2 UNCLE items for sale

I know this is tacky to mention this, but I have had two Man from UNCLE items for sale for a while, and I wondered if people would be looking for David McCallum merchandise.  This is the listing on etsy.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/989278790/2-man-from-uncle-publications-book-and?click_key=ac902d98f69c7360f825a7ab6c986a12c897abeb%3A989278790&click_sum=bbaa0d94&ref=shop_home_active_113&sts=1

Nothing to do with Barbie dolls....

 I hope I am not the only one who, when reading an article on the Internet that uses the term "TikTok influencer," immediately stops reading and goes on to find another article that is more interesting.

1969 Talking dolls had great variation

There were seven Talking dolls sold in 1969:  Barbie, Ken, Christie, Brad, Stacey, PJ and Truly Scrumptious (Sally Anne Howe).  I will write about Ken in a future article.  I own three 1969 Talking Barbies, one additional Barbie head and one Talking Stacey, so the article will focus on them.

I don't know if this is true of all of this year's dolls, but my 1969 Talkers have much more hair than their 1968 counterparts.  Note that Barbie's ponytail is always on the right while Stacey's is always on the left.  The bodies were made in Mexico.  The dolls of earlier in the year had heads from Japan and wore the 1968 pink sleeveless sweater and pink plastic panties.  The dolls later in the year wore an orange bikini and a lacy coverup, and their heads were from Hong Kong.

The dolls' backs had 29 holes.  I am assuming it was a cost-cutting measure in eliminating the process to make more holes.

Yes, I had to wrap sealing tape around one doll's hips to make her legs stay on.

Three holes were eliminated in the back for the girl talkers.

Talking Stacey dolls seem to be sturdier than Talking Barbie,
as I have not yet seen a Stacey in pieces.

Banana yellow was the "in" color in Willows in 1969.
The outfits are, from left to right, (unnumbered) Smasheroo,
 1484 Yellow Mellow with the 1864 Close Ups half slip peaking underneath the skirt,
1477 Hurray for Leather, and 1862 Country Capers.

The sleeveless coverup/vest that was sold with the 1969 Talking Barbies
confused many collectors (including me).
The lack of a Barbie tag, only a Hong Kong label
lead people to believe that it is a Shillman or Mego article of clothing.

I have a 1969 brunette Talking Barbie head but no body.

Mod Talking dolls beautiful but fragile

The dolls sold between 1968 and 1976 are of two types: those that are indestructible and those that fell apart within a year or two.  Most of the Twist n Turn dolls and the Malibus would survive being run over by a tank.  Beginning with the Talking dolls in 1968, however, their survival rate is another story.

My first article on this subject will be about the 1968 Barbie talking dolls.  My sister, Barb, got Talking Barbie for Christmas and I received Talking Stacey.  Poor Talking Barbie lost her legs within two years.  I don't know whatever happened to my Stacey; I think I gave her away since with her white hair I thought she was a grandmother doll.  (Barb got a Living Barbie and I received Twist n Turn PJ as replacements in 1970.) Ironically, their original outfits and their plastic stools are still with us, impossible to kill.

The Talking dolls' bodies and heads varied over the years.  In the first year, the bodies were made in Mexico and their backs had 32 holes.  The heads were made in Japan, and their pink plastic panties had Japan tags.

The problem with a 1968 Talking Barbie begins with her torso.  The plastic is much harder than other dolls and quickly becomes brittle.  The knobs that connect the arms and legs break off.  In recent years, the neck rims of my dolls have also broken off.  The used dolls I've picked up at flea markets have had unusual surgery to repair the limbs.  The owners must have had an awl to pierce the hips all the way through.  One has a nail through her legs and groin; the other has had elastic sewn through the upper legs and lower torso.  I've heard of having a pin in one's hip but this is ridiculous!

My own solution has been sheer sealing/packing tape for the limbs, plus I have Super-glued the heads to the necks.

I've often wondered if Mattel was aware of these problems with the limbs even when production first began.  I know that the hips were made looser so that Barbie could cross her ankles modestly.  The panties that came with the first Talking dolls (Barbie, Christie and Stacey) are form fitting and they help hold the legs in place.

Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch!
The brunette on the left
has a nail through her hips;
the light brown doll on the right
has had her hips sewn to her torso!!

The first Talking dolls came with plastic seats.
Left to right are the seat for Barbie,
an extra head I have and another seat.
On the right are the seat I still own for Stacey
plus her swimsuit and another swimsuit bottoms I have acquired.

Note that the right leg of the Barbie on the left
is a little on the diagonal.
When she sits, her left leg will cross over it.

Trailblazers on the left looks better
on a doll than just by itself.
On the right is one variation of Dressed Up!
and is perfect for a Christmas party.
Both outfits are from 1968.

