Great Big, Beautiful Dolls

Great Big, Beautiful Dolls

Dolls, no matter their height, are the companions of childhood. Nothing less, certainly.  I have dolls that are microscopic, smaller than a grain of rice, and others that are life-sized, five, six, even 8 feet high. A great article in the May/June Doll Castle News on Patti Playpal dolls and friends piqued my interest in “big dolls” yet again.  The article is “Playroom Companions, Patti Playpal and Friends” by Mary Berry.

An assortment of large bisque dolls and plush

Patti Playpal

Large Quincenera Doll an AT artist Replica, each about 27 inches

My Size Barbie and Friends illustrate how big dolls can fit in a corner

A few years ago, I wrote an article on Patti Playpal for About.com Doll collecting.  I wrote in response to a reader’s request.  She shared lovely photos of Patti and friends gathered around their own Christmas tree, glowing in the light of the twinkling ornaments. 

Big dolls have inspired their own books and have a certain allure.  Restaurants in California often had a big antique doll posed in their window.  The Canal House, an old restaurant in Sterling, IL, had a large A&E companion doll  that was dressed and posed for different seasons. In similar fashion, the local Bishop’s Buffet dressed a Mrs. Claus mechanical doll, over two feet tall, in holiday outfits.

My first grade teacher, Mrs. Evelyn McCallister, had four big dolls that represented Dick, Jane, and Sally.  There were two Sallys, and one was an A&E companion doll with platinum curls.  Dick, Jane, and the other Sally were cloth, soft sculpted dolls, life-sized with embroidered features and yarn hair.  I got to take Jane home for the summer.  The other dolls visited me at home, too.  I was thrilled one night after open house when my parents came home holding the vinyl Sally; she got to have a slumber party with me that lasted the weekend.  I wish I knew where these dolls were now!

My Size Barbie Ready for a Run

Great Bisque Head Artist Doll, about the size of a two yera old

36 inch Buddha

Grants had a huge assortment of dolls, including a large group of the A&E dolls.  I got my wish when I turned six and my Uncle Tom brought me one with red curls.  To this day, she wears my dresses and some that my grandmother made.  In Home Ec, I sewed her a companion, a life sized cloth Betsy McCall; she helped me get an A+ on my report card.  Later, I found a large Amish doll of the same size.

When I was nine and we went to Europe, my godmother gave me an Italian hard plastic doll with an organdy dress that had lights all over it.  My parents bought me a newer version at the airport on the way home.   In a doll shop near the Trevi Fountain, there were 36 inch Furga Dolls; I was entranced.  From Spain came a 1904 Bullfighter that walks.  From Germany came a large Minerva, celluloid head Scots boy, nearly three feet high and very rare.

Renaissance cage doll, nearly three feet high.

My Bru lady mannequin artists doll was once in the festival of trees.  She graced the sleigh at the German American Heritage Center one Christmas with a large Mrs. Claus.  Her bisque head comes off; I had to remove it to bring her home.  She sat headless in the passenger seat of my car.  Lucky no one stopped me!  I also have a life-sized Harold Gale Santa, posed to peak around the door.

Antique dolls were often made in large sizes to serve as mannequins; Bru, FG, and Kathe Kruse all created life-sized dolls. King Tut had his own mannequin, featured in the traveling exhibition of his treasure and in Mary Hillier’s Dolls and Doll Makers.

Life Sized European Baby Doll modeling a Kilt, Celtic Games, 2016

Very large vrown eyed china head with corkscrew curls

Companion doll at Skellington Manor

1920s Comp baby with her Jar Jar Binks toy

Sasha Morgenthaler made big dolls for exhibitions as have other artists.

French and German doll makers made gorgeous 31 inch and bigger play examples, and there are Play Pal Shirley Temples, remade by other companies during the early 2000s.  One lovely pink tint Rohmer is the grand dame of her doll family at 29, all original inches.

Shirley Temple had a five foot Japanese doll in her collection that arrived by coffin!  I was lucky enough to have Uncle Tom take my photo next to that doll.  It sold in January 2014 for over $13,000 at the Shirley Temple Auction by Theriault’s.

Large dolls preside at Thanksgiving 2016

About 29 inches tall, this cloth doll wears real accessories and is part of a set of dolls in various outfits made in Galva, IL,
over forty years ago.  She and her five companions were found at Spoon River Scenic Drive.

German bisque big girl, Bussey Museum, photo by author

Two large brides, German bisque and hard plastic. Bussey Collection, photo by author

This large inflatable Santa and his friends are taller than the house they decorate during Christmas

Life sized guard, MacNider Museum, Mason City, by the late Duane Hanson.

Shirley Temple's Japanese Doll with the Author.  Photo by Tom Fanakos.

Gigantic Wooden Bunny, jointed like a doll.  I rescued him from a bonfire

Many large companion dolls appear at our friends Terror at Skellington Manor.  They also feature great animatronics and figures that are life-sized.

Artists Lay Figure, Public Domain

Madame Tarnowska, an animated doll customized by the girls
at Abernathy's

Four foot Nutcracker Prince and Friends

Ophelia, our Skeleton Bride sings "Fright Wedding" to the tune of "White Wedding."  She loves her holiday sweaters and guards our downstairs.

Three foot papier mache doll from Mexico; traditional folk doll in a rare size

Magnificent, all original 29 Inch Rohmer

Scarecrow at Spoon River Days

Tiffany

Large bisque doll tops a Xmas tree at The Festival of Trees

Zelda, six foot witch by Gathered Traditions.  She guards the upstairs of our doll house

You can always find room for a big doll in the corner; Barbie  the size of a three year old child fits well in any vignette, as do the large Frozen dolls, Darth Vaders,  John Cena’s, Giant Plush and other big dolls and friends.  Our 48 inch Nutcracker Prince is a hit wherever he goes, and our three foot mechanical skeleton Ophelia has traveled to various programs and exhibits along with her automaton friends from Marshall Fields.

There was a magnificent doll museum in Marengo, IL many years ago, I think called the Time Was Museum, that featured big antique dolls dressed in lavish costumes by their owner.  The gowns were to die for beaded silks and velvets/

So, enjoy the pictures, and make room for that dolly in the corner, big and beautiful as she might be!