Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Margie's Dolls

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Margie's Dolls: On June 9, 2018, I was privileged to run a one day doll appraisal program for a local historical society.   All the money earned went to t...

Midsummer Night's Dolls, Fairies!

Fairies, or, We’re all a bit Fey when it comes to Dolls!

            Today is Midsummer, or Midsommer.  You may be watching the Midsummer murders on PBS.  It is the day to honor all those who love fairy gardens, dolls, and fairy dolls.

Perhaps the greatest introduction to the world of fairies is William Shakespeare’s  A Midsummer Night’s Dream. (MSD). Titania, Oberon, and their Fairy court dominate the mere mortals who mistakenly think they run the kingdom.  Then there is Puck, the mischievous sprite who has the last word, “If we shadows have offended, think but his, and al is mended.”

Shakespeare’s contemporaries often believed in the Faere, or Fey, but they were not tiny creatures with wings that lived in abandoned teacups and under mushrooms.  No, Shakespeare’s Fairies would have been life-sized, scary fairies, more like those portrayed in graphic artist Neal Gaiman’s retelling of the play in his volume, Dream Country.

Yet, despite their size, fairies in MSD are the ancestors of our Tinkerbells, Victoria Plum, and Blue Fairies, so often portrayed as dolls.  Shakespeare is a master at making us sympathize with supernatural characters by giving them human traits, so that we believe Theseus and Hyppolita, King and Queen of Athens in MSD, are real sovereigns, though they are mythical figures.  The greatest line of any play I’ve read is Theseus’ criticism of the hilarious spoof of Romeo and Juliet he is about to watch, Pyramus and Thisbe, when he says, “I don’t believe in these antique fables.”  The irony is, of course, that he is an antique fable.

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) was known for his illustrations for A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Andersen’s Fairy Tales, and other fairy stories.  His ethereal pen and ink drawings washed in color created a style for doll makers to emulate, even today. Arthur Lang (1844-1912) created the Green Fairy Book and other multicolored books of fairy tales between 1889 and 1913. He was a Scottish novelist, poet, and critic, who wrote and collected fairy tales and fairy stories form all over the world.  One of his sources was, perhaps, the only available collection contemporary to him, Dinah Maria Mulock Craik's The Fairy Book (1869).

Fairies have inspired doll makers for some time.  Fairy gardens and fairy houses, often with vintage items, are hot collectibles right now, too.   Antique and vintage dolls have clearly influenced current fairy doll art, like the dolls featured from our friends at The Toy Shoppe. The companies and dolls surveyed below are only a few examples of fairy doll and collectibles available. 

One charming example of an antique fairy-inspired doll is the 1914 Our Fairy doll mold 222 by Hertel & Schwab.   She is an all bisque Googly doll, and popular with those who love tiny dolls.  Another antique example is the Good Fairy by Raleigh Doll Co 1916-1920.

Based on the Disney Pinocchio character, Uneeda created a fairy doll.  The Uneeda or U. 1960s Blue Fairy doll uses their Suzette Tiny Teen doll, and is 21", circa 1961.  The Uneeda Magic Fairy Princess doll uses the Uneeda Debteen doll and wears a white satin & tulle fairy costume with plastic wings.

             Valentine Dolls were known for their elegant, jointed ballerina dolls that could point their toes.  They created a couple of fairy dolls as well, including the Ballerina doll 18” Good Fairy, with pointed toes and a fairy tutu costume, fairy wings, and crown.  Some collectors claim they have seen ballerinas like this that came with other outfits.  Valentine produced a 19” doll for Sears.

Certainly Barbie, most famous doll icon of all, has had her share of fairy attire, including the following 70s outfits as identified by Dollreference.com: Sugar Plum Fairy (1976), 9327 Snowflake Fairy (1976), 9329 Princess Aurora Fairy (1976) 9422 Peach satin gown, white crochet shawl, peach open toe heels (1976) , Ideal created the 1957 Pink Fairy, 18”, and the White Fairy, 15” in vinyl.  Ideal, of course, created the Shirley Temple Doll, and Temple narrated a TV show for children that featured fairy tales. Small vinyl fairy tale dolls with wire armatures were hot toys during the mid 60s.  Two examples were Hasbro’s Storykins dolls and Mattel’s Liddle Kiddle Storybook Dolls.  One was the fairy god-mother to Cinderiddle by Mattel.

