A New Old Doll

I have previously written about my great love for dolls, starting in childhood, so I won't repeat that information here.

Instead, I'd like to introduce you to the latest member of my current family of old dolls, which includes dolls from my childhood and dolls from my childhood I really wanted to own and never did.

Meet Winifred or Winnie.

I can't exactly recall if I owned this particular doll, since one very like her was given to me very early in my childhood.

I had lost her original dress very early into my ownership.

And I had done a pretty good chopping job on her hair, not understanding her hair would not grow back (I persuaded my sister to do the same with her dolls, too - whoops!)

But this Winnie is very close to the Winnie I owned, so I am content.

She arrived to my house in nearly new condition.

Now my kids will sometimes make comments about my growing collection of "creepy" dolls. This is Nancy, by the way.

But my granddaughter Riley, who shares a middle name and birthdate with me, loves to come to my room and see the latest addition.

In fact, on Old Calendar Christmas, Riley carried Winnie around all night.

Winne's hair is no longer impeccable, from all the love Riley bestowed on her.

But at least Winnie still has most of her hair.

A Very Happy "It's OK to Not Be OK" Birthday

This past spring, Rebekah and I watched the Korean drama "It's OK to Not be OK," which is about a children's author with antisocial personality disorder, a young man dealing with past trauma who also works as a certified nurse assistant at a psychiatric hospital while caring for his older adult brother, who has autism.

The brother with autism is fascinated with dinosaurs and is very attached to his little stegosaurus Dooly. His brother, the CNA, also made "Mang Tae" for him, a little doll that chases away nightmares (the brother with autism has nightmares about butterflies).

The children's author also writes dark fairy tales, which are actual books in the series that are read onscreen. I LOVED these stories! They are dark, yes, but filled with simple, unexpected, and (sometimes) heartbreaking wisdom.

And now I own them, as well as my own Dooly and my own Mang Tae, thanks to Rebekah's generosity, although, as you will see, I think Mang Tae would GIVE nightmares rather than chase them away.

With each book and item I linked to a YouTube video in English, so you can see the context and "read" the books, too.

The books are written in Korean. So I can't read them without the videos.

First, here is Dooly.

And Dooly again.

And here is clip that shows how important Dooly was to the man with autism - and how the people around him misunderstood that interest.

And this is Mang Tae and a clip right here.

Now for the books.

Here is the autism's brother's sketchbook that shows his how he wants to make his brother's camping dream come true.

And one of his butterfly drawings as he tries to overcome his fear with the help of the doctor who runs the psychiatric hospital.

And now for the dark fairytale books.

The first is The Happy (or Cheerful) Dog. You can read the story with this clip.

Next is "Finding the Real Face." You can read the story with this clip. Start at the 1:50 mark (or not).

Here is The Boy Who Fed on Nightmares. You can read the story with this clip.

Here is The Hand, The Monkfish. You can read the story with this clip.

The last is Zombie Kid. And this is probably the most heartbreaking story of them all.

Read it with this clip.

Nancy

I have always loved dolls.

Baby dolls.

Liddle Kiddles.

Flower, necklace, pop bottle, storybook Kiddles.

Barbies.

Walking and talking dolls.

Chrissy and Velvet dolls (which I've never owned - yet. But I did have a smaller "Mikki" doll whose hair grew the same way).

Dawn dolls.

Rock Flower dolls

Paper dolls: perforated, with tabs or magnets, and even those cut from store catalogues.

My sister and I had dozens of story arcs for our dolls: Janice and Joey, Mary and Sherry,  Rock Flower storyline that involved poppies (don't ask). The list goes on.

A few months ago, I found "Nancy," one of my original dolls on Etsy.

More specifically, I found an exact replica. My Nancy had a smashed thumb, and I have no idea what happened to her.

Now I'd named Nancy as a very little girl for an older third cousin, since my cache of names I'd encountered in my short life was small.

I'd had another one named after a relative - or the relative of a relative. Her name was Lynne. She had a plastic head and limbs and a cloth body. Lynne developed a rip, so I handed her over for repair. I never saw her again.

And I don't remember who Lynne was.

But I did buy Nancy off Etsy, and she came in her original pink dress. I hadn't held her in more than forty years.

My kids think she looks creepy.

But they don't understand.

Rock Flowers: Heather

So on July 23, I received one last birthday surprise.

An unopened Rock Flower doll, Heather, Ironically, Heather was the first Rock Flower I ever saw (a friend had her) or owned.

The Christmas I was in the fifth grade, which we spent at my cousin's house in Naponoch, New York. I received two and my sister received two. I don't quite remember who received which doll, but by the time we traded, I had Doug and Iris (a little more rare than the other three), and my sistser had Heather and Lilac.

We never owned any of the other clothes, and we never owned the fifth doll, Rosemary, as much as we begged for her.

Each doll came with a plastic record with two songs (A side and B side) and a plastic stand that went on the record, so the doll could "dance" with the song.

To see how that works (with Heather) and to hear her record (and, yes, I can still "sing along" - every word), watch this video. 

And here is the song on the flip side.

So, of course, I have the same dilemna as I have with the Kologne Kiddles.

Because, you see, Daniel bought me a turntable for Christmas.

So if I open the box, I can place the doll in her stand, set her on top of the turntable, and...

Or, I can just start collecting some dolls that are not in the box.

But I'll bet they won't come with the little shoes (the first thing to be lost) or with the sunglasses (the first thing to be broken - they are attached with string).

And now I want a Crissy doll (which I always wanted and never owned). And a Velvet doll (never had one of those, either).

And a Timey Tell.

But did have a Charmin' Chatty. And now I want one of those, too.

"Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death"

As a child, I loved dolls, dollhouses and Gothic and supernatural fiction.

As an adult, I still love dolls, dollhouses and Gothic and supernatural fiction.

This was the most amazing dollhouse I've ever seen - and it neatly combined all of the above loves.

A must watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NiNBgs8-hE&t=31s

Side note: The dollhouse photo I shared is not from the video, but from the former doll collection of Andrea Magosky. 

Andrea, along with her husband Pat, owned a Victorian museum that had been their son's dream to develop before his sudden death.

They graciously let the BryonySeries team film the first trailer and music video inside the museum and hosted a pre-release event, too.

The Doll Room

Last Monday, my "An Extraordinary Life" story was about Andrea Magosky, who recently died from complications of COVID-19.

Andrea and her husband Pat Moagosky owned and operated the P. Seth Magosky Museum of Victorian Life an Joliet History in memory of their son Seth, who owned the house and was slowly transforming into a museum at the time of their death.

The Magoskys were very supported of the BryonySeries. We filed the Bryony book trailer and music video there; they (along with the Joliet Junior College theater department) lent us costumes for VampFest (our launch event, which raised $1,400 for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties), hosted a book signing, and had stacks of my original business cards near the front door.

Andrea especially loved dolls and devoted one room in the museum to them. I love dolls (as a child I played with dolls as much as I read), so I loved to wander this room and revel in her collection.

When the Magoskys lost the museum, they also lost the dolls. Here are photos of some of those dolls: