Throwback Thursday review: Kenner Baby Won't Let Go

<whimpering>  I promise I'll never let go.  Ewwww, I hated that Titanic crap...the movie, not the disaster itself.  You have a perfectly good disaster flick, and then you go and make it into a stupid romance.  Isador and Ida Strauss were tragic and romantic enuff on their own without Cal, Rose, Jack, and Celine (shudder, Celine) "helping" them along.  Twister and Dante's Peak are how you do disaster movies, with the romance on the side and not the focus.  Point made, today's doll is 1977's Baby Won't Let Go, and because of her pink dress and the Titanic reference...I guess I'll call her "Rose."

LOL, I'll admit that flaxen-haired Rose Tyler may have influenced my choice of names a bit!  Rose has a gimmick that I touched on last week, and...I guess actually that I should've done this doll first, since Rose predates Elsie by about five years, give or take, and because I had her first.  The story of how Rose came to live with me is long and somewhat infuriating.  I ordered a Baby Won't Let Go doll from an eBay seller, then opened the shipper and saw...the Mattel logo.  That would've been okay, except that Baby Won't Let Go is a Kenner doll.  The doll I'd received was Baby Come Back, who IS a Mattel doll.  I contacted the seller about the snafu, was told I'd receive the doll I originally wanted...and then nothing ever came of it.  Thus why I now have Baby Come Back in my collection.  Baby Come Back is a cute little doll, but she's NOT what I bought!  And that is the saga of how both little dolls came to live at Casa del Luna.  

Alrighty, back on topic.  Rose came to live with me last summer and thus is a member of the Heat Wave Club, so get ready for some odd size comparisons!  Over the past year I've photographed her with Emily.

When Rose sits she and Emily are closer in height, and I must admit that they make a cute pair.  They both look like I held up a toy and made them giggle, the way photographers in the malls used to do.

When Rose's legs are extended she's close in height to Rita Cheryl, though different in overall measurements.

On the other hand, Sandy McCall can hold Rose in his lap, and Mar can in turn sit in Rose's lap.  As usual Mar doesn't look thrilled about that.  Please forgive the tear that I inflicted on Grandma's old couch, by the way; that 1970s upholstery is reaching the end of its useful life.

Rose can use Bedsie Beans as her own little toy.  Bedsie is agreeable to this as long as she's not too rough.

I was expecting Rose to dwarf Elmyra (Baby See 'n' Say), but to my surprise they're similar in size (but not in measurement).

Lastly, Rose is of a similar size to Geneva, though that's about all these two have in common besides blue eyes and blonde hair.  Rose is lightweight, and Geneva is weighted like...well, like the Real Baby that she is.

Point made!  Rose is a big baby, much bigger than the babies I usually have, though not as long-legged as Geneva.  Now...I'm not as enamored with Kenner dolls as I am with Ideal dolls, but most of the ones I find are cute and well-made, and as far as I can tell Rose is no exception.  She even came with her box, and it's in fairly good shape, enuff so that Rose lives here when I'm not playing with her.

I love this box art, by the way!  Doll boxes don't come like this anymore.  One side of the box shows how the little doll can (with a little help) manipulate the small toys that she comes with.

Finally, the top of the box.  This is what I SHOULD have seen when I opened the shipper that one time (instead I saw a yellow Mattel box).

That little kid screams seventies with her long, straight hair.  Before I started blogging about dolls I didn't think too much about the kids on these packages, but then Miss Emily made a note of it, and...well, monkey see, monkey do.  Anyway, Rose's hair is blonde like so many of the baby dolls and non-baby dolls that I own.  Baby Won't Let Go did come in a cute little African-American variety too, and truth be told I actually prefer her due to her yellow dress, but I couldn't find her on eBay.  So Rose is a little white doll with blonde hair.

It's this fine, almost mohair-like fiber that is hard to control and tends to have a mind of its own, kinda like a real baby's hair.  The rooting isn't great.  I don't know why, but this didn't surprise me much.  I remember Miss Emily saying that babies tend to be a little thin in the back, and indeed Rose is.  She's not as bad off as Carrie is, though.

Also, I probably shouldn't gripe about Rose being a blonde since I've got plenty of brunette babies and a few with no hair at all.  Like always I wish that a few of these babies would turn out to be redheads.  I don't know if anyone is ever born with red hair, but I personally know a young man whose hair turned red before he was three months old.  He graduated high school this past summer, and he's still got beautiful red hair...and I don't.  Nor does Rose.  But she does have her original hair bow.  Everything's better with a bow!  It's just a little piece of pink ribbon with rough edges, but it adds some character to Rose's hair.

