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| About 1947 me with doll |
Our prompt this week is Dolls which should be easy for me because I was the oh so very typical little girl with dolls, dolls, dolls. Being from the sheltered good old days, times of years ago, in a small town in Pennsylvania, I enjoyed my dolls a long time, and had them across my bed into my teen years. But I have few photos of me with my dolls, as you can see I was not a very careful mama here....
I took a doll or two with me everywhere I went which was not that far in that town, mostly down the hill to my grandparents. I had another stash of dolls at their house as well as dolls at home....someone (likely my aunt Jinx who was a working bachelorette for many years, living with her parents) decided that it would be easier for all concerned that I keep dolls at their house where I spent most of my time anyway. This decision came likely after I was walking in the rain with my grandma and dropped one of my dolls, soaking her and generating my tears and fussing. Shortly after that, my Granpap fashioned a miniature umbrella for my dollies, wonder what ever became of that. My dolls had an extensive wardrobe made by my grandmother and aunt and even myself, who learned to sew early and had my own miniature sewing machine, something else I wish I had today.
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| About 1949 me and my talking doll, Marcella I still have this doll today |
These next photos show me at my grandparents' with dolls; I am guessing the years because they were not marked on the photos..
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| About 1950 with 2 dolls, the one on the left survived from a few years |
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| Prize bride doll today original dres, shoes and a green plastic trim I glued on her veil to the consternation of my aunt. |
Still today I have two of my most cherished dolls, Marcella, a talking doll who still utters a few words, "pick me up" and my prize bride doll acquired from a tantrum I demonstrated in the former GCMurphy Five and Ten Store while shopping with my aunt Jinx when I was about 9 years old.. I spotted this bride doll and had to have her; while my aunt tried to reason with me to wait until my birthday, I was not to be dissuaded and she could not bear my pout or worse so she bought her on the spot. The first time my aunt Jinx met Jerry, husband, she told that story of when she was forced to buy me that bride doll as an example of how far back (and thereby well ingrained) my stubbornness and determination could be, this was to warn him about my traits, and that I would pull out all stops to get my way as I was used to having it....but it was too late, he'd already experienced the same by then. She talked about the bride doll until she died in 2009, so you know it was really a master tantrum and an example of how I could get my way as a child. Such a shock to grow up and learn life doesn't work always the way we want, expect, demand...
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Marcella today, talking doll..Like the bride doll all original dress & shoes
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While scanning other photos I found these of my cousin Paula Jean with her father and her own big dolly, across the country in California in about 1952.
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| About 1952 Paul and Paula Jean |
I don't ever recall having a doll bigger than me, but her mother, my aunt had written across the back, "I won this at the Carnival for her, it's bigger than her but she drags it all around." Our family genes have determination embedded, here follows Paula with Big Dolly, "stay there," she seems to demand. She will get a laugh when she sees these two photos, especially with the "babushka" on her head, no match for the Big Dolly's big hat!
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| Paula Jean positioning her Big Dolly |
