YouTube speaks: twenty-four "weird" dolls of the sixties and seventies

This one is another post inspired by YouTube; I'm always on YouTube, so I may make this a series.  Anyway, during one of my nightly YouTube benders I found this video about twenty-four dolls from the sixyies and seventies that might be considered odd, either back then or now.  I thought it was interesting and decided to issue my opinions, because my opinions are SOOOOOOO important!  The video can be found here, and spoilers:  some of 'em aren't that weird in my book.  Kinda like...

ROCK FLOWERS

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1971-1973

Rock Flowers were kinda Mattel's answer to Dawn, small dollhouse-sized dolls that wore bright, trendy-for-the-era clothes, bent their arms and legs, and danced on record players.  The dolls were music-themed and came with their own records, but otherwise they look pretty innocent to me.  The narrator wasn't a big fan of how their doll smelled, and the doll wouldn't sit up for tea parties either.  Legit gripes, both of those.  One of my "scented" dolls stunk up her whole box, and I HATE it when I want my dolls to sit up and they won't.  The narrator also critiqued the Rock Flowers' staring eyes, and I think that critique IS dumb because all dolls stare.  Smart Dolls, Mumpy Terri Lee, Cabbage Patch Kids, American Girls, Barbie, they all stare.  

WEIRD FACTOR:  2 out of 10.  I don't really find these weird at all, in fact.  They're dated a bit, yes, but then so are many dolls of this era.  My review on Heather can be seen here.

DUSTY/SKYE

COMPANY:  Kenner
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1974

Dusty and her friend Skye were sports-themed dolls, apparently designed to get girls active.  The duo could ski, play golf, and play tennis.  The narrator says that when their friend's Dusty did ski she made a "nails on a chalkboard" noise.  They also weren't in love with the dolls' faces...or their hair, or their clothes.  Dusty and Skye apparently had nice sets of joints, but those joints cracked louder than my knees do when I'm struggling to stand.  I wouldn't have liked that as a kid; when a doll's joint cracked too loud I was immediately afraid that I'd broken something.

WEIRD FACTOR:  6 out of 10.  I can only presume that Dusty and Skye were created to attract boys and tomboys...kids that don't usually play with dolls, period, even if the doll in question is sports-themed.  If my presumption is correct then the gimmick fell flat right out of the gate.  I personally also find the duo homely, and I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.  Tomboys aren't always plain of face, though they are often depicted as such.  Tam discusses Dusty here and Skye here.

JODY

COMPANY:  Ideal
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1975

Copper topped Jody, also called Jody the Country Girl, this doll represented country life in the Victorian era.  Kinda fitting, since Little House on the Prairie was big back then.  Once again, the narrator said their Jody smelled funny, had stiff hair, and stared.  She also could apparently look pretty menacing when wielding a pitchfork.  I personally love her period-accurate accessories,  though, especially her old-timey wall-mount telephone.  

WEIRD FACTOR:  3 out of 10.  Country living was kinda a thing in the seventies, and it still is to some extent today.  The only thing I don't really like about Jody is her skirt, which is impractically long for country life.  But then again, she does represent an era where skirts WERE that long.  Like the Rock Flowers, Jody is a hair dated, but that's all.  Tam also has featured this doll on her blog.

SMARTY PANTS

COMPANY:  Topper
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1971

This one is one I wasn't familiar with, and I'm already not in love with the name.  "Smarty pants" is usually thrown around in a derogatory manner.  I'd have liked the trivia factor, though.  Yes, Smarty asked trivia questions, and if you got it right she'd congratulate you.  The narrator called her "bossy" and stated that Smarty was not the most cuddly thing.  Worse, she asked multiplication questions, so that wouldn't have pleased me as a kid.  Multiplication was the bane of my existence when I was Smarty's target age.  Smarty also wore glasses that could throw light wrong, and she wasn't dressed very stylish like.  As a result, the narrator said she looked like a "mean teacher."  Oh, and guess where Smarty's batteries go???  Right up her butt!

WEIRD FACTOR:  5 out of 10.  She's cute, but who wants to be asked questions when they're trying to relax and play?  I don't, even if I do like trivia!  I had a laugh at the battery placement, though.

SWINGY

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1968

Our resident Paul Revere and the Raiders fan!  Swingy is a little go-go dancer, styled for the era, and I freaking love her.  The poor love is quite noisy when she moves, though, and apparently her hair would get caught in her joints too.  And guess what else?  The narrator reported that Swingy smelled funny.  Hell's bells, my mama's old Barbie smells funny too, kinda like crayons.  I think that was the norm for dolls of the era, because that's how plastic was and still is.

WEIRD FACTOR:  1 out of 10.  I don't find Swingy weird at all, but then I'm a bit biased because I like her.