Tangent time:  I don't remember if I ever told y'all this, but when my sister was freshly born the nurses put a little bow in her hair.  It was a teeny-weeny white bow with purple polka dots (ironically, my sister's favorite color is purple).  When Mama asked how the nurses got it to stick, the head nurse smiled and replied "We use a little dab of honey!"  That same nursery (and undoubtedly some of the same nurses) were too busy to put bows in the girls' hair on the night I was born.  Mama estimates that there were eighteen new ones in the nursery that night, and as a result the staff was positively jumping.  No bow for the Bow Belle that night, but it didn't matter because I didn't start wearing hair bows on a regular basis until I was...thirty-two, was it?  That's what I'll go with.

Right!  Now, Rose's face.  As I said way back in Little Honeymoon's post, she's generically cute.

Maybe it's just me, but I think she favors Elsie a bit.

Normally I'd chalk this up to them both being Mattel products...except that I keep forgetting that Rose is a Kenner doll.  Anyway, Rose's eyes are blue, hooded, and...a little vacant.  There's no painted detail whatsoever.  Her eyelids are shadowed, making her look a little ill.  Her eyebrows are the teeniest little things.

The lower half of Rose's face is all but devoid of paint, save for some peachy stuff on her lips and tongue that looks washed out in some pictures and too pink in others.  That's my own fault, not the fault of the paint.  

Rose looks pretty happy overall, but I saw an article...an article somewhere that accused Baby Won't Let Go of looking a little high or drunk.  Heck, I have joked myself about how this doll or that one looks drunk.  But on a baby it just looks...wrong.  And kinda comical.  I guess if I want to be like Tam's unsentimental niece I could call Rose "Pot Baby" or "Bud Baby."  Bud could refer to either weed or beer, for that matter.  Rose Bud, LOL.

Alrighty, let's get a look at Bud Baby's body.  She's got a nice healthy baby build, with maybe an oversized noggin.

For the most part Rose's body is made of hollow, lightweight plastic.  She doesn't feel cheap or overly fragile, but she's no Real Baby.  I've run into several dolls over the past few weeks that can't move their necks (Elsie can't), so it was a bit of a surprise to learn that Rose can turn her head.  Rose's neck is pretty stiff; I have to grab her head and really twist, but she can turn her head.  Elsie and Carrie and Geneva cannot.

She can move her arms too, up and down, but not out.

Rose's arms won't stay up without help, however.  I have to hold them up for them to stay up (notice my hand in the picture above).  That has something to do with her gimmick; notice that when I hold up her arm her fingers fold over like so.

The higher up her arm is, the tighter her fingers grasp, like so.

This enables her to hold onto my finger, hence the name "Baby Won't Let Go."  Rose's box says I can teach her to walk and this works...so-so.  She can dangle from my hands like the pictures on the box, but...mercy, this is hard for me to explain.  Y'all know how when babies are learning to walk they dangle from an adult's hands?  Rose's body isn't quite heavy enuff for this to work, not without some help (I have to push her head forward).  Just be forewarned if you ever consider adding a doll like Rose to your collection.  I doubt any of y'all would want her, LOL.  ANYWAY, Rose's legs are jointed as well, but they're too loose for her to stand unassisted.  She can sit and be placed in a standing/walking position, but interestingly she can't do splits.  Her hips won't move backwards at all.

The molding job is so-so; the front of Rose's torso has some fat pads at the chest (not as extreme as the ones Imani has) and a little bellybutton on her plump little belly.

On her back Rose has some scapulae visible, plus the molding that makes a doll's back and bootie recognizable. 

Rose is marked between her shoulder blades with Kenner's info.  I didn't know they were based in Cincinnati, so I guess it's time to do a little more research!

Since Rose's gimmick requires soft hands her arms are hard plastic from shoulder to wrist.  She has puffy-looking little elbows with a bit of bone structure visible. 

The back of Rose's left shoulder has a few dents in it, presumably artifacts left over from the molding process.  Inconsequential, but I thought I'd make note of it.

The hands themselves are soft and flexible like Elsie's hands are.  The vinyl feels thicker than the stuff used for Elsie, but it didn't take to the mold well.  Rose's hands have only a hint of knuckles or nails.

Now, legs, or as my toddler-self called them, "wegs."  Rose's legs are a little on the short side and are appropriately chubby with a few little fat rolls.  The feet are flat and the knees are slightly bent.

I love how one can see hints of a patella on this knee.  Not all dolly knees have that visible. 

Rose's feet are hard plastic and thus took to the mold well.  She's got cute little toes with a nail on each toe.

