American Doll and Toy Museum: The News

American Doll and Toy Museum: The News: Today we were featured on the local TV news, WQAD.COM. Check out the story if you have time. It was a great story, and I owe the news team...

Creature from the Black Lagoon

Does anyone remember his name in The Munsters?  He was Uncle Something.  Watched the whole film tonight with Julie Adams, who recently passed away.  Shades of Frankenstein, i.e., his fear of fire and light, and Jaws was channeling him in the opening scenes where the hapless girl is swimming and the shark bites at her legs.  Julie Adams has the same thing happen, almost.  The monster doesn't get her.

I'm perverse in these monster films.  I end up feeling sorry for the monster.  This Creature film could be an eco lesson.  No one knew it was there; it lived in this Amazon lagoon forever, and the ecosystem  didn't seem to be upset, that is, till the scientists and fossil hunters show up.  It got poked; can we blame it for fighting back?

We watched on Svengoolie; I have a few Creatrue figures of my own, but as usually, Svengoolie featured a few more dolls and action figures representing the Creature.  I wrote about him on About.com years ago, and mentioned Svengoolie's various collections of monster dolls.

Weather isn't our friend this year; it snowed on Halloween. We didn't get to go out and give candy out, or hardly even decorated.  Brought my big pumpkin head scarecrows in, and most of my lawn ornaments.  Much too early, but we've had two snowstorms.

Keep the faith.  Think spring, and read seed catalogs.

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Mr. Rogers

Dr. E's Doll Museum Blog: Mr. Rogers: Still can't type well, but improving.  Watched PBS tribute to Mr. Rogers; loved his puppets, and trips to factories to see dolls manufac...

Mr. Rogers

Still can't type well, but improving.  Watched PBS tribute to Mr. Rogers; loved his puppets, and trips to factories to see dolls manufactured.  He was truly wonderful; gifted as a musician, more so as our neighbor and teacher.  Daniel Tiger also originated with him.

Vets and Dolls Together!

Travel Celebrate Vets Love our Dolls

Harriet Brinker’s

 Dolls Etc. brings us

 VETS and DOLLS Together!

Two terrific programs to honor and benefit our veterans as we indulge in our favorite hobby, doll collecting!  Here is the schedule:

VETS

 “Walk Across America” March 17

Mr. William Shuttle worth, The Walking Vet, will present “3300 Miles Across America”

DOLL ENTHUSIASTS

Doll Show March 18 and 19

Dr. Ellen Tsagaris, Doll Expert and author of With Love from Tin Lizzie, A History of Metal Dolls . . .  will present “Love Tin Lizzie - Metal Dolls”

For Registration and Travel Reservations please contact

 Harriet Brinker • (954) 292-7758

 hnatalan@gmail.com

 OVERNIGHT GUESTS

 Register

 10 November to 10 December 2019 Contact Harriet Brinker

 DOLL SHOW EXHIBITORS

 Register

 10 December 2019 to 10 January 2020 Exhibitor Information Sheet and Registration

 Contact Harriet Brinker

Dolls Etc. supports Marion County Veterans

Veterans Helping Veterans USA, Inc.

DAY VISITORS

Doll Show and/or Walking Vet

Advance Ticket Sales Only

10 December to 1 March 2020

no tickets sold at the door

Ticket Purchase available via Travel Bug Florida

DaySpring Conference Center
Parrish, Florida
16-19 March, 2020
Transportation from/to Ocala via Private Coach and Driver
Private Rooms and Baths
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Golf, Charter Fishing, Museums, Chihuly Glass, Asolo Theater,
plus Special Presentations by
Doll Expert and Walking Vet

American Doll and Toy Museum: Topo Gigo and Museum Progress This Week

American Doll and Toy Museum: Topo Gigo and Museum Progress This Week: Museum progress continues, despite the fact that I fell out of my car at the thrift store and really hurt my left hand.   Typing is very h...

A Daydream by David Levy

Skyward for November 2019

A Daydream

Young Stephen was sitting at his desk in school, feeling bored.  As he sat, he thought of the beagle, named Clipper, that his parents bought him.  It was time for Clipper to take young Stephen on a tour through the night sky. On command Clipper appeared and said, “Tonight I will have you meet the Moon, and a new star.”