CRISSY

COMPANY:  Ideal
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1969-1974

Ah, Crissy, of whom I'm very fond.  Crissy and company had hair that grew and could retract again, and if you were good with styling you could give her curls or updos or what-have-you.  Unfortunately, Narrator reports that in addition to feeling nasty right out of the package, their Crissy's hair would break and they'd be left holding shanks of hair.  Funny, I've not had that issue with my dolls' hair, but then I usually just braid it to avoid tangles.  I wonder if Narrator's doll was one of the first issue dolls; Crissy and Beth says that that hair was different from the hair of later dolls.  I've also gotta admit that pulling a doll's hair to make it grow sounds excruciating, but I can't think of any better way to get the hair out.  Hardcore readers of my blog will remember my main gripe with Crissy:  her eyes are ridiculously dark, darker even than the darkest American Girl eyes.  Mia, one of Velvet's friends, has the exact opposite effect; her eyes are a smidge bright.  And yet Mia is one of my favorites of the bunch due to her exuberant smile.

WEIRD FACTOR:  Mmmm...4 out of 10, mostly for the eyes.  Crissy's eyes are WAAAAY too dark.  I might bump the Look Around variants up to 6 out of 10, as the "look around" feature is kinda creepy.  Y'all can read my review of Crissy here; I also own two Velvets and a Cinnamon, and I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Tara.  Tam has a few of these dolls too; indeed, one of my Velvets belonged to her!  

THIRSTEE WALKER

COMPANY:  Horsman
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1964

Yes, that is a screenshot, LOL.  Several of these images are.  Thirstee Walker walked, drank, and cried, which is admittedly an unusual combo of gimmicks.  None of my walkers drink, for example.  The water proved problematic, as it sloshed around, leaked from the doll in various unusual places, smelled stale, and undoubtedly caused the doll to mildew.  I'd have kept water a million miles away from this gal.

WEIRD FACTOR:  6 out of 10.  She looks innocent enuff, but why make a doll drink when she can't pee it back out???

CHEERFUL TEARFUL

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1965

Cheerful's name says it all:  she could be happy or sad depending on how her arm was positioned.  She could cry real tears like Thirstee Walker, but she had a pee hole so the water wouldn't build up inside and get icky.  Like Dusty, Cheerful made a racket when her arm was moved, and sometimes she'd get stuck between happy and sad.  The smaller variant, Tiny Cheerful Tearful, had sunken eyes that attract dust, throw funny shadows, and make the doll look sick.  I'd know, because I own her!  My review of Tiny Cheerful Tearful can be found here, and if you watch the video, you may notice that one of the pictures of Tiny looks familiar. 

WEIRD FACTOR:  6 out of 10.  That shifting face is admittedly a little freaky.  Tiny Cheerful Tearful also looks a little ill with those hollow eyes.

BABY FIRST STEP

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1964

Another walker, though this young lady walks the same way Swingy dances:  by shuffling her feet and swinging her arms.  Like Swingy she's noisy when she walks, and the narrator claimed that this doll could spontaneously walk by herself.  Knowing mechanical items like I do, there's probably some truth to that.

WEIRD FACTOR:  1 out of 10, just like Swingy.  The two could be sisters, except that they don't look the same in the face.  Tam has discussed this doll on her blog.

CHATTY CATHY 

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1959-1965

Chatty Cathy?  MY Chatty Cathy, weird?  Well...if you ask my sister then she's worse than weird.  Most doll fans are at least vaguely familiar with this doll, either because they lived in the era, because they saw the GEICO commercial, or because they like The Twilight Zone.  As for weird...well, Cathy doesn't blink when she talks (most dolls don't), her mech made an ominous grinding sound when activated, and...yeah, I can see why some folks would be a bit weirded out by Chatty Cathy.  Nonetheless, to date she is Mattel's second most popular doll, behind only Barbie.

WEIRD FACTOR:  I'll give her a 5 out of 10.  I've gotta admit that it's freaky how she stares and talks without blinking.  To be fair, I don't like that about Amazing Maddie or my other talking dolls either.  Furthermore, I always thought it was odd that some of these dolls declared "I hurt myself!"  Another of my chatterboxes, Teenie Talk, says something similar, but she then asks me to kiss it, so it makes a bit more sense.  Big surprise, Tam also has a few of these, and two of 'em have pigtails.  I think the ones with pigtails are cute.

CHARMIN' CHATTY

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1963-1964

Chatty Cathy's sister of sorts, Charmin' relied on records to speak, and that right there is a smidge problematic.  Fans of old vinyls know how records can get scratched, and when that happens they skip or repeat.  This sometimes happened to Charmin' Chatty!  She also was a little goofy in the face, to the point that some folks think she's ugly (I think she's hilarious).  I will say that Charmin' isn't as quiz-kid as Smarty Pants is; one of her records has her making animal sounds, which kids love to do.  So Charmin' had a goofy side.