Since Rose is learning to walk I presume that she's at least eight months old, possibly older.  I mention this because when my pastor's daughter was very, very small she liked for her mommy to paint her toenails.  LOL, overall Rose feels pretty well-constructed, though I wouldn't throw her across the yard and test it.  Despite being lightweight she's a little awkward in my arms, partly because her legs are so loose in their sockets and partly because she IS lightweight.  I can't sit her in my lap and get her to hold still, for example; she slides around.  That's largely my own problem, though.  I just like holding my baby dolls on my lap.

Like Elsie and a great many of my baby dolls, Rose is simply dressed.  She is wearing naught but a blouse and a diaper.

However, the blouse has plenty of little details to make it look more elaborate.  For one, it's made of lace.

Since the blouse IS lace it feels delicate in my hands, but there is a panel on the chest that's made of a more robust fabric with a diamond texture.

The sleeves are gathered at the cuffs, and the elastic is still springy.  Unfortunately, getting these sleeves over Rose's big hands is a pain in the posterior due to said elastic and the gaps in her wrists.

The blouse ties in back at the neck.  I'm trying to remember the last doll I reviewed with a blouse that tied like this.  The tie is a nice, robust tie; sometimes garments like this tie with ribbons that don't age well, but this should be holding up.

The bottom of the blouse also fastens in back, and wouldn't y'all know, it's Velcro.  I guess that in this case Velcro is easier to deal with than a snap.  Snaps on a fabric this delicate would be a guarantee for holes and rips.

Roses diaper is made of the same diamond-print fabric as the yoke of her blouse.  This material feels surprisingly diaperish, LOL!  It feels thick and a tad papery.  The legs and waist are elasticized, and the elastic is once again holding up.

Okay, someone explain to me why I like Rose's getup better than Elsie's.  Elsie's onesie was perfectly adequate and appropriate for a baby doll, and yet I like Rose's blouse and diaper way better.  Go figure, I guess.  I'm just weird.  Anyway, some babies have accessories and some don't, with Rose being in the former category.  She's got a squeaky toy (left) and a rattle.

Both work very well; the squeaky toy squeaks and the rattle rattles.  I'm particularly surprised that the squeaky toy has held up so well, as rubber tends to...well, NOT age well.  But it's still pliable and it still squeaks.

Yes, that IS Rose herself holding her toy, and that is NOT mold on her fingertip, thank God.  She can hold both her toys, but only when her arms are up like I mentioned earlier.  This ability to semi-hold her toys brings Baby This 'n' That to mind.  Oh, and since Rose's arms are a bit stiff, she can also...well, she can throw her toys like a real baby.  Right after I took the picture above her arm flopped down again, and her squeaky toy flew over my shoulder.  She also popped me on the cheek before I got the photo session complete.

Well!  I had a lot of fun with this one!

BAD
*Looks kinda stoned, I guess.  Looks are kinda subjective, and Mama doesn't think Rose looks stoned at all.
*Hair is thin in places and has a mind of its own.
*Doesn't pose very well
*The gimmick can fall a little flat at times; Rose is not heavy enuff to dangle from my fingers without help.
*That blouse may be fragile if pulled too hard.  I haven't tried it.

GOOD
*Roses light heft is both a curse and a blessing.  I can picture a child of the seventies carrying her with ease.
*Gimmick works better than Elsie's did last week.  Both of Rose's hands squeeze.
*Can be redressed, though I don't know what size she takes yet.  Mama's helpin' me look, as always.
*I...well, I just like this doll, LOL!

I reiterate, I had fun with Bud Baby Rose!  As with many dolls of the sixties and seventies I suspect that her internal mechanism can break, so I'd advise against shoving her arms back too far.  I also advise care when undressing her, as the cuffs of her sleeves are tight.  Lastly, Rose's grasping mech does work well, but she has a hard time dangling from a little kid's fingers as advertised.  But...jeez, I don't know why Elsie fell kinda flat in my eyes and Rose hasn't, but I like Rose a lot better.  Maybe it's because Rose is bigger???  I do like big baby dolls, for reasons I've not yet established.  On the other hand, Elsie is cuddly and Rose is not.  So I don't know.  All I can really say is that if you like baby dolls, both Rose and Elsie are good additions.  I don't know that I'd recommend either as modern-day toys, though.  Rose in particular could break if treated roughly.

Killecrankie, I've gotten to where I hate throwing outros together as much as I do intros!  I always devolve into rambling!  I'm just going to say that I like Rose, I'm not really sure why (other than that she's cute), and be done with it.

Love,
RagingMoon1987