 The Toy Shoppe offers several fairy dolls inspired by antiques.  Sarah Niemela’s Baby White Fairy African American Ornament is tiny, only 5 inches, but she is made in the style of Victorian cotton bunting doll ornaments.  Her expressive face reminds one of a good Leo Moss doll, and her gossamer wings are like those of an Edwardian Christmas fairy.

In the tradition of Lang’s multicolor fairy books, Lucia Friedericy has produced the Lavender and Blue Fairy Mirror set.  Friedericy dolls have all the quality and attention detail of a fine antique, and these to fairies are no exception.  With their lacy skirts and delicate wings, they could also have made Arthur Rackham’s illustrations come to life.  The Friedericy Fey are 15 inches high and are sculpted of paper clay.  They have hand painted faces and mohair wings with hand painted bodices.  They sit on a mirror sconce that can be hung on a wall.  With the mirrors, they are 19 inches tall and 6 inches wide and are a 2015 edition. Lucia and Judith Friedericy are a mother-daughter doll artist dynamo whose dolls are collected worldwide.  Their Little Girl reading with Fairies is a one-of-a-kind creation, and the girl’s look is as impish as that one the pixie’s faces.  The trio read together, with the tiny fairies perched on either side of her open book.

Midsomer MiniMo by Charlie Bears is dressed in flower attire and is a nod to Shakespeare.  The bear is 6.5 inches tall, and is the work of Isabelle Lee.  MiniMo has a body jointed in five places and flat paws that help her stand well.  She has glass eyes, a hand embroidered nose and airbrush accents.   This little bear is part of the 2017 Charlie Bear MiniMo collection.

Tinkerbell by Xenis is 9 inches.  She is carved from Canadian maple wood with 13 joints.   Her stand allows her pause “midflight!”  Tinkerbell really makes Peter Pan come alive. Helen Kish also creates small fairies in the form of doll shaped boxes, like the Pink Fairy Box.   The doll comes off her base to reveal a hiding place for a tooth awaiting The Tooth Fairy. Felix and Petunia are two pixies that also are part of Kish’s series, which can also serve as cake toppers.  The fairy boxes are around 5 to 7 inches high and made of resin.

Finally, while there are many makers of fairy dolls, no column about them would be complete without mentioning the felt sculpted Brownies and Cicely Barker Fairies of R John Wright.  The artist has truly captured the essence of both these beloved illustrators.  Every detail is complete, down to the accurate portrayals of the flowers that the Cicely Barker Fairies represent.

Fairies have many relatives in folklore, including pixies, sprites, brownies, goblins, and other supernatural creatures.  Shakespeare’s Puck is one of the most famous, mischievous and clever of the lot, and as he does in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, he should have the last word here:

“If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumbered here

While these visions did appear.

And this weak and idle theme,

No more yielding but a dream,

Gentles, do not reprehend:

If you pardon, we will mend:

And, as I am an honest Puck,

If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,

We will make amends ere long;

Else the Puck a liar call;

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,

And Robin shall restore amends.”

― Puck from William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

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World Doll Day 2019 – The State of the Doll House

World Doll Day 2019 – The State of the Doll House

World Doll Day is fast approaching; do you know where your dolls are?  LOL!  Seriously, it is time to take stock of what dolls mean to us.  Dolls are the perhaps the oldest toy, and according to some, the oldest cultural artifact.  Sadly, I may argue that the weapon comes before that, but let’s stick with happier topics and say it is at least one of the world’s oldest cultural artifacts.

Max von Boehn and others traced the earliest doll like figure or statue to the Venus or Goddess figures found in Willendorf and elsewhere, and the oldest was approximately 40,000 years old.  Yet, older figures, dating to the Neanderthals, are surfacing in Israel and elsewhere.   In some ways, I will argue that the definition of what a doll is goes back with what the definition of what a human being is.  When I taught humanities, I found materials that stated the oldest common human mammal ancestor dated back 53 million years.  Keep in mind; I am not trying to teach anthropology or archaeology here, just getting us all to think.