WEIRD FACTOR:  I'll give her a 4 out of 10, a little lower than Chatty Cathy.  She doesn't blink when she talks either, but as I said above few dolls can do that.  The skipping records are my main reason for her landing a 4.  Once again, please take a look at Tam's doll.  She's missing her glasses, but she's still cute.

TINY TEARS

COMPANY:  American Character
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1950-1965

One of the more well-known vintage dolls, Tiny Tears is a crier and could wet her diapers as well.  Narrator says that this doll's voice sounded too realistic at times (so do Cry Babies!) and that she'd go off at random sometimes.  If not properly dried her tears would gather dust and make the poor poppet look unwell.  Hmmm...I never had that problem with the handful of criers that I played with.  She apparently also reeked after being fed.

WEIRD FACTOR:  2 out of 10.  She's a crier, no worse than the Cry Babies of today, though as with Thirstee Walker I'd be concerned with mildew over time.  Thus why I keep water away from Ayla and Kathy Cry Baby, even though they were meant to have water inside them.  Tam has this one too, and hers is really cute.

BETSY WETSY

COMPANY:  Ideal
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1937-1983, give or take

Killecrankie, I had no idea that Betsy Wetsy had been around that long!  Narrator says that this doll retained water like Thirstee Walker (and probably Tiny Tears) did, and predictably that started to smell after awhile.  Her hair could also turn green from the chlorine in the water.  Interesting, I knew that could happen to polar bears, but apparently it can happen to dolls too!  Narrator didn't add that unlike Tiny Tears, Betsy's nose runs when she cries, adding another orifice to be cleaned. 

WEIRD FACTOR:  4 out of 10.  She's a crier like Tiny Tears, but the runny nose bumps the weird factor up a bit.  Yeah, we've all had a runny nose from time to time, but it's not a common feature on our dolls unless they're little sickies, which Betsy is not.

BABY ALIVE 

COMPANY:  Kenner
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1973-present day (sort of)

We're talking the original one here!  Baby Alive is still very much alive in the present day, but boy howdy, has she changed!  Y'all have seen my little trio, and they look nothing like the doll of the seventies.

The original Baby Alive ate more-or-less real baby food, and she could drink from her bottle as well.  Our narrator hero states that feeding the doll AND changing her diaper were jobs for a biohazard team, and her chewing and sucking mechanisms made ominous grinding noises.  Having seen the food, I have to agree that it doesn't look the most appetizing in the world, and I wouldn't want to change that diaper either.

WEIRD FACTOR:  6 out of 10 for a doll that eats colored sludge and calls it food.  Even Snackin' Sara's Play-Doh turdlets looked more like something a doll could eat.

FLATSIES

COMPANY:  Ideal
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1969-1973

Flatsies, Flatsies, they're flat and that's that!  I thought that these dolls were...well, flat, but it turns out that there's more to them than that.  Flatsies could apparently be inflated like little balloons, or little blow-up dolls, take your pick.  They didn't always inflate fully, and over time their air would leak out, which Narrator said was freaky because of the noise it made.  Hmmm...the Flatsies I'm familiar with don't inflate.  They just are...well, FLAT, with legs and arms that bend like Tutti and Todd dolls.  They live in picture frames and thus can double as a wall hanging, so that's something.  Score one for storage!

WEIRD FACTOR:  Ohhhhhh...5 out of 10.  They're cute, they're flexible, they've got rooted hair...and they're flat.  That's kinda strange, but not outrageously so.

BABY SECRET

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1965

Narrator's frequent comparisons of Baby Secret to a stupid spy didn't contribute to my enjoyment of this segment.  Baby Secret DOES whisper secrets, but they're innocent little messages that normally wouldn't give kids the all-overs.  Now granted, the whispering voice does freak me out a bit, and some of her phrases sound a mite R-rated to someone with a dirty mind (I admit it, LOL).  Baby Secret also has a mouth that moves, just like Teenie Talk and Baby See 'n' Say do.  Some find that disturbing, but I think it's cute.  The doll's eyes look ever so slightly pissed though, making Baby Secret look like she's about to whisper "Go jump off a cliff."

WEIRD FACTOR:  5 out of 10.  Talking dolls are nothing new, but the whisper sounds a mite sinister, and the doll looks like she might be a biter.  Kinda like Teenie Talk, the same one who asks me to kiss her finger.

I love Teenie, but I never have fully trusted her.  She looks like she'd like to bite a plug outta my arm.  Hmmm, I need to give that dress a bath.

