Not Your Ordinary Easter Bonnet and Passover Chatchkas

The current issue of FDQ has a piece I wrote on Cisca Durieux's handmade hats. You will enjoy the pictures and story.  I also recommend buying the magazine as this issue is very interesting and has lots of eye candy. There is a broad range of dolls written about and photographed by a terrific assortment of writers. 
These are some of the hats being featured.

PETA's on the way.

The next picture is a cute one that I put together several years ago when I found that I had loads of red and black accessories. Hats are mostly Fashion Royalty with a La Boutique, a Mattel and a Tonner.

Then there's always the tiniest hat.

Definitely not an Easter Bonnet

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There's no way to compare Passover to the overwhelming pastel-ness of Easter and the supplies available.  I love Peeps and I love the colors in the supermarket aisle prior to Easter. The foil wrapped eggs, crinkly grass, giant chocolate rabbits, baskets filled with Easter joy...hippity, hoppity...and all that. It's quite the distraction from the origin of the celebration.

For Passover one sees paper covered shelves in the markets, sliced fruit jellies, matzo meal or potato flour based pastries (blech) and mountains of matzoh boxes. 


Here are three items being offered by Amazon.Com. This item comes up in 90% of the results of a Google search for Passover dolls.  This is a doll?

The Dancing MATZAHMAN

 I do like the bag of frogs , the Ten Plague finger puppets and the plague masks.  That's irreverent and funny. I'm picturing a photo shoot right now with frogs overrunning a group of dolls.

My favorite of all is the Passover bag of ten plagues. I wonder if these can be considered Jewish VooDoo dolls.
You can even get your plagues in a reusable mesh bag! Yay.

An essential Passover toy with which you can display Matzah Man is the Deluxe Soft Seder Set. It contains all your Passover needs. Visit friends. Travel. Have plush seders year round.

Contains: plush kiddush cup, 3 matzahs, ke'arah (passover plate), zro'ah (shank), beitzah (egg), karpas (vegetable), charoset (mixture of crushed fruit represented here as an apple), maror (bitter herb), and chazeret (another bitter herb represented here as lettuce) all in a handy plastic carrying case.

 Don't make me call you chametz.

Not Doll Related: A Passover Reflection on Middle Eastern Freedom

Shimmering Touch Cissy AA on Sale

It's rare to see a NRFB Cissy go on sale for less than $199. Today the Doll Market is offering their last Shimmering Touch Cissy AA doll for $179.97. She's an LE of 150 and they have only one.

Just for fun, do a search of the web and see the wildly varied prices for this one doll.  The Doll Market is the low price. Katherine's Cottage is one of the highest at $399.99.

Remember, Cissy dolls usually carry a higher shipping price.

There is one one on eBay right now for $199.95 with free shipping.  That's a great deal, too.

Tonner Convention in One Month

It's one month away and there are only 6 spots left.  Click on the logo above to go to the information page for the Tonner convention.

Accidental Shopping? The Tin Man and Heart on My Sleeve

A few weeks ago, another collector and I made plans to have a dolly day at my house. That day was Saturday. She had never been to the Tonner store which is only 11 miles from me. Coincidentally, they were having a tent sale at the store. Seriously. It wasn't planned at all. So what were we supposed to do? Not go? Not shop? Get real.

Under the tent were the 50% off items. There was some of everything. We didn't get there until about noon. We heard that the line had been long prior to the opening and it was crowded. When we arrived, it was fairly empty but there was a ton of merchandise.  I was good; I left some stuff there and only purchased three dolls and three fashions.
One of the three dolls I purchased was a re-imagined Tin Man character called "Heart on My Sleeve." When I originally saw the Ladies of Oz, I thought they were so creative.

Tonner Image

My favorite was The Tin Man but I didn't love the ultra-white skin. Guess what? The production doll has plain ordinary Caucasian skin color.  Yay.  I did not see any of the others at the sale. Inside the store was a long, long table area piled high with bagged dolls that were more than 50% off. That's where I found her.

Reminder:  You can click on the small pictures to see them full sized.

The costume is adorable. Look at these boots.

