Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Remembering Remco Pocketbook Dolls

Your Monday Photo Shoot: Let us see your collection of whatever it is you collect. Thimbles, NASCAR collectables, Star Trek figurines -- what it is, let's see those tchotchkes!

I could have posted this much earlier in the evening, but I had to go to sleep for four hours first. That's as much sleep as I got, total, Sunday night. Onward.

What collections have I not shown you guys already? You've seen my L'Engle collection (well, parts of it) and our tiki mug collection, and even our swizzle stick collection, albeit not in close-up. I've shown you my 1960s Barbie dolls, and my crystals, mostly inherited from Mom, which I don't care about at all otherwise. I've told you about John's Star Trek collection, but it's all in boxes, so I can't show it to you. I've mentioned my Harlan Ellison collection and my collection of children's books, but neither is all in one place to be photographed easily. Ditto with my trolls. The Quantum Leap stuff is mostly paper, not visually interesting; and the DVDs are all over the place, and not interesting to look at, only to watch.

(See, this is why I leave Musings up and running! I want you to be able to see all that stuff, despite the banner ads.)

I know! I'll show you my Remco Pocketbook Dolls! These are all from the early to mid-1960s.

Jan is still my fave.

I think my mom gave me my original Jan doll (long gone, of course) in 1963. She's still my favorite of the group. Got to love that face!

the big kids who wave.

Here are the main three, Heidi, Jan and Spunky. Heidi was the franchise character. Jan was "A Heidi Japanese Playmate." Spunky came third, I think. This is where I really wish this Blogger template allowed for bigger photos, but we'll just have to limp along for now.

The deal with each of these dolls is that "SHE WAVES HER HAND." What that really means is, you press the button in her tummy, and the right arm goes up. This is not terribly diverting, but in 1963 it was probably cutting edge. Besides, the dolls were cute, especially Jan.

The other three dolls in this second photo are Remco Finger Ding dolls. The idea is to stick your childish fingers into the doll's hollow tights, and walk it around. There were Monkees Finger Dings later on.

There were also Beatles Remco dolls, in 1964, but they weren't Finger Dings and they didn't have that waving action. They go for big bucks now. We had some pass through our hands back in our Rockarama days, but they were always too valuable to snarf for ourselves.


Jan has some interesting clothing choices.

Jan had a number of Japanese-flavored outfits available. I don't think I had any of them for my Jan doll in 1963, but I got a bunch on eBay in the 1990s. The Jan herself was a gift from John, purchased from an antique mall that has since shut down.


The younger ones.

Here are some ancillary dolls and accessories. Yes, Heidi had her own plane! She also had a motorcycle, a hot dog stand, and a house, but I don't have any of those. The clothes in the NRFP package are for Heidi and Jan and Spunky. The little kids crew of Remco Pocketbook Dolls are, from left, Little Brother Herbie, Li'l Friend Pip, and Little Sister Hildy.

The doll on the left is a Winking Heidi. Press the tummy and her eyelids move. I don't remember offhand what the doll on the far right is called, but she's a growing up doll. She's not like infamous Growing Up Skipper in the chest development department, though. She just gets taller. Also, she wears a wig for some reason.


Heidi has lots of clothes, furniture, etc.

Heidi had lots of clothes. Here are some of them. I have another whole little box somewhere. And look! I've got the kitchen set! Très moderne!

That's enough for now.

Karen

3 comments:

Carly said...

OMG! I haven't seen these in years! My goodness what memories. I didn't own any, but I had a neighbor friend who did. You come up with the coolest stuff!

Always, Carly

DesLily said...

LOL.. kudos to John on the oddest Star Trek item that could possibly have been put out for the public! lol. I had a Trek collection once also, but it was an unintended collection. In the 80's I was fortunate enough to meet and eventually become friends with Carolyn and DeForest Kelley (dr. McCoy) In turn when Paramount would send them boxes of "star trek stuff" that was comming out for the public they would call me and say "come get this stuff!" which I did. But then when i had to sell things to "stay alive" in CA. I sold all the merchandise. But I still have many things signed by DeForest and many personal memories from the years I had in friendship before their passing.
But.. but.. I really NEVER heard of the "wipes" that John had LOL..

http://herethereandeverywhere2ndedition.blogspot.com/

http://journals.aol.co.uk/deslily/HereThereEverywhere2/

Anonymous said...

I had to go back and read the circa date on the dolls! LOL, I was having a senior moment, then I realized that I was past dolls in the 60'ies.Then I really had a senior moment!
We have the Beatle Dolls. I gave them to my husband for the big 50 many years ago!