, those huge eyes remind me more of Galoob's Baby Face dolls than they do Gerber's iconic logo.  She particularly looks like the Baby Face doll that I once had, So Surprised Suzie.  She also reminds me (ever so slightly) of Hessy Levinsons Taft, better known as the baby that fooled the Nazis.  If ever there was a baby that looked like the Gerber baby it was Hessy, who survived the war and grew up to be a chemistry professor.  But as usual I digress.  Gerb's hair is painted a light golden shade and is molded into the cowlick that both Hessy and the Gerber baby possess.

Normally I prefer rooted hair to molded or painted hair, but in the case of baby dolls I'll make an exception, since babies aren't supposed to have a lot of hair and a root job on a baby doll can sometimes look a little odd.  But then again, this molded hair looks a little odd too, as the cowlick makes Gerb look like a member of the Lollipop Guild.

To my great surprise, Gerb's neck is marked...but it does absolutely nothing to help me name a maker.  All it says is GERBER PRODUCTS CO.  Thus why I'm grateful for Tam's post.

Now to the face.  The iconic Gerber face.

Truthfully my doll is quite a bit more pop-eyed than the original baby.  Oh take my word, the resemblance IS there, but the longer I look at Gerb the more she looks like So Surprised Suzie and less like the original Gerber baby.  Resemblance aside, let's start breaking this face down.  Eyes first.  Gerb's eyebrows and eyelashes are dark lines of paint, and the eyebrows aren't centered properly so they look a little goofy.

Now for the fun part.  Gerb has inset plastic eyes with silver-blue irises, and they move from side to side!  These are called "flirty eyes" in the doll community and they're not particularly common.  More often we see eyes that change position by virtue of some sort of mechanism, like Blythe's pull ring and Pullip's system of buttons and levers.  Older companies like Jumeau and Armand Marsaille also made dolls with flirting eyes, as did Wilde Imagination and Horsman.  Indeed, my old Horsman doll Sally has eyes that flirt, though I have to shake her in order to get them to work.  All I have to do to Gerb is tip her to one side or the other and her eyes will follow.  But unfortunately this flirting feature does have a drawback:  the eye mech doesn't have any levers or buttons or stuff of that stripe, so I have relatively little control over how her eyes can look.  Oh sure, I can tip her anyway I want, but that doesn't mean I'll get her eyes positioned perfectly.  As a result Gerb's eyes can look delightfully ridiculous at times, like so!

To be fair, so can Sally's.

So can the eyes of some of my other dolls, like Shirley Temple here.  Shirley's eyes don't even "flirt" like Sally's and Gerb's do.

Lordy, I can only imagine what a group picture of those three would look like!  LOL, before I move on, notice that Gerb has eyeshine just like my Pussycat does.

The rest of Gerb's face is typical of both a baby doll's and a Gerber baby's.  She's got a little pug nose and a wide open mouth.

I'm not a big fan of the paint used for Gerb's cheeks and mouth.  It's very...well, it's very bubble-gummy, too pink to look natural.  But that isn't what surprised me the most, oh nooooo.  Look deep inside Gerb's mouth:  it's possible to see a hole in there.

Gerb is another drink-and-wet baby, which shocks me because although Gerb's head is hard plastic, her body is cloth.

I don't usually do this, but here's the doll's...pee hole, I guess y'all could call it.  It's made out of brass and is apparently attached to Gerb's mouth through tubing.

I don't know about y'all, but this seems like a BAD IDEA, making a cloth-bodied doll a drink-and-wet doll.  Yeah, cloth will dry after awhile, but probably repeated soakings will make that stuffing discolor and mildew and start reeking.  Not to mention that brass boohole could corrode and make an even bigger mess.  Yeah...not sure what the designers were thinking there.  I've run into a great many drink-and-wet dolls in my time, and they were all either hard plastic or vinyl.