SPORT AND SHAVE KEN

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1980

Ken had already had facial hair by the time this guy came around; Now Look Ken had fuzzy stickers that allowed him to wear a mustache, sideburns, or channel his inner Barry Gibb.  Whatever you wanted; I thought it was a riot, by the way, that Now Look Ken's commercial equated a mustache with a villain.  But we're talking about Sport and Shave Ken, whose beard came from this gommy black marker.  You drew on his face and then shaved it off with a razor that didn't actually cut anything.  Now, if you had a man in your life that wore a beard (like I did), then you knew that beards require a fair amount of maintenance, just like the hair on our heads, and you knew what razors were for.  So a Ken with a razor doesn't weird me out much, but the gloppy paint that made this particular doll's beard was kinda gross.  The narrator agreed.

WEIRD FACTOR:  4 out of 10.  The marker looked weird when it was in place.  Indeed, this is the only Ken I've seen with facial hair that looked better without.  Shaving Fun Ken looks amazing with a beard...drat it, I miss being able to take my dolls outside like Tam and Miss Emily do!!!  As an aside, Jenjoy notes that this Ken was the only one with his particular head mold.  Kinda cool!

SALLY SECRETS 

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1992-1994

Sally is a glitzy toddler doll from the nineties...wait a minute, I thought we were doing the seventies and earlier.  But as I've stated in the past Sally has a number of artsy little items that were trendy in the nineties, and she carries them on various parts of her body.  Her shoes and earrings hide little stamps, and stickers come out of...wait a minute, her body???  Yep.  I gotta admit that that's kinda weird.  Sally's sister/friend (I'm not sure which) Penni Secrets carries her stickers in her hair bow, which makes a tiny bit more sense.  I bet Penni's bow would be a heavy one though, and I know of old that heavy hair bows are extremely uncomfortable.

WEIRD FACTOR:  6 out of 10.  The child does have stickers coming out of her chest, after all.  I love this doll, though!

MY PRETTY BALLERINA 

COMPANY:  Tyco
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:

Also not an oldie, but she is highly similar to Dancerina and Dancerella, who ARE products of the Me Decade.  My Pretty Ballerina sometimes appears on lists of glitzy toddler dolls, and...I guess she could count as such.  Narrator states that this doll danced semi-on her own, and she'd continue to do so after her music stopped, which they found kinda disturbing.  I'll add in my two cents and say that the doll looks a smidge stoned.  Since she's a doll My Pretty Ballerina also looks robotic when she moves, but...well, she's a doll!  They don't move exactly like we do.

WEIRD FACTOR: 2 out of 10.  I think she's cool.

HUGO, MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES

COMPANY:
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:

Okay, now THIS one made me raise an eyebrow.  Hugo is actually a puppet and is geared towards little boys, and he has facial features that one can attach to make him look like someone/something else.  He's even got SCARS!!!  I love the concept, but Narrator says that it was hard to get the pieces on straight, and they left a sticky residue.  I wonder if that sticky stuff didn't wear off after awhile, and I know darn good and well that the sticky stuff gathered debris with time.  All sticky stuff does.  Narrator also notes that Hugo is weird-looking even without his extra features, with them big ol' eyes that stare.  

WEIRD FACTOR:  8 out of 10.  Hugo is a very interesting concept, but he's still pretty odd to look at.

BABY SOFT SOUNDS

COMPANY:  Fisher-Price
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1979

According to Narrator this doll recorded your voice, but the playback wasn't great.  She oddly could pick up on conversations while one thought she was off, and she also smelled like "old batteries," as the video put it.  Now the dolls that I've seen make no mention of an internal recording device, but they were out-of-box so I have no way of knowing for sure.

WEIRD FACTOR:  Mmmm...3 out of 10.  To me she's no weirder than Little Miss Echo.

BLESS YOU BABY TENDER LOVE 

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1975

Bless You Baby Tender Love.  She looks pretty innocent, if a little orange.  Bless You Baby Tender Love sneezes when her belly is squeezed, and because she takes a bottle her sneezes are realistically wet.  Narrator stated that they owned this doll, and in addition to sneezing the little doll sounds like she's wheezing too (which she does).  They felt bad for this doll because she was always sick and couldn't be made better.

WEIRD FACTOR:  7 out of 10.  Sick dolls are nothing new, but usually they show some other symptom besides the sneeze, and a lot of 'em alternate between periods of illness and periods of wellness.  Tam thinks this one is weird too, by the way, and...well, obviously I think she's kinda weird, or I wouldn't have given her a 7 out of 10!  I intend to review this doll eventually, but life keeps getting in the way.

GROWING UP SKIPPER

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1975

The infamous Growing Up Skipper, the doll who goes through puberty with a twist of her arm.  Skip and her friend Ginger were both in on it, and the backlash against these dolls was so great that Ginger never appeared again.  Anyway, Narrator notes that like several of these other dolls Skip smelled funny, and I think she clicked, and sometimes she'd get stuck between her short/child self and her tall/teenage self.  Poor child, sounds like she was the type who got tall and awkward as she grew.  I don't know which is worse, being chubby during the gawky stage or being tall with big klutzy feet.  I was chubby, my best friend got tall and gangly, and we both HATED it.

WEIRD FACTOR:  7 out of 10.  Puberty is a natural, normal part of life, but I'll admit that a doll that goes through it is kinda odd.  Oh, and by the way, My Scene revisited the growing up gimmick with the Growing Up Glam line.  I'd rank them the same, 7 out of 10 on the weird scale. 

TUB AND TOOT 

COMPANY:  Toys R Us
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2014

This doll is modern, not a seventies thing, but otherwise she belongs on this list.  Why???  Because she FARTS IN HER BATHTUB!!!  Let's be real, we've all farted in the bathtub at some point, and the racket it makes is hilarious.  But...is it really worth it to make a doll that does it?  I mean, this doll is completely innocent-looking, but press that button on her belly and...oh, not only does she make the noise, but she also apparently blows bubbles with her butt.  Sigh...I have no other words.

WEIRD FACTOR:  9 out of 10.  What the actual heck???  A farting doll???  Miss Emily discussed this one once, and she too was pretty weirded out.

I'm surprised that Saucy wasn't on the list!  Blythe isn't either, and she was so weird that peeps didn't buy her.  Neither of them are as weird as Hugo with his funny faces, and even he's not as weird as Tub and Toot, but still...I'd rank Saucy a 7 out of 10 and Blythe an 8 out of 10.  Keep in mind that I'm a big fan of both dolls.

Other good candidates for the list would've been Susie Sad-Eyes, Emerald the Enchanting Witch, Little Miss No-Name, and Joey Stivic, the last of whom was...don't quote me, but I think he was one of the first mass-produced anatomically correct boy dolls.  His commercial made a big deal of this aspect.  Furthermore, I don't think All In the Family was geared towards kids, not with the language Archie Bunker used!  I think All In the Family is a riot myself, but then I'm 37 and won't be confused or horrified by the situations on the show.  Thus I think the Joey Stivic doll probably was way over the heads of seventies kids.  Now, disclaimer: I mean no shade towards ANY of these dolls, not even Tub and Toot.  Indeed, Little Miss No-Name is very high on my wish list, and I own several of the others already.  But y'all gotta admit, they're not your average dolls.

What say y'all?  Do you know of any little weirdoes that belong on this list?

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

Invasion

Daleks?  Klingons?  Head lice?  No, Casa Pizarro is having an invasion of small dolls.  None of them are new; every time I visit Casa del Luna to see my animals I grab at least one of my dolls, and Sunday was no exception.  Well...maybe it was sort of an exception, because I grabbed seven small ones instead of one big one.  Some of these kids have gotten reviews (many moons ago) and some haven't.  For starters, here's my Moondreamers doll, Whimzee, my Bouncin' Baby, Tallulah, and Lime Chiffon and Orange Blossom. 

Orange Blossom is a family favorite.  Here's a better look at her face; she's got simplified features just like the original Strawberry Shortcake crew does.

I must confess that these Strawberry Shortcake dolls are addictive.  I'm patiently waiting for those jointed reboot dolls to make it to my neck of the woods; I think Blueberry Muffin would make a fine companion for Lime and Orange.

I also grabbed Suzy Cute's carrying case while I was out.  I knew that Suzy had Penny Brite in the case with her, but I'd forgotten that Tiny Cheerful Tearful was there too.

As always, Cheerful Tearful looks ill.

The way her eyes are molded and painted, looking ill is unavailable. 

Alrighty, I admit that I do have something new, though it's not a doll.  Treesa and I recently discussed my fondness for toys and dolls of the eighties, and coincidentally, I'm trying to add some touches of kidcore to my everyday style.  Just touches, crap like rings that look like Ring Pop on my fingers, and My Precious Puffs on my ponytail.  Recently I became acquainted with Furrever Friends, which are wearable toys like My Precious Puffs are.  They came in both plush and vinyl Clip 'n' Tail varieties and had tails that could be made longer with extensions that Velcroed on.  My Furrever Friend is a vinyl type with one extension, and I had hoped I could wear her as a choker.

Alas, the pink puddy tat is too short for my fat neck.  I probably could wrap her around my wrist a couple'a times, but I tossed her on Rita Cheryl instead and...kinda liked the results!

Since this Furrever Friend is pink she doesn't match Rita Cheryl's UFO-spangled ensemble, and Rita Cheryl isn't really a pink type anyway.  I had intended to let Doremi and River Song fight over it (big surprise, they don't like each other), but another doll claimed it before I could show it to them.