The platform is clear acrylic. They zip up the back. I love them!
 Even so, I'm looking forward to redressing her. She has a gorgeous face (Duchess sculpt) and beautiful red/orange hair. The body type is Antoinette.

She has my heart!

Lest anyone say that my posts are too short...here are more Tin Man dolls.
My favorite is this 8 inch one from Madame Alexander. So cute!

 Can you identify the rest?

It's Your Turn to Walk the Dog & The Good Ones are Married or Gay

My good friend Ed loaned me his Billy dolls to play with. I'm just getting started.

Left, Carlos Leather Man. Right, Billy Brunette Cop.  Billy Gay Dolls by Totem


About Billy Dolls

It's  your turn to walk the dog, dear.

The good ones are either married or gay.

Madame Alexander Does Tony Curtis in Drag

Tony Curtis as Joe AKA Shell Oil Junior by Madame Alexander
21 Inch Tall fully articulated Mr. Alexander Doll
Retail $749.95

Madame Alexander boldly goes where Mattel fears to tread. In this case it's not a male figure wearing a patterned sport jacket and pink shirt,

Sugar's Daddy Ken Mattel Image

 it's a dressed male figure who can be transformed into a woman:

MA Promotional Photos

As for his second look, the one where he dresses like a woman... all the components for his transformation are contained in his black suitcase that has a pink handle and Some Like It Hot logo.

MA Promotional Photo

 Included are: a short sleeved, black georgette 'flapper' dress that's trimmed with black sequin insets, black fringe at the hips and hem and a beige net inset at the neck. Black stretch mesh, elbow length, fingerless mitts, black thigh-high stockings, an auburn bob wig that features bangs and fits over the pompadour and a black velveteen headband trimmed with silver beads and a rhinestone star applique. In addition, Joe comes with black rimmed glasses, silver and rhinestone earrings, a silver and rhinestone choker with front looped detailing and of course, a gold saxophone.

In the 1959 Oscar winning movie, Some Like It Hot, Tony Curtis plays Joe and Josephine. The movie's background information is very interesting and lends importance to the fact that the MA company is forward-thinking in producing this doll. Remember, they produce many dolls for young children.

 It was released at the end of the repressive 1950s at a time when the studio system was weakening, the advent of television was threatening, and during a time of the declining influence of the Production Code and its censorship restrictions. Director-producer Wilder challenged the system with this gender-bending and risqué comedy, filled with sly and witty sexual innuendo (the "sweet" and "fuzzy end of the lollipop" represented oral sex), unembarrassed vulgarity, free love, spoofs of sexual stereotypes (bisexuality, transvestism, androgyny, homosexuality, transsexuality, lesbianism, and impotence), sexy costuming for the well-endowed, bosomy Marilyn Monroe, an outrageous and steamy seduction scene aboard a yacht, and a mix of serious themes including abuse, alcoholism, unemployment, and murder, among others. 

Marilyn Monroe As Sugar Kane Kowalczyk 
21 Inch Tall Fully Articulated Cissy
Retail $499.95

MA Promotional Photo

This is the character Monroe played in the same movie. What an outfit! If you have never seen MA Cissy outfits in person, you are missing a treat. Here is the description of this fashion:

She's wearing a smokin' hot 20's dress of off-white crinkle chiffon which dips to the waist in back. The nude mesh bodice of the sexy dress is enhanced with embroidered beads, sequins and metallic silver lace while the body of the dress is rich with metallic silver 'cracked ice' and silver bugle beads. A metallic silver applique on the left shoulder features strands of silver bugle beads that hang off the front and back of the shoulder. Off-white stretch lace panties, a luxurious, white 'fur' stole lined in white satin, a silver bracelet, silver and rhinestone earrings and, white satin pumps, with a silver metallic mesh overlay plus silver beads, completes the hot look for Sugar who comes with a ukulele.

Lots of collectors that I know just can't get past the baby-faced Cissy look. I was one of those. But after a few years of looking at pictures, I relented and got my first.  I have five Cissy dolls now. They can be very pricey and they take up lots of vertical space. If there is room in your collection for just one big doll, you might consider a Cissy. 

As with many dolls, prices can vary wildly, even on new issues or pre-orders. Do your research and happy hunting.