Dolls That Played Hard to Get, Wuthering Heights, and Houses of Sand and Fog

I stepped out this morning and looked back at my little brick house shrouded in mist and fog. You could barely see its gables, even a few feet away. For a moment, I felt like a time traveler standing on the moors of Wuthering Heights. If Cathy, or Emily B. herself had stepped out of my front door, I wouldn't have been surprised.

Weather like this makes me muse, and ponder, and day dream. Last year we had a blizzard, now we have 60 degrees and foggy mornings, sort of like my days in grad school when I took a backroad past an abandoned insane asylum, in daily mist, where car lights barely shown like fairy lamps.

I am reading Broken for You and Sing them Home, both by S. Kallos, and in each, objects and their stories play prominent roles, even becoming characters. Of course, this line of thought leads me to dolls and their stories, so here are some of mine with tales of why they were hard to get.

1. General McCarthur. I first saw him in Lolly's in Galena, and another also in Galena, in a restaurant that had dolls in a display case. My whole family has been in the military, and I bonded instantly. My mom used to say when I was a toddler that I ran up to any man in uniform and cried, "Daddy!" because mine wore an airforce uniform. Must have been fun for the men. I've loved toy soldiers every since. I got him 40 years later after I made an offer on eBay. I'm looking for boots for him.

2. French Fashion; many fine replicas and bits and pieces of Frency dolls later, I found my first FF at a doll show in California, from the friends of Jim Fernando, legendary dealer/collector in all things French. His friends even put her in a French bag, which I still have. 23 years to find this one.

3. My first antique bisque, a German bisque Floradora, dressed now in remnants of my grandmother's French wedding gown came from Saratoga, CA, from the Marionnette Doll Hospital. I was 14, and it was July 4th. Nine years for this one.

4. First ship's figurehead, a doll-like figure discussed in Leslie Gordon's early books on dolls, same summer of '74, Monterey Bay. Two years since I first read about them.

5. Ivory Doctor's Lady from China; I saw her in the early 80s in a miniature show. I wrote to the owner after the show, and she mailed me the doll on the honor system. I sent her a check right away. She was a lovely lady named B.J.Huston from Texas. Sixteen years to find her.

6. Ashanti doll from Ghana; my first came from Sausalito, CA. It took me 4 years to find her, but it was 28 years before I found another one. Now, I can find them in various manifestations in import stores.

7. Japanese Festival Dolls; I first read of these in R. Godden's Miss Happinesss and Miss Flower. I have a pop up card my Uncle brought from Korea, but I didn't get my first one till 15 years after I read the book, at the same miniature show I found my Doctor's lady. Now, I have bought several in California, in local museums, and in antique stores. I don't pass them up if I see them reasonably; they are disappearing again.

8. Good black, French doll; 43 years from the first time I read of them in John Noble's Dolls, my first doll book.

9. Acupunture figure; first heard about when Barbara Walters showed one she bought her daughter in China, around 1969 or 70 when President Nixon went. Nineteen years later, I found my first one. A local chiropractic clinic ordered her for me after I saw her in one of their displays.

10. Miss Barbie; 25 years. I found her in San Jose, purchased from Mr. Franklin Lim Lao.

These are just a few of the dolls I have that were "hard to get." There are more, including the pewter Huret, and the photos of the zinc boided Steiner that is key wound.

I am still looking for a pair of dressed Mexican fleas. I would like an autoperpatetikos and an Edison phonograph doll. I would like a Vincent Lake all Steel doll, and the rest of my Lil Abner Piano. I did manage to find Mammy Yokum again. Also, always looking for giant jointed and not jointed bears of the 1940s, and Peter's little ward from Bachelor Father, a paper doll. Also, a hand knitted sweater with Henry VIII and his six wives, and hand knit sweater with Scarlett in front of Tara, and a black, sleeveless dress sold at Emporium in 1972,with antique dolls printed all over it. Any help is much appreciated!