          “A brand new star I have never seen before?”

Moon ans Venus

Clipper

“We are going to visit a couple of places in the sky—first the Moon, and then the Dog Star.”

          “Why”?  Stephen demanded.

          “Because I said so,”  Clipper howled.  After all, Clipper is a beagle.   And beagles are dogs too.

          Suddenly a cloud of whirling gases appeared out of nowhere.  As Stephen hugged Clipper tightly, both boy and beagle slipped into the wormhole and somehow navigated through space and time.  When they emerged, they were walking on the Moon. All was white, and mountains and crater walls towered into the sky.  Despite this blaze of light, the sky was still studded with stars. 

Suddenly a strange creature appeared.    It looked like a paper shopping bag.  It had four small feet at the bottom, two little arms on top, and a head also on top.  Clipper went up and gave the new creature a sniff.  “My name is Tanya, she said.”  I look very strange because I live only on the Moon.  I will guard you and Stephen while you are here.  When you look at the Moon, or the sky, think of me.

“I am able to walk on the Moon,” Stephen muttered to himself as Tanya and the Beagle toddled along with him.  Why should I be able to do this?”

“Because the Moon is not just an object in the sky,” Tanya explained.  “It is a place. Twelve people have already walked on the Moon, and some of them are still alive now. Buzz Aldrin, for example, was part of the very first team to walk onb the Moon.  He still lives and is in good health.” Clipper snorted in agreement.

Although there are no roads or sidewalks on the Moon, Stephen had no trouble pacing about, climbing the mountains and blazing a trail within small craters.  It was a comfortable stroll as he was surrounded by the tall distant peaks.  Stephen thought of a song:

“I was strolling on the Moon one day,

In the merry merry month of…”

“DECEMBER!”  Clipped howled.  “Doesn’t rhyme with May.  Gene Cernan and Jack Schmidt, two astronauts walking on the Moon just as we are now, sang that song during Apollo 17, in December 1972.  You weren’t even born then.” 

The day was getting was late and the Sun sank low.  Even though the lunar day was long—almost two weeks—it went rapidly.  It was time to move on.  Back in their whirlwind of a spaceship, they bumped about and raced through space and time.  In a flash they were at their second stop.  

It was the Dog star.  “But there are two stars!”  Stephen yelled.

“I can hear you!  Don’t shriek!   Yes,” the beagle shot back, “there are indeed two stars.  The brighter one is Sirius the dog star.  The tiny one nearby is much smaller and dimmer.  It is called The Pup.”

Stephen gazed at the pair with joy.  Two distant suns, one circling the other, lit up the sky.  It turns out that the bigger of the two stars, formally named Sirius, is the brightest star in the sky. 

“Stephen,” the teacher woke Stephen suddenly.  “Pay attention in class!   I will ask you one more time. What is the closest thing to the Earth in space?”  Stephen snapped to alertness.  Where did Clipper run off to, he thought.  Clipper? Clipper? Clipper!

“The Moon,” Stephen muttered, snapping to alertness.  At that moment young Stephen discovered the power of a daydream.  Without leaving his desk, the boy took his magic dog and an imaginary friend on a trip into the cosmos.  That’s the teaching power, the awesome magic, of daydreams.  

Museum Update

Happy Halloween!  We had snow today!  It ruined trick or treating.  So, here I sit watching Bewitched and Roseanne Halloween shows. 

We put in our bid for a permanent building, but expect to be in our current location  for a year.  I've set up most of the displays; just need some things hung up.  I also have set up our gift shop, all proceeds to go to our museum.

I'm still writing descriptions for the cases, and then need to print and to frame them.  Those who've seen the museum in progress seem to like it very much.  I'm sharing some photos with you, and want to thank the over 200,000 folks who have viewed this blog, as well as my followers.

Here, again, is a video I did of some of our other dolls, too.  I hope you enjoy it, and the photos below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_TLGmyLKIw


I also have posted the video separately.

