Dolls Poppin Up Fresh!

Dr. E’s Doll Museum

 

Dolls keep popping up for me, literally everywhere.  Last night, on the old Tonight Show rebroadcast from March 1981,  Johnny Carson noted that Poppin Fresh,  The Pillsbury Dough Boy, of which dolls are made, was 20 years old.  He then made a joke involving Dough Boy and Mr. Bill.  “Oh, No!”

 

Ah, the memories!  I went to Spain that Summer of 1981, and we made a lot of Mr. Bill jokes walking together through Madrid, my friends and I. 

 

My first Pillsbury Dough Boy doll came from our local grocery store in about 1973; he was made of vinyl, a dead ringer for the animated character. Poppin Fresh reminds me of cozy dinners after cold, winter days at school.  The crescent rolls were a treat for us.  Sundays, my mom would shout down the hall, “Miss Europe! Time to get up!”  The whole house was fragrant with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, coffee and bacon. 

 

That’s part of the fun of popular culture characters, it’s easy to associate them with favorite memories involving the character and the product advertised.

 

It’s a form of nostalgia, I guess, that becomes more important as we age.