Two old dollies get a new home

One of our favorite patrons at the library is a lady we'll call Ms. N.  Ms. N is Mama's age and has the same issues with sciatic pain, and she was gone from the library for quite a stretch due to corrective surgery.  After a month or so of no contact I reached out to her and we had a lovely conversation.  I don't remember how, but my dolls came up, and she told me of two childhood friends she had...and how no one in her family liked dolls.  "I'd hate for them to be thrown away," she said.  Heartstrings properly pulled, I volunteered to take the dolls since they're old and there are only two of them.  Ms. N said that when she finally did make it back to the library she'd give them to me...and that time has come.  The tall doll is a Revlon-type grocery store doll, and the baby doll is a Tiny Tears or Betsy Wetsy-type doll.

The baby doll is a little worse for wear, being a toy, but I'll just wrap that hand up until I can send her to be repaired.

Hopefully they can repair these eyes too, because I don't know how to fix foggy doll eyes.  As to this doll's name...she has no markings, none at all, so I'm at a complete loss as to her identity.  She looks like a Sun Rubber doll, and oh, would it be lovely if she were!  I freaking love Sun Rubber dolls.  But the Sun Rubber Company marked most of their dolls, on their backs, necks, or feet, and as I said above this baby has no markings.  But speaking of feet, she does have distinctive feet, with five separate little toes.

Some So Wee Sunbabe dolls have feet like this too, so maybe my doll is a So Wee clone.  Based on that I could call my poppet "Sunflower" or something like that, and make her a sunflower dress.  For the record though, Sunbabe is ten inches long and Sunflower is thirteen.  Good thing her dress is holding up.  It needs a laundering, but that's all.

Unfortunately in her current state Sunflower has a face that only a mother could love.  Her eyes are badly fogged, making her look possessed.

As I said above, I haven't a clue how to fix doll eyes when they're like this, and eyes are so important to a doll's aesthetics!  If not for this then Sunflower would be adorable. 

As an aside, while I was researching Tiny Tears I stumbled across an interesting tale called "Why I Hate My Tiny Tears Doll."  It's not as heartless as it sounds; a young woman was asked to think of an object she loved and then write about why she hated it.  The woman did just that and...well, the article ends on a deeply sad note.  Just read it and you'll see what I mean.  Sunflower ISN'T Tiny Tears, but I'm including that anecdote anyway.

As for the Revlon-type doll...oh, how I love Revlon and Revlon-style dolls!  I have three little ones (Wendy, Belle, and Suzette), but Brigitte here is a big one, much bigger than the Revlon dolls I'm familiar with.  The largest Revlons I've seen have been a little taller than an American Girl, like River Song, while most of the Revlons I've met in the wild are close to a small Paola Reina, like Mar.

The Revlon dolls were popular enuff that other doll companies made imitations, many of whom are just as good as the honest-to-God Revlons.  Uneeda's Suzette is one example, and some of the Circle P dolls are good too.  Belle, my Circle P doll, isn't a great example because she only has a neck joint, but others do have joints.  Brigitte is a grocery store doll, and what her name once was, I don't know...yes, I do!  She matches the last doll on this page, Lovable Louise, meaning that she'd have to be by Deluxe Reading.  The hair is the same.  

So "Brigitte" is actually Lovable Louise!  Tam has a similar doll, and guess what???  I helped identify her, so I apparently have seen these dolls before...and as I often do, I forgot all about it.  Tam's doll has straight hair like Lovable Linda, but otherwise she and Louise are pretty much the same.  My Louise has cloudy eyes like Tiny Tears does, and her dress, while original, is in sad condition.  It looks okay here...

...but here's what the left sleeve looks like. 

I was able to find one (count 'em, ONE) dress on Etsy.  The seller is based here in Missouri, so it should be here before too long.

Before wrapping it up, here's Louise's face.

Louise has cloudy eyes just like Sunflower does, and she's nowhere near as happy.  Indeed, at times she looks like she might burst into tears, like she does here.

I guess when you live with the same human for seventy years, saying goodbye can hurt.  Louise stuck close to Candela Laura last night; Candela is a Cabbie of few words, but she listens well and gives great hugs.

Ms. N acted a little sad to see her girls go too, but she was also glad that I was able and willing to take them in.  We joked about me not having a lot of room for my admittedly too large collection.  "They can take the bed and you can take the couch," Ms. N teased, but I didn't have to resort to that.  Sheesh, couldn't sleep on the couch even if I wanted too, because it's too narrow.  Now to learn a fix for foggy doll eyes, if there is one.

Oh, as a last little haw-haw, my friend from Newfoundland saw the picture above and googled Lovable Louise...and look at the first result she got!

A blow-up doll!

Happy days,
RagingMoon1987