Bears and Friends

Happy Halloween

African Dolls and Dolls of Color

Tinies

Wooden dolls with barbies and figurines

It's a Small World

Gary Cooper, GWTHW and Fisher Price

Top of International case, with a model horse

The French case with minis

More Antiques and Vintage dolls close up

Post World War I French Bisque

The Antique Case

Bisque dolls, vintage Jumeau Triste Left

Ancient Dolls, Iron Maiden, lower left, and Venus figures

The Ancient World

Holiday Display

Barbie and friends, with a couple of antique dolls for contrast.  

L; Vintage paper airplanes, magazines, paper dolls. R. Historical dolls and celebrity dolls, some from Boca
Raton Children Museum

Close up of animals and Noah's Ark

Dolls in front of our Fantastic Beasts case with a Noah's Ark

Doll Museum

Doll Word Search

One thing I like to do when I have time is to create word search puzzles.  I used to make them for one of the blogs I wrote professionally, and the puzzles were doll themed.  I recently came across a word search called Collecting Dolls in one of my aunt's books.  Who knew?  It was fun, but the authors misspelled Jumeau as "Juneau." The puzzle was in Hidden Messages Circle A Word JUMBO by Kappapuzzles, July 22, 2019.

I suppose doll collecting can be puzzling to those who don't enjoy dolls.  I can't imagine my life without them, or the many people I've met along the way.  Too many things discourage collecting anything.  Antique enthusiasts in general seem to be falling by the way side.  Minimalist anything seems to be the big thing today.

No one wants anything to dust or organize, scrapbooking even seems to be falling by the wayside, and I'm horrified to hear that no one wants to pass down slides and photo albums.  Many are throwing out their snapshots and family portraits.  They don't want to end up in a thrift store where future generations of strangers can gawk at them.  If it doesn't fit in a phone or on the cloud, it's gone.

Future archaeologists are going to suffer, I fear.  Even museums are turning to hands on amusement for exhibits, and to travelling shows comprised of cardboard posters and graphics of artifacts, not the artifacts themselves.

While many doll museums may be closing, I plan on starting, and involving my community as much as I can.  Creepy doll folk need not apply or comment, and the same goes for doll snobs.  This museum is for everyone, and I hope everyone can relive her childhood memories with toys and dolls.  There has to be a reason why the Toy Story franchise is so popular.  I just got the /Target toy catalog, and will do a post on my best toys of the season, so there must be some interest.

Happy collecting, and keep the faith!

Doll Museum Progress

So, I’m back!  Trying to keep up, but setting up the museum takes all I’ve got these days.  It is a small, but temporary space, a chance for us to begin while we pursue a larger building for our permanent home.

My friends have stepped up in unimaginable ways, from Michele, who made the building available, to Diane, her business partner who has helped with supplies, and costumes, and doll accessories, to Dick and Nancy who have offered their help in so many ways. 

Gloria, Caroline, Clara, Jill, Marie, Kathy, and Nancy S., and everyone else who has donated dolls to us, to the Friedken family for the little trike, and to everyone at Good Will, Salvation Army, Erin at Rescued, Dennis of The Treasure Chest, and our many friends in the antique and thrift community who have helped me, and given me encouragement and advice.  I wish my Mom and Dad were here, and my doll friends now gone, Mary Hillier, Stephanie Hammonds, Mikki Brantley, and so many more wonderful writers and doll artists, my friend and pen pal, R. Lane Herron who currently writes for Doll Castle News, and so many others.

Believe in your passion, follow it, and you will be happy.  Success is measured not by monetary gain, but by true happiness.  It has taken me my entire life to get here; I started collecting when I was three, and I never met a doll, or toy, I didn’t like.  I studied, my folks helped me travel, my Dad carried home dolls from all over the world, even one given to me from executives of Mitsubishi.    My mother made them, repaired them, dressed them, and put up with old things, which she really didn’t like.  At least, not at first; she changed her mind later.  My husband, Dino, has been a huge help, my editor, my best friend, my navigator in this journey. Our friend Greg, gone too soon, believed in me, and Mark, our other friend, contributed a lot.

I’ve had antique adventures with my friends Rosie, Lori, Nancy T, Danyelle, and more.  My Aunt Rosie and Uncle Tony looked everywhere for old dolls for me, and Rosie made them in her ceramics studio for me.  My Uncle Tom brought one home each week for me, and my Uncle George cruised Berkley and Lost Gatos looking for stores that sold dolls. My grandma’s collection of international dolls inspired my collection; two of them began it.  She also dressed dolls, sometimes over night.  Doll nudity offended her.