Certainly, play is important to animals.  Animals also “collect”; magpies and pack rats being the most common examples, but read the most excellent tome, The Scavengers Manifesto to learn more about animal collecting behavior.

We know our pets have toys, and love to play.  My late cat Emma had her own doll and toy collection; all of the toys had the last name of “Mouse.”  Opie kitty, who lived to be around 24 years old, loved a plush cow doll, a Victorian doll bed, and a large Muppet Animal doll.  His “sibling” Dax, had his own love for catnip toys and beanie babies.  My dogs, Killer and Smokey, had their own dolls, a black plush dog, a love of squeaky toys, and white teddy bears.  Once, when we were laying out on my bed and admiring our recent doll show loot, Killer, a tiny scotty/poodle mix, hopped in the middle of my bed with his squeaky monkey in his mouth.  My mom and I couldn’t stop laughing.

Smokey, my Benji dog, loved to sleep with a silk screened T-Rex.  He would be sound asleep, but I guess could sense me coming with it. He would lift his little head, and I would slip Dinosaur under it.  He also had a white bear with a worn nose that he loved.

My two kitties currently love toys, and literally skip when they see me coming with new ones.  The little girl cat loves doll houses; she likes to get on her hind legs, balance on one paw, and “select” toys to play with using her other paw.  I had to give her a doll house rug to appease her.

Birds, fish, reptiles, guinea pigs, all pet rodents, zoo animals, even birds of prey, have their games and toys.

So, play and toys seem to be essential to practically every life form.

Humans are no exception.

Dolls and statuary, figural drawings, all survive from Prehistory and the Ancient World and thereby attest to their importance.  Surviving examples of Santos, crèche figures, tomb figures, fashion dolls, even painted images and early paper figures exist or are described in many texts.  The shadow puppets Plato made famous in his Parable of the Cave “live” in museums in Greece, and in books by authors like my friend, the late Mary Hillier (Dolls and Dollmakers).

Anne Rice, once and avid collector, has written them into her gripping novels in all genres, and stated that when you love the worlds’ people, you loved their dolls.  Of course; dolls are portraits one way or another of their makers, good, bad, and ugly.   Lost civilizations live on because we have their dolls and toys.  Doll houses inspire artists, writers, and set designers, and show us how people lived in the past.  They are the best living history lesson I can think of.

Some dolls fight crime, like Frances Glessner Lee’s Nutshell doll house shadow boxes of unexplained death.  She had a hand in inspiring CSI’s Miniature Killer, too. 

Look at it this way, as collectors, doll artists, doll makers, doll retailers, dealers, museum curators, etc., we have a collective mission to promote the preservation of dolls, toys, doll houses and related objects for future generations.  While certain dolls continue to be a good investment, money does not motivate true collectors; at least that’s my opinion.  Kids seem to be getting away from dolls, toys, and collecting in general, and the creepy doll garbage pop culture phenomenon isn’t helping.  I see a few glimmers of hope on our Virtual Doll Convention page, young people interested in dolls.

Let’s face it, dolls are historical icons, that do indeed tell our story.  They are our texts and literature of who we are, and they teach us many things.  Hurting a doll, well, there is a certain voodoo aspect to it, and it chills us to the bone.

Kudos to the terrific social media sites featuring dolls, and to the many museums out there that foster them.  Don’t be afraid to make future plans for your dolls for when you go to the great doll house in the sky, and remember, no one judges what those plans are.  Just so they don’t end up in a dumpster!  As for me, I am getting closer to finding a building for the museum of dolls that has been my life long passion, and I continue to write books about them.  One is at the publisher, another is in proposal form.  Thanks to all for your contributions of Facebook, Kickstarter, and for your donations.

Happy World Doll Day!  Perhaps you could share with us a few words about what dolls mean to you, as well a photo or two!

Collect in peace and good health! Happy World Doll Day!

1940s Exhibit at North Carolina Doll Museum of Dolls, Toys, & Miniatures