- HOW BABY FACE WAS BORN...
- 14. Hair, Lashes, Clothing
Dear PrillyCharmin,
Now I had to get hair for my other two dolls. I figured I could use the little
blond wig on the "first" doll. So I went to my "Secret" Supply place:
Toys-R-Us! Where I quickly learned something that I hadn't fully realized up
till then: that the doll I was creating was a very unusual size. It seemed that
most dolls were either bigger or smaller. That was Good news, from a
merchandising angle, but at that moment, for a grown man who was loitering
in the doll isle for hours trying to find the right size dolls to "scalp", it was Bad
news! On the plus side, at least, I was able to do this during week days, when
there were few people there, to notice.
On the other hand, If one really wants to raise eyebrows, try hanging around
the make-up department of the drug store, examining and handling all the
false eyelashes. Not once, but time and again, and not just one drug store, but
every one in Dutchess County. It got so, I could hear the sales girls whisper "He's Back!", whenever I appeared.
And I wasn't just looking, I was Buying lots and lots of false eyelashes, which to the aforementioned young ladies,
made my behavior all the more interesting!
I found the black ones too dark, and the blond ones too light, but the brown ones were Just Right, but also, too few
There would only be a few brown ones in each store, and some brands seemed better than others, so over the course
of a year, working on all the heads, I must have bought every pair of brown eyelashes shipped to our area.
Getting back to the hair: I bought a lot of
dolls of various sizes, whatever grabbed my
interest as potential hair transplant donors.
Back home, I carefully cut the tops of their
vinyl heads off, just along the hair line. And
My three dolls auditioned a variety of wigs
and "scalps". After a lot of "debate" the
dolls and I decided, who would get what. As I
mentioned before the "first" got the little
blond "wig". Then, I cut the Sculpy away
from each of the other two dolls, along the
hairline, so the new scalps would fit flush and
flawlessly", and glued them in place.Now I
painted the mouths and tongues and teeth,
and airbrushed the pink cheeks.
Then I "set" the eyes, after moving them around for a long time until they looked and "felt" Right, and glued on the
eyelashes with, whet else?, Eyelash adhesive. Last of all I strung the dolls with elastic, in the manner of vintage dolls,
and they were Done, But not completed, for they still needed Clothes!
Even now, with three different facial
expressions to look at, I was still taking that
aspect for granted and thinking of "Oh
Baby" as a Fashion doll, and in terms of a
little girl wanting and collecting more outfits,
rather than more "expressions"! So I went
Shopping, and faced with the problem of her
odd size, shopping and More Shopping! To
use a phrase that, I'm sure, has been uttered
since clothing was first invented: "There
was Nothing to fit her!"
I wanted the video tape to suggest lots of different styles and fashions, from traditional to "modern", But I ended up
having to make do with what little I could find and just "Fake out" the rest! Among the things I did find was a line of
large soft teen age dolls by Mattel called: "Hot Looks" I bought them all and altered their outfits to more of less
"fit". I bought other dolls too just to get their clothes, which again I had to "alter". As I said before "Anything
Hands Can Do Mine Can Do.......ALSO!" Notice I didn't say "Better" So I can "sew" too, If you can call having to
rethread the sewing machine every two minutes "sewing" It's Sheer Pain and Anguish, But, when all else, (like Glue,
for instance) Fails ..I "sew"!
Then I took photos and had some color copy enlargements made to mount on
illustration board. And shot the Video tape, right here on my work bench, using
the same, makeshift "turntable" she was created on, to pose and rotate the dolls
for the tape!
I had heard a tune called "Oh Baby" on TV in a news broadcast some time
earlier. Now Andy and I both tried, without success, to track it down! But we did
manage to find a recording of the tune "Baby Face" Which, after numerous
phone conversations, was, by now, our first choice for a name for the dolls. But,
the recording sounded dated. And was hardly what we had hoped for.
While I can answer just about, all the music related questions on Jeopardy, and
transforming our house into a "concert hall" one of my favorite pastimes, (That
big pedestal that Mickey and Minnie are standing on in the photo I sent is
actually a 800 LB Sub-Woofer), I know absolutely Nothing about "popular"
music.
Fortunately, Andy can relate to contemporary music, and has a Knack for finding
just the Right Stuff! He sent up a couple of CDs, either of which, would have
been fine, "Take Good Care of My Baby" and "Be My Little Baby" I added the latter to the tape. Then, I built a
special carrying case with a place to hold everything... And the Presentation was COMPLETE!
Andy drove up to my house to pick It up and See Baby Face for the First Time! He wasn't disappointed! The very
Next Day, which was the first day of "Toy Fair" in New York, Kiscom showed Baby Face To Galoob!
Phew! and Best Regards, Mel
Next Page: 15. 1990 Toy Fair & Galoob
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