1968 Talking dolls have 32 holes
in their backs as speakers.

Gerber's Barbie and Ruth is very detailed biography of doll designer

I have finished reading Barbie and Ruth, a very extensive biography of Ruth Handler written by Robin Gerber, published in 2009 by HarperCollins.  This was a gift from my cousin Cathy when things had gotten bad with my family, and she sent it to me to cheer me up. (Yes, the book did help me escape some of the trials we've had in the past few months.)

I'm not going to go into much about Ruth's life as written in the book, as that has been discussed in other media extensively.  I will say that Gerber wrote much much more about the Handlers and their dismissal from Mattel, and then the various court cases against Ruth for fraud, than I've seen elsewhere.  The charges make much more sense than they did in the other books I've read, which tended to downplay or skip over a lot of details.

Here are some points about the book that stood out to me:

Gerber emphasizes a number of times about how diverse Mattel's staff was in beginning in the 1960s, with women designers and executives, and many people of color.

The details about Jack Ryan's private life would have been amusing if they hadn't been so creepy.

I never knew that Elliot was so shy.  He just wanted to design toys and let Ruth take care of all of the other details involving the making and selling of them.

Previous books have written that Ken Handler died of encephalitis, but Gerber wrote that he did die of AIDS, and that it was many years before he told his wife and parents that he was gay.

In the 1940s, just after Ruth and Elliot had married and moved to Los Angeles and Barbara was born, Elliot got a partner for his Elliot Handler Plastics company.  The man's name was Zachary Zemby and they formed a company called Elzac.  The company made costume jewelry out of ceramic, wood and scrap Lucite.  The jewelry was very popular.  I had never read about this before and had never heard of the company.  Have any of you ever seen Elzac jewelry?  Is it very costly?

I wonder whatever happened to Harold Matson?  Gerber wrote that when he left Mattel, the Handlers never saw him again.

As expected, there were just two brief mentions of poor neglected Skipper.  Surprisingly, even Tutti and Todd were included in a sentence.  However, Francie got 10 whole sentences!

Made-for-TV holiday movies were overwhelming in 2022

These are the made-for-TV Christmas movies that Mom and I watched in November and December 2022.

Saturday, Nov. 12

Lifetime Reindeer Games: Homecoming

Saturday, Nov. 19

Hallmark Movies Three Wise Men and a Baby

Sunday, Nov. 20

CW A Waltons Thanksgiving

Monday, Nov. 21

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries A Little Christmas Charm

Saturday, Nov. 26

CW Silent Night: A Song for the World

Sunday, Nov. 27

Hallmark Movies A Christmas Spark

Tuesday, Nov. 29

Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Time for Him to Come Home for Christmas

Friday, Dec. 9

Bounce Who is Christmas Eve?

Thursday, Dec. 15

Food (Yes, you read that right.  Food!) One Delicious Christmas

Saturday, Dec. 24

Hallmark Movies A Holiday Spectacular (the best one)

Saturday, Dec. 31

Hallmark The Most Colorful Time of the Year

1991 biggest year ever for Barbie weddings

1991 was the biggest year ever for Barbie-related weddings.

First, of course, that year, was the marriage of Midge and Allan.  A huge doll set with the couple in their wedding outfits, Barbie and Ken as their attendants, a revived Todd as ring bearer, and a larger Kelly as the flower girl.  You could get the four adult dolls separately as well, plus a gift set with only Kelly and Todd, several playsets including a chapel, and four honeymoon outfits for Midge.

Of course, you could always buy a separate bridal gown for Barbie (there were at least four of them) and a tuxedo for Ken.  I recently discovered a gift set that I never knew existed from 1991 that had outfits for Barbie, Ken and a Barbie friend in a beautiful box that could be cut apart to make a small chapel with stained glass windows.

This was #793 Special Wedding Fashions Set.  It contained the Barbie bridal gown that you see pictured on the upper right https://www.appletreeauction.com/auction-lot/4-nrfp-vintage-1990-barbie-bridal-collection._CAE400991E, Ken Wedding Collection #8307 http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/8307.htm, and a pink version of Barbie Fantasy Fashion https://www.ebay.com/itm/133789929044, see the back of the box.

There is one puzzling item in this set.  If you look at the link of the Ken outfit, you will see him wearing this scarf on top of his tuxedo, and I think it looks incongruous.  It measures 1 inch wide by 11 inches long.  To me, it looks like the stole that a minister wears over the alb.  I guess if you have a loose white dress or robe that a fashion doll would wear, you could wrap the scarf around the neck?

The back of the unopened box can be cut in half
to make the sides of the chapel.

The dolls are all from 1991:
Wedding Day Ken from the Midge and Allan gift set,
Benetton Barbie and Disney Classics Belle.

The three outfits were also sold separately.

Now you can see Ken, Barbie and Midge all dressed up!

A closer view of the tuxedo and gowns.

What is this scarf?