Baby Needs-A-Name, who else?  Two eighties toys in pink equals a surprisingly cute match.  I will admit that the cat might've matched Strawberry Shortcake, though.  Strawberry's pet was/is a pink cat named Custard.

For the record, I do have Parfait and Marmalade (Lime's and Orange's respective pets), but they would've required more digging than I'm willing to do at the moment.  I'm glad their pets have proper names, though; Lalaloopsy dolls named their pets simply "Owl" or "Butterfly."  Easy for a kid to remember, but lame for an adult collector. 

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Throwback Thursday review: Mattel Tiny Cheerful Tearful

Fare thee well, February and hello, March!!!  Maybe now the weather can hurry up and get warm...not that it's been that bad of a winter.  Indeed we've had more thunderstorms than we've had snow, but thank God, this February didn't end with a tornado like last February did.  The south is another story entirely, as they've already seen two bad outbreaks and another smaller one on top of that, so hopefully there won't be any more violent weather.  Oh yes, it's also Pi Day!  For you math buffs out there it's an occasion to make a lot of goofy jokes about decimals and that, but for me (an avowed hater of math) it's just an excuse to shove a Tastykake pie into my craw.

Now, presented for your perusal is one (1) Cheerful Tearful doll, made by Mattel.

Cheerful is one of those WTF dolls in a way, as she has a face that shifts expression...and I mean a SINGLE face that shifts, not two faces on one head like Kururi-chan did.  To do this she needed a soft vinyl face and some sort of mechanism to manipulate the vinyl, plus another mech deeper inside the doll to make the parts of the face move.  Cheerful was actually one of two dolls Mattel produced with this gimmick, with the other being the ever-so-slightly creepy Saucy, whom I'm dying to own.  No, I still haven't grown out of the phase where I love to bug the crap out of my sister, and what better way to do it than with a goofy doll like Saucy?  Saucy dates from 1972, the same year as Blythe (what was up with toy companies and weird dolls that year?), meaning that she's not as old as Cheerful Tearful, who dates from 1966.  Bloviating over, Cheerful is six and a half inches from head to toe, VERY close in size to Suzy Cute.  I also added Red, Rosie, and Hattie for kicks.

I ought to get a cradle for this crew to sit in.  They'd all look so cute together!  Indeed, it was an image on Facebook that inspired me to get Cheerful Tearful in the first place; this lady on one of the groups I'm in had posed her Suzy Cute and Cheerful Tearful dolls together in the crib she had for Suzy, which could only mean that the two were close in size.  Indeed they are, and I'm hoping that means that Suzy and Cheerful will be able to share clothes.  But like always, let's review this doll first.  Cheerful has a glorious head of baby blonde hair, just like Suzy does.

Since Cheerful's head is protected by a bonnet she didn't need a hair wash like Suzy did.  But like all babies' hair, this hair can have a mind of its own.  See how the fibers want to stick up?

The fibers are soft, fluffy, and a little rough to the touch like vintage hair will be.  Look how high her hairline is!!!

 Would that classify this hair as a bowl cut?  LOL, anyway, once I get past the high hairline the root job is pretty good.  Nice, evenly-spaced plugs of uniform size.  The hair doesn't fall or pull out easily.

As a final little similarity, Cheerful sports a side part, just like Suzy does.  Hers is on the right, while Suzy's is on the left.

However, Cheerful's hair isn't supposed to have a side part at all!  Her bangs apparently got squashed to one side at some point in her life.  This is evident when one looks at the top of Cheerful's head; notice that her part is actually...nonexistant!

Online images suggest that Cheerful's large and small incarnations both wore their hair in a Pebbles Flintstone-style topknot.  If that's the case then I may have to recreate that.

Now the face.  Cheerful isn't quite as cute as Suzy is (just my opinion), but she's got enough personality to hold her own.

Initially I thought that Cheerful's face was supposed to shift expressions with the turn of her arm, but mine doesn't do that.  I subsequently learned that the shifting face feature was only found...on the LARGER version of Cheerful Tearful.  My version is the "tiny" version, and her shifting expression is limited to her closing her mouth and opening it again.  This change can be activated by squeezing her tummy, though I suspect her eyes are supposed to squint more.

Glad I figured that out early on!  When I first turned Cheerful's arm and her face didn't move I thought I'd broken her, though I ought to have known something was amiss with my doll since she has no holes in her eyes to "cry."  The larger doll does.

Hmmm...I need to go over those eyes again; I cleaned them before starting the review, but obviously I didn't do the greatest job.  Anyway, Cheerful's eyes have the "Mattel look," as I like to call it.  The style of painting strongly resembles the painting style on my Liddle Kiddles' eyes, and an early Barbie's eyes too, for that matter.  Unfortunately one eyebrow is missing some paint.  Also...look at how these eyes are molded!  They're HOLLOW!!! 

