New from the creators of Living Dead Dolls

Just in time for Spring, new toys from the makers of Living Dead Dolls! You can get a free newsletter easily. I'm personally very fond of Exorcist :) See her at Zonkey.

We hope you enjoyed the Mezco Toyz newsletter for Wednesday February 14, 2018   MORE FROM MEZCO TOYZ

Mardis Gras Dolls!



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Mardi Gras is the last good time before Lent, then Easter.  Dolls of ebony and mahogany  made dressed in feathers as King Comus and his court were made in the 70s, and masks continue to be popular collector's items.  In Venice, during Carnival, masks are also very traditional and colorful.  Read of them in Poe's, "The Cask of Amontillado."

Tiny dolls are baked in King Cakes, and porcelain clowns and Harlequins are very important. Mardis Gras Barbie was made in 1987, and other dolls and masks have also been made. I have beads with the babies stored on them and also other beads with masks.  Let the good times roll, and get out those Mardis Gras dolls.  An account of the festivities is in Anne Rice's The Witching Hour.

Vintage Mardis Gras design, PD

Mardi Gras King Comus PD image
S. Florida

1987 PD image

Mardis Gras Porcelain Doll, PD

Valentine Auction at Theriault's Wed.Evening; Precious Little Dolls

Don't forget to  pre-register here. Theriault's Rendezvous, Nights at the Auction, are conducted at Theriault's headquarters office in Annapolis, Maryland.  Plan in advance, get registered, and when the auction is set to begin - 7 PM EDT - click the audio/video on button. Join Theriault's for a fun and fast and fact-filled one-hour auction of great antique dolls. Just have fun and maybe bring home a doll. The dolls are all available for viewing and bidding online. You can leave pre-bids, you can absentee bid, or you can make a reservation to bid by telephone at the actual time of the auction. Or you can be there online when the fun begins and watch the live audio/video feed. For technical help with bidding live online call Proxibid toll free at Theriault's Premier Line at 855-264-8262. To receive notice of Theriault's auctions, go to www.theriaults.com and register to receive email notices. If you would like more information call Theriault's at 410-224-3655 or email info@theriaults.com.

Dolls in Horror Novels

Thanks to my former English prof, who is still a good friend, I found the book pictured below, Paperbacks from Hell. This is a study of the paperback novels done exclusively for paperback sellers with graphic, original cover art.  Many of these, like those pictured here, featured dolls or robots.  Sometimes, the dolls were part of the cover art.  Artist Jill Bauman, in particular, used dolls.  Others, like many books by Pat Graversen and Ruby Jean Jensen, were about dolls that went more than bump in the night.

These were very popular during the 70s ad 80s when I was growing up.  Similar stories popped up on Scholastic's book catalog and at our book fair.   As a doll collector, I was always interested in them; I love to study the roles dolls play in society.  It's funny that, as popular as these stories were, "creepy doll" phobias were not in evidence.

Books by Jensen can cost over $300 in tip top shape.  Bauman's cover art can be hard to locate because she, and the other cover artists, often were not credited add did not sign their work. I've started collecting these books seriously; I already had a few and included them in my book A Bibliography of Doll and Toy Sources, but now I'm collecting in earnest. They are fun, and I still don't understand the doll phobia connected with them, but in the immortal words of Sly Stone, "Different strokes for different folks."  I think a lot of the doll fears were studied in The Uncanny Valley. 

An assortment of paperbacks featuring doll related topics or plots.

More spooky doll books. note the French bisque doll on the Winston book.

Close up of The Doll Castle.  Real antique dolls are show on the cover.

Paperbacks from Hell

Houses

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: The Subversion of Romance in the Novels of Barbara...

Miss Charlotte Bronte meets Miss Barbara Pym: The Subversion of Romance in the Novels of Barbara...: Romance can be delicious, or it can leave a bitter taste in your mouth.  And, what to wear through the dramatic scenes that must needs leave...



There are a few lines about dolls in the book, too.

Automatons keep moving, no matter what!

Automatons keep moving, no matter what!: The news was recently abuzz with an incredible story; Saudi Arabia made an android, or robot, a citizen. Ever since a 1797 brochure called Mr. Haddock’s Andorides was published about an exhibition of automatons, the fascination with this fusion of doll and machinery has never stopped. There are all kinds of horror films and novels about them, and dolls, for that matter. Automatons even have Facebook pages devoted to them. Wired magazine frequently writes about them, and artificial intelligence, in general, is a hot ticket today.