We hope to open November 30, 2019, Small Business Saturday; for the first time in a long time, I’m looking forward to something, and the sun is shining again.  Thank you to all who read me blogs and postings, and to those who have bought and read my books.

Thinking outside the Doll House, A Memoir, will be out soon.  You can read my entire doll story there.  Thank you, and I love you all!

Vintage Halloween Decor Home Tour l Beistle, Blow Molds, Pyrex & More!

Kane County and The Doll Museum

Today, a life-long dream started to come true.  We took possession of our doll museum building, and began moving in cases.  I put post-it notes on them to remind me which dolls go where.  All my dolls won’t fit; they really are a doll universe, but a good representative grouping of each category will fit, along with a small reference library, a few doll houses and miniatures, and a nice selection of toys, antique to modern. Framed paper dolls will grace the walls, and others will “live” organized in filing cabinets.  One case will hold seasonal dolls and artifacts, and other will be a small gift shop.

I had a lot of fun last week at the Kane County show sponsored by Karla M.  I sold three copies of With Love from Tin Lizzie, a History of Metal dolls,  out of just five that I brought, and I was thrilled. There were many friends at this show, people I’ve known for years, literally we grew up together.  Many knew my late parents, often referring to my patient Dad who brought Mom and Me as “the man in the car.”  I was there to help my Friend Diane R. with her lovely booth, and I learned a lot, and am learning a lot, in the process.

These folks are my family, and I felt from them love, respect, and credibility, more than I got in over twenty years of teaching , [my awesome students notwithstanding], more than I ever felt working in the courts, or in private law firms.  I loved the law, loved the clients, but the culture was something else.  In this group of like minded doll folk, though, everything was different.  A lovely dealer named Peg donated a box of lovely 70s Barbie furniture to the Museum.  Pam G. and I spent the time conversing about all kinds of dolls.  My friend Marion Z. and her sister Suzanne were there, and so were Marianne and Jerry from Galena.  Fritzi had a wonderful display, and Laverne and George Koddy were there; I hadn’t seen them in years.  I met some of my instagram and Facebook friends as well.   Quite simply, everyone was kind and supportive.

There was no creepy doll garbage, and no doll divas.  Thank you to all of you, my extended doll family, for your support, and kind thoughts.  Without you, I wouldn’t have been able to move forward with this project.  Thank you, dear, sweet Dianne, for finding room in your car for all our treasure, and to your friends Tammy, Debbie, and their husbands for the fun and great conversation. Here’s to next time!

Museum Tentatively to Open December 2019!!

After a lifetime of planning, it has finally happened!  more details will follow as the doll drama unfolds, but The American Doll & Toy Museum will open the first week of December!  This will be a smaller version of our collection because of space limitations, but there will be representative dolls from prehistory to the present, and a nice selection of doll houses, miniatures, toys and related objects.

Many of you also follow our main doll museum blog, Dr. E's Doll Museum, and you know that I am Dr. E and this is our unofficial name.  I started a new Facebook Page called american Doll
In and Toy Museum, and will follow up with a Twitter, Pinterest, and other social media accounts to spread the word. We have also started a GoFundMe Page.

We'll have a small book shop selling doll related objects, vintage paper airplanes, licensed merchandise books, and perhaps some small antiques from the shop behind us.

There will be special events and give a ways.  We'll celebrate each season and holiday, too. There will be rotating displays of all kinds.

I plan on have a doll trinket to give to each visitor as a memento.

Many of you have seen  the displays of my dolls at various museums. I've collected since age 3, and have been planning this museum since grade school.  We will join a small neighbor hood near one of my alma maters called College Hill, which hosts other events and houses several antique stores, a cafe, a hometown bar and grill, a hometown barber shop, sports apparel shop and more.  We will be contributing to small business and to our community.

We welcome everyone; we aren't just for doll collectors and dealers, and we hope by embracing the general public, that we will also encourage young collectors.

Below are some of our citizens, and there is a YouTube video with more.

Doll Museum Video; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_TLGmyLKIw&t=158s