My mother and one of our readers both think that Cheerful's eyes are a little on the creepy side, and...I have to agree, especially when viewed from below, as the picture above shows.  The way those hollows are painted...that's just bizarre.  WHY is a baby doll wearing eyeshadow, I ask y'all?  And if that's not eyeshadow, then why are poor Cheerful's eyes sunken in???  I think Mattel should've gone back to the drawing board with this one, at least with the paint job!  By contrast Cheerful's mouth is painted and blended naturally in soft shades of rose pink.

I just love that little tongue!  The interior of this mouth is shaped very well, though this is hard to show with the paltry equipment I've got.  Notice the hole in the back of the mouth, meant to accommodate a bottle, and the copious crud that my saliva-moistened Kleenex failed to remove.

Another drink-and-wet doll, and another example of a bottle mouth that has some personality!  Why I always want to compare every drink-and-wet doll I get to Blossom Flowerpot I'll never know, but...I do.  Maybe the better question would be why do I bother to KEEP that doll, since I never cuddle her or play with her like I do some of my others.  I'm just at a loss as to why MGA Entertainment made their cutest dolls LESS cute with a mere hole for a mouth.  I don't guess it matters much since Lalaloopsy dolls appear to be defunct, but it still makes me wonder what the design team was thinking when they designed those Lalaloopsy Babies.  They could've been super-cute, but instead they were kind of creepy.  But Cheerful...well, except for those sunken eyes she's not so creepy.  The soft vinyl of her face is also a magnet for dust and crud, and said crud is not always easy to remove.

Speaking of crud, check out Cheerful's ears.  They too are groady, but they're also quite realistic for doll ears.

Looks like it's just dirt, and if that's all it is then I can remove it with some rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip.

Being a baby doll, Cheerful has a baby body:  chubby, rounded, with bent limbs.  She feels pleasant to hold.

Hmmm, that's a long torso for a baby doll!  It doesn't have a lot of detail either, just a bellybutton, a buttcrack, and an indentation for the spine.  The arms are appropriately chubby and have little dimples molded into the elbows.

And of course she's got five little fingers with dimpled knuckles.  Her fingers are...a little clawlike!

LOL, witch baby!  Anyway, Cheerful is bow-legged like a great many baby dolls are, meaning she can't stand up.

She has chubby, short little feet with five toes and five toenails, plus some little fat rolls at the ankle.

The soles of her little feet have the prerequisite indentations and creases that feet should have, but the left foot also has this.

Every single Tiny Cheerful Tearful doll has a hole in her foot like this, and until I undressed my doll I had no idea why.  When I undressed Cheerful (TMI alert) I noticed that she does not have a hole in her bottom, and that's significant because Cheerful is supposed to be a drink-and-wet doll.  Thus I assume that the water is supposed to come out of this hole in her foot for reasons I'll never know.  It may have had something to do with the mechanism in her torso...but if there's a mech there then why bother with the drink-and-wet feature at all???  I really thought I'd seen everything, but a doll that pees through her left foot is truly a new one for me.  Don't quote me on this, by the way; I have no way to feed my Cheerful Tearful doll, so I can't tell for sure if this is how she "pees."  This hole has to serve some purpose though, as all of these dolls have one.

Cheerful has rotational motion in her arms and legs and thus can strike basic baby poses, but her neck is glued into place.  Most likely this was to keep her head properly aligned with the mechanism that helps her expression shift.

Clothes now!  Being a baby, Cheerful is simply dressed, but...is it possible to be both simply dressed and elaborately dressed at the same time?  Because that's the only way I can describe this little outfit.

Start from the top, I guess.  Here's the bonnet.

Bonnets are not items that we commonly see babies wearing nowadays, and yet plenty of my baby dolls have 'em.  This material looks vaguely familiar.

A similar print was used on the vintage Barbie getup "Travel Togethers."  Similar, mind y'all, but not the same, as "Travel Togethers" was red on a yellow background.  That would've been a cute material for baby doll clothes though, as would the material that this bonnet is made of...more on that in a minute.  First let's look at the trim.  Cheerful's bonnet is trimmed with a row of white lace and a red ribbed ribbon.

The ribbon extends into two little ties, with one side being longer than the other.  This uneven length is intentional.  My ribbons need a little pressing and the ends could do with a trim, but otherwise they're in good shape.

Now, about that flowered material.  When I went grubbing around online for info on Cheerful's clothes, I dug up a picture that shows the doll in a full outfit that matches the bonnet.  In addition to the flowered bonnet the doll is wearing a flowered dress and matching booties.  I saw that and thought "BUMMER, that little outfit is cute!!!"  Where to find the rest of the pieces, now???

Not that it matters, really.  Cheerful has this pretty little dress to wear.

Not a thing about it matches that bonnet, but I can live with that.  The bodice is simply decorated with this tiny little bow.

The armholes are trimmed with...oh crap, I have no idea what fabric this is, but it's delicate and has a few loose threads here and there.  It's hemmed with pink thread.

The hem of the outer panel of fabric is trimmed in more of this stuff.

The outer panel is gauzy and has little yellow flowers printed on it.  It feels fragile but has no tears or holes anywhere.  The inner panel is opaque and...oh, this feels like cotton or some fabric of that stripe.

The interior looks nice except for a few wrinkles.  The dress is tagged, but all the tag says is "Made in Hong Kong."  Back in the sixties Mattel dresses often had the doll's name printed on the tag, so that's another clue that this dress is not original to Cheerful.

Interestingly, the back of this dress has no fasteners.  No snaps, no ties, no hooks and eyes, nothing.

Lastly, Cheerful wears...panties???  Yep, little panties that are made of the same fabric as the dress.  The legs are even trimmed with the same lacy stuff.

That's a cute little outfit, very well made and standing up to the test of time.  It fits Cheerful like it was made for her.  I just wish I had the rest of the pieces that go with that bonnet!!!  I'll have to keep my eyes peeled, I guess.  But then again...THIS image implies that Cheerful's flowered dress is indeed original.  I did a little more browsing and discovered that the flowered getup is indeed the extra outfit, while the pink set that my doll has is original.  Now to find the rest of that flowered set!

As I mentioned above, the closest doll I have in size to Cheerful is Suzy Cute, and having looked at these two side by side I now have my doubts about clothes sharing.  Suzy has a wider torso, slimmer limbs, and a bigger head than Cheerful.

Still, I don't suppose it can hurt to try.  And...

Hot dog, it works!!!  Since Cheerful's dress doesn't fasten in the back I didn't have to worry about trying to fasten snaps or anything like that.  The armholes are a little snug around Suzy's shoulders, but not so much that seams are stressed.  The bonnet doesn't fit perfectly, but it's close enough to suit me.  As for Cheerful, Suzy's duck dress is a little big, but not terribly so.  I think that clothes sharing is possible here as long as none of Cheerful's outfits fasten with snaps...but as far as I know there were no outfits made for the smaller Cheerful Tearful.  There might be some aftermarket stuff running around out there, but nothing else.  No trouble though, since Suzy's got enough dresses to go around.  And by the way:  this eBay image has Cheerful wearing Suzy's duck dress too.  LOL, does everyone love that duck dress???

Normally with a baby doll like this I'd just sum it up by saying "This is a cute doll, good for people who like small dolls and vintage toys," but in Cheerful's case she's got a couple of areas that are worth noting.  So I'm going to do my usual good stuff/bad stuff thing.

BAD
*Oh good grief, those eyes!!!  They're cute most of the time, but from the wrong angle they're downright unsettling!
*Vinyl face is a little too soft.  I know why it's soft, but it catches lint and dirt like mad, and it apparently can damage easily, as this poor poppet reveals.
*Pee hole in the foot???  As I said above, that's a new one!!!
*I suspect that my particular doll's gimmick may be partly broken since her eyes don't squint much, but that's not the doll's fault...nor is it mine, for a change!

GOOD
*Hair is nice.  Not all vintage doll hair is, but this hair is.
*Super-cute.  This is another doll that combines the drink-and-wet feature with an expressive face.
*Clothes are very well made.
*Easy to play with.  This doll fits easily into my hand, and I can thus picture many a sixties child toting this doll around.
*Sturdy for the most part, but keep sharp items away from that vinyl face.
*Can share clothes with some other small baby dolls, a good thing considering Suzy Cute's extensive wardrobe.
*Did I mention that Cheerful fits into Suzy Cute's carrying case???  No?  Well, she does.  She fits in there with Suzy and with Penny Brite.  That would've come in handy big time back in the day, and for that matter, it still does!

I don't like Cheerful Tearful quite as much as I do Suzy Cute, but I like her a lot just the same.  Suzy's bright, focused eyes eke Cheerful's slightly tripped out gaze just a teensy bit, but the rest of her faults I can overlook.  That said, I'm happy to add Cheerful to my collection of small babies, if for no other reason to diversify it a bit.  I've got a representative from Ashton-Drake, Armand Marseille, Deluxe Reading, and...I'm not sure who made Rosie, but now I've got a Mattel baby to add to the mix.  Cheerful Tearful is definitely a doll to be considered for the die-hard Mattel fan.  Now, if I could just find the rest of that cute flowered set!

Happy Pi Day,
RagingMoon1987