Happy Halloween!!

Newsletter for Halloween Week 2015! Boo to all Bebes! There seems to be no end to dolls in the news this week.  Blythe-Con recently wrapped up, and Antique Doll Collector Magazine featured many doll shows and auctions in its listings, published in the November 2015 issue.  McDonald's is offering "The Minions" on its Halloween Pails, a tradition, and will release Peanuts Happy Meal Toys. New dolls are everywhere; Iris Clops joins Monster High,while American Girl will retire Grace. Madame Alexander has introduced Pixie Doodles, 9 inch Fairies with dresses you can color with Crayloa crayons.  Another Shirley Temple Auction is approaching, hence an update of our tribute to her. Here, also, are another installment of "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and dolls, as well as the selected bibliography for doll scholars. Finally, here is an update of a profile of our talented and generous friend, paper doll artist Stephanie Hammonds. Next week, more posts on dolls in TV drama, on interesting others in collecting dolls, and much more! Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert An Update to an Elegy for a Beloved Star; For Shirley   Another auction of Shirley Temple Memorabilia is coming up November 22nd; here is an updated tribute to the star. READ NOW Puritan Poppets, Cornhusk Dolls, and Magic   Here are the references for the posts on Witch of Blackbird Pond; many are books with references to dolls, toys, and games. READ NOW A Paper Doll Artists who is a Renaissance Woman and is Keene!   Paper doll artist, writer, teacher, doll collector, tekkie, Renaissance Woman; here is an update on our friend, Stephanie Hammonds, showcasing her work on Katy Keene. READ NOW The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Dolls; IV   Our study of dolls, toys, and games in an award winning children's novel set in 17th c. New England continues.

October 20th Newsletter; The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Very Uncanny; Nutcracker Maker Files Bankruptcy Truly, frost was on the pumpkin this week. We covered our plants Friday night, including a pumpkin vine I grew from seed. Leaves are falling, and I've pressed one red leaf in my copy of James Patterson's "Kill Alex Cross." Falling leaves mean the West Central Illinois Doll Club's annual field trip to Gigi's Dolls and Sherry's Teddy Bear. Sadly, Steinbach recently announced that after 200 years, they would file bankruptcy.  We will truly miss the beloved maker who made the figures that inspired Hoffman, and later Freud.  This year, Lestat by Crees and Coe came home with me. Last week's trip through the Spoon River Scenic drive yielded even more treasures. Theriault's Matter of Circumstance Auction takes place Monday. If there were ever a better time to be a doll collector, please let me know!! Ellen Tsagaris Doll Collecting Expert

Very Uncanny   Dolls that are too realistic often attract attention from the scientific, medical, and psychological communities. READ NOW

A Renowned Scholar Publishes Postive Doll Book   Review of an early doll book by G. Stanley Hall, student of William James and first person to receive a PhD in psychology in America. READ NOW

Dolls and Disobedience   Dolls in "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" and Puritan Culture. Children in 17th century American lived lives dictated by discipline and restraint, not whimsy and imagination. READ NOW

Patti Playpal; still Playing Patticake after all these Years!   We are taking another look at a beloved doll of the late 50s and early 60s.  Thanks to our reader Terri Lee for recommending this post. READ NOW

Dolls in Sitcoms: Bebes in TV Land   Read about how dolls infiltrate their way into your favorite past and current sitcoms. READ

Call me Erzebet

If you read The Letters of Erzebet Bathory, you know that she spent a lot of time reviewing accounts, managing estate paper work for 27 estates, paying bills, ordering food and grain.  On a much smaller but equally stressful scale, I find myself developing migraines, keeping track of not just my bills and taxes, but everyone else's family accounts, too.  Like Barbara Pym's excellent women, E and I are cumbered with much serving.  Happy Halloween to us all, and my one respite was watching The Great Pumpkin and the Toy Story Halloween special.

I've been watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" since I was 6, and we only had a BW TV, and Admiral, which I still have in a place of honor.  The Peanuts Gang reminds me of my childhood, and of home, of lying on the rug in front of the TV clutching a stuffed animal or my doll, Candy, and and anticipating the cool air of Halloween night, when my Dad walked around with me and m friends trick or treating, and when my mom would buy carmel apples and make my costumes. There was a hint of smoke from bonfires, and neighbors who could still make us popcorn balls and brownies, and a little box with penneys for Unicef.

Holidays felt special; there was the fragrance of spice in the air, and it was still safe to walk, before the urban legends of razor blades in apples.

If I could go back in time just one day, to be six again, to be with my mother and dad, to watch the Great Pumpkin with Halloween Cards from  my grandma and grandpa sitting on the table .. . . that would be the ultimate pleasure.