As I said above, Gerb's body is made out of cloth with vinyl head and limbs attached.  The body is similar in construction to Pussycat's and Anita's, but there is one big difference.  Pussycat and Anita are both soft enough to flex some; notice that Anita's hips can bend and she can sit properly.  Gerb is so firmly stuffed that she cannot sit.  I either have to prop her up like this...

...or lie her down like this.

Gerb's head and joints are made of hard plastic.  These parts are hollow and lightweight, but they don't feel cheap.  The plastic is smooth and pale, and it took to the molds fairly well.  Gerb's arms are plastic from finger to shoulder and are slightly bent at the elbow, with a few creases and fat rolls present.

Gerb's right hand is bent downward slightly, while her left hand is open with the thumb extended.  Her little knuckles and nails are not sharply defined, but they ARE there.

Gerb's legs and feet are molded in a similar way.  Her knees are bent with creases and dimples here and there.

and average-looking feet with nails and knuckles sculpted in.

The head is attached with a plastic cable tie...

...and the limbs are sewn on.  I'll bet that was tricky!

My Gerb leaves a little to be desired in the clothing department.  Tam's little baby came with a onesie, while my doll got a dress that doesn't cover her nether region.  It appears to be long enough in the above pictures, but I'm using camera tricks in most of those shots.

I'm unsure if this doll came with bloomers or a diaper or anything of that sort.  If not, she certainly should have, and if not, why on earth not???  I'll have to make a diaper, I guess; can't be that hard.  Anywho, the dress is pink with white polka dots.  It has a gathered skirt...

...puffed sleeves with elastic that has relaxed a little over the years...

...a HUGE white collar that likes to stick up...

...with a white ribbon sewn on the bodice (this doesn't match any part of the dress)...

.and a matching waistband that's got some stains on the back (this does match the collar on the dress).

Probably nothing that won't come out with a little TLC.  Anyway, the back of this dress opens all the way, and it closes with three tabs of old-style Velcro that is wearing out and not holding together like it should.  Also note the loose threads hanging off the hems; these were widespread in this dress.

Par for the course for a baby doll, though I have to admit that I prefer the onesie that Tam's doll wears.  My doll looks good in her dress, but she also looks a little goofy with her bottom half hanging out.  She definitely needs a diaper.

Alrighty, that's enough to think about.  Good and bad.

BAD
*Cloth-bodied doll with a drink-and-wet feature...really???  That's NOT a good idea.
*Eyes like to slip out of alignment
*Facepaint is a little too pink for my taste
*Dress appears to be of cheap construction and is showing signs of age
*Unusual size, so she can't share clothes with my other baby dolls

GOOD
*Wonderfully expressive face.  This doll is advertised as the Gerber baby, and she looks the part!
*No gaffes in the paint; as simple as this paint job is I'd hope not!
*Very sturdy; would make a great plaything for a small child
*Eyes are fun to play with, even if they are difficult to control
*Provides a nice contrast to other baby dolls, which can be a bit monotonous at times

 I mainly wanted this doll because I love the Gerber baby's original logo and because I wanted something that was done up in that likeness.  The Gerber logo has undergone a few redesigns over the years and quite frankly, I haven't liked any of them.  This world is full of cute babies, no question about that, but for me there will only be one Gerber baby.  Gerb isn't without her flaws, of course; she's simply painted in a color palette that looks unnatural, her dress has a ton of loose threads on the insides, and she doesn't compress into any cute positions like Pussycat does.  I also think the drink-and-wet feature is a bit of a waste on this doll since it can't be used unless one wants a sopping-wet doll that may mildew over time.  Not that I'm into playing "mother" with my dolls nowadays anyway; I won't be attempting any sort of feeding with this doll, but she does make a suitable plaything for an age bracket that DOES like to play "mother."  Just take my advice on this one, and don't feed Gerb if you have a doll like her!  Dress her, play with her, set her with your baby dolls, do what you like with her, but don't feed her!  That being said, this is a very cute doll, one that I desperately want to pair with a Galoob Baby Face doll.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987