Tonner's 22 Inch Scarlett's Wedding Day Ready to Pre-Order

A new Gone With The Wind Scarlett is being previewed by the Tonner Doll Company.   She is a 22" "Scarlett's Wedding Day." The gown looks lovely— it had better be because the retail price of this beauty is $399.99.

22" Scarlett's Wedding Day LE300

Beautiful and delicate details.

According to the description this doll has a "new Vivien Leigh portrait sculpt."  Hmmmm. She has a pretty face but I don't see the resemblance to Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara at all.

22" Scarlett's Wedding Day

16" Scarlett's Wedding Day

All photos except the last three are the property of the Tonner Doll Company.  The other three are owned by MGM.

DID YOU KNOW?

Despite the fact it's been 72 years since Scarlett O'Hara first pulled down a green curtain to make herself a dress in "Gone With the Wind," that outfit has remained one of the most iconic looks in cinematic history. It's going to stay that way for many more years, too, as that dress and the burgundy ball gown from the 1939 film have been restored by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.The Center has been part of a $30,000 conservation effort to protect the two costumes from deteriorating. Now both of the dresses, which were famously worn by Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind," are on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. This is the first time the public has been able to see them in nearly 30 years.After first being announced in 2010, the team at the Ransom Center set to work on making sure that the weak stitching and other problems with the dresses were repaired. The goal of the conservation was to make the costumes last, not return them to new conditions, so there still are stains and other imperfections. Other pieces, like Scarlett's wedding dress and veil and her blue velvet night gown, were too fragile to be repaired and are being returned to storage with no plans to work on them in the future."All of those areas would have gotten worse. All the vulnerable parts have been stabilized," Jill Morena, the Ransom Center's assistant curator for costumes and personal effects, tells the Associated Press. "It has been a success. We would not be able to display them without this effort."The Harry Ransom Center first acquired the outfits in the 1980s. Following their time at the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibit, which runs through Jan. 27, the two "Gone With the Wind" dresses will be shown at the Center's 75th anniversary celebration of the film in 2014.

By Terri Schwartz  October 25, 2012 4:46 PM ET

(No relation :-))

Tiny Kitty To Make A Comeback

I forgot to mention that Robert Tonner announced the return of Tiny Kitty at the IDEX breakfast last week. They showed the line but it was a slide show so I didn't get to see enough. I thought the dolls looked more like Simone Rouge than Tiny Kitty. Simone is less innocent looking.
The bodies will be the same...boo hoo. I would have liked if they could sit without their knees spreading apart. In any event, I am pleased that there will be some new Tiny Kitty dolls to join my collection.

This is a really old photo. My first Tyler and possibly one of my first Tiny Kitty dolls.

One of my favorites, "Little Miss Kitty."

I love the blonde TKs.

Wearing a Poppy Parker outfit. Seated on her own bed.

Tiny Kitty loves to wear Fashion Royalty clothes! The shoes do not fit (the boots do) and the bust is a different proportion but many of the multi-piece outfits from the 2nd generation FR work well.

Tiny Kitty and Simone Rouge share the same body. They can also wear modern 10" Cissette fashions.

This is a picture of Simone wearing a Madame Alexander Cissette (or Coquette) fashion.

My girls get along with each other. The big ones look after the small ones. Antoinette and Simone.

Phoenix Wears Tonner Designed Fashion

Phoenix is quite photogenic. She is pretty and her resin glows.
More good news, she can wear most Tyler sized fashions and shoes.
The wig she is wearing in these shots is a fantasy style of mixed platinum, opalescent, pink and a slight metallic. It was made by Fetique Clinique.

The fashion is by Robert Tonner and is called Florentine. It was a 2002 dressed doll and is one of my favorite Tonner fashions-ever.

Emilia Wins Award for Mirrorball at IDEX

In the category of One-of-a-Kind Dolls, More than $1,250., Emilia Nieminen has won first place.

Congratulations!

Phoenix Gene Photo Shoot

Today I photographed Gene in her own fashion but I used other wigs. The first two wigs are Sybarite sized hardcap wigs. The third wig is a hardcap Avantguard sized wig. The last wig is a Jamieshow wig that came with another Jamieshow doll.

Cheryl Wood made wigs 1 through 3. Gold chair is by Clea Bella made for Sandra's Nashville event. Director chair is an Ashton Drake for Gene Marshall prop. The cigarette holder is from the Jamieshow event in Canandaigua.

Heading Back to PA from IDEX 2013

I have a little time this morning before having to leave for the airport so I wanted to talk a little about the new Gene doll and post a few pictures.
Phoenix is a pretty doll who comes with two wigs caps and a plain cap for use with your own wigs. She comes with a set of white gloved hands and standard hands. They are easy to switch out once you get the hang of it.
Monday night Sandra Stillwell came over and we spent about 4 hours dressing and redressing Phoenix and an IT Madra in Sandra's designs from her last convention. My rudimentary photo studio consisted of an ironing board, a few dim lamps and a good camera with a small external flash unit attached. Certainly not optimal conditions but we made do.

Yes, the IT dolls were taller. Even blocking out Madra's hair, you can see that the legs or torso contribute to the height. Phoenix is closer to the old AD height. Every other part of the body appears to be the same size.
Here she is with her brunette wig cap.

Phoenix dressed in her own gown without her jewelry and train.

Phoenix dressed in one of Sandra's lovely fashions.

These are just teasers. I will have more pictures of the doll herself later on.

Here are pictures from Saturday, the day of the presentation. The room itself was very dark so there is only one picture from there. Most of these are from the hall outside the venue and from nearby.

Mel went around like a proud Papa showing Gene to attendees. He was glowing with pride and joy.
During his verbal presentation he talked about how much he enjoyed the collectors over the years, sharing with them and traveling around the country to events. Sounds like he wants to pick that up again.
There are a handful of naysayers complaining about the price which was $525. at the event and $550. on line. But there were many more who defended the price of this exclusive resin convention doll as being similar to other resin BJD event dolls.
Apparently there is a market in this price range for resin BJD Gene because Phoenix Gene sold out lightning fast. Another one is on the way from FDQ according to the magazine distributed to attendees by Pat Henry.  More information on that doll will be forthcoming. What we do know is that she will be in day wear a la Dior.
This revival will be very interesting to watch. I'm looking forward to any individual fashions that may be designed and released. No, I do not have insider information on that aspect - I'm just hoping.

In the meanwhile, Sandra Stillwell has some beautiful, era appropriate designer fashions for sale on her website. I photographed many of them for her on Monday and will be sending her the images shortly so she can post them on her site. I'll post some of them on my blog, too.

Robert Tonner

John Dean, Philip Myers