I didn’t think so and Denny has been living with me for many years now. But if you look at the picture of Joan’s recent eBay find, several people have pointed out that it looks to them like hers does. Here is a picture of Sasha
NRFB French Denny, Sacha
What about him?
My Denny’s vinyl is definitely different than the other dolls. I am not referring to the skintone so much, but the quality of the vinyl is really nice. I had always thought it was because my Denny was a prototype and that explained why he was different. It could be that the dolls from the ToyFair display are a little different. One possibility is that they come from the first run or they could be sample dolls. Sample dolls are hand made and are what they use to decide if they are going to go any further and make that design. Those are the dolls that you see pictured on the boxes. The next step is they create the waxy that are sent to the factory in China. They use them to make the actual metal molds for the machines. When they set up the line for a particular mold, they do a small test run. Those dolls are sent to the company, in this case Galoob, for approval and so that they could make any last minute changes at that point before going into full production. I think that the ToyFair display dolls are from the test run and so the vinyl could be a little different than in the final production dolls.
Blue eyed Dee Dee and Denny side by side
I got Denny to pose with a blue eyed Dee Dee for you, to see how they looked together to illustrate what we have been talking about.What do you think? He does sort of look tan or olive complexion, doesn’t he? I was very surprised by the results of this photo. In person the difference in skintone is much less pronounced than how it looks on my monitor anyway, but no question, the boy is definitely tan. The other surprising thing is that the eye color in person is very different, but in the picture not so much.
I am looking for photos of more Denny’s that have been found in the WILD or who were like my Denny, part of the ToyFair display. I am making a page devoted to Denny and so need pictures and also where you found Denny and the date (the year is enough)
So if you came across an auction on eBay for these two girls, what would you think? Would you get excited? Maybe you wouldn’t even notice the girl on the left with the blue eyes. A blue eyed Dee Dee? We have seen that many times before, so what?
Take another look, ladies. That’s no blue eyed Dee Dee, that is a genuine Denny found in the WILD! Now that has to be the ultimate thrill for a Baby Face collector, don’t you think? It also tells us that we now know that there are a lot more Denny’s out there than we thought. So although he is still rare, he actually was a production doll and not a prototype only, so he now has officially moved to number one ranking on the Baby Face Rarity Ranking Chart.
Congratulations Joan on your incredible find! It is the dream of every Baby Face collector to find a Denny in the WILD. I am sure when Denny gets home he will get out of Heidi’s dress and into some clothes more to his liking and get rid of that ponytail too. He looks a little embarrassed in the picture or maybe he is just laughing at his disguise and thinking that no one would recognize him. What do you think?
So how do you tell the difference between a blue eyed Dee Dee and a Denny? In person pretty easy, I think and most Baby Face collectors by now could examine a doll and determine whether they had a Dee Dee or a Denny in their hands. But what if you are just looking at an auction picture online like this one? How do you know that you are looking at Denny and not blue eyed Dee Dee?
Well, here are a few clues to look for that may help you make an ID. Denny has blonde hair and Dee Dee is platinum. Picture online may not help you tell the colour of the hair accurately though, so be careful there. Denny has a part in his hair. When you can examine him in person, easily seen, but in an auction photo, as you can see in this picture, the part may not noticeable. So that clue may not help you either. Denny’s eyes are a lovely deep turquoise blue that I have never seen on a Dee Dee. Again we have the problem of colours on your monitor are not always accurate. So what was the clue that gave him away to Joan? I think it must have been the eyes. No, not the colour, but Denny has side glancing eyes and Dee Dee looks straight ahead. I think that was the final clue, along with the hair colour that enabled Joan to ID that girl as being Denny in disguise. Good looking out, for sure Joan!
What do you know? Another black Becca comes out of hiding, just days after the last auction. This is truly amazing to see back to back black Becca auctions.(Try to say that one three times fast!) Take a look at how pretty this one is…
She is loose, but very minty looking. Clearly this is a display doll, never been played with. She is complete with her heart charm tied on her wrist, dressed in her original top and diaper and even has or original hair ribbons intact.
Good luck to the bidders for this prize. I would not be surprised if yet another collector may be completing their collection with this hard to find baby.
Here is a real treat for y’all. This video is of Mel being interviewed several years ago, Christmas Morning on GMA. He gives a tour of the converted schoolhouse that he and Eunice call home and that houses his amazing collection of early twentieth century Disney, comic and cartoon character toys. See his workbench where Baby Face were born and hear him talk about his collection and his long career as a doll and toy designer. You will love this, I guarantee!
Click here to view the higher quality version. Looks great expanded to full screen. I predict you will have to watch it multiple times, to take it all in.
I needed a few dolls for redressing, so I went to eBay and found these girls, who were just perfect for what I wanted. Here they are just after arriving and being let out of the box.
They seem to be very happy to be here, as we are to have them.
My first attempt at making a stop motion video. Click here to watch the higher quality version. Current YouTube default for embeded videos is the standard quality and the HD version is only available if you go to the YouTube page of the video, as in this link
Baby Face auction of interest for this week is a black Becca.
The black version of Becca is one of the hardest of all the Baby Face dolls to find, so it is no wonder that this auction is receiving so much attention from collectors. The auction already had 10 bids and the price is at $300. Wow! This poor dear is loose and appears to be lightly played with. She is missing her hair bows, heart charm and outfit. Wearing Sarah’s top and a replacement diaper. Looks to me like a few people are needing black Becca, so the competition is fierce!
Here is a link to the auction if you are interested in bidding or just want to spectate.
I will be putting some of the BabyFaceDolls.com videos on YouTube, available to you for viewing and sharing. So now if you have a website or blog, you can embed these videos on your very own pages.
This one is my favorite Baby Face video
It is the first video that Mel made of his first three Baby Face prototype dolls.
This is the historic video that he showed to David Galoob. Who loved them so much, that he signed up right then and there, for his company to make the dolls, without ever having seen any of them in person!
I love this video. I have watched it so many times, in order to transfer it from the video tape to the web, which I have done several times now in order to make improvements as technology has allowed and also just because I love looking at it. I can’t count how many times that I have played it, but I never grow tired of it.
Here is the link to my YouTube page. If you are a YouTube member, you can subscribe to my YouTube Channel and receive notification when I post a new video there.
Hmm, that doesn ‘t look like BabyFaceDolls.com on the screen to me. What do you think Sherry is up to? Sherry’s are very techie and always look so very innocent. You need to watch what they are up to all the time I think. Could it be that Denny has put her up to something? Denny’s are full of mischief. When those two get together, look out!
These are the first pictures I am taking with my new camera. I love being able to take pictures using natural light. I think natural light looks so much better than flash. Click on the pictures for a bigger version.
This seems to be a good season for collectors to get some hard to find dolls. First we had the French Denny (who seems to be twins) and now along comes a lovely NRFB black Sarah.
This auction has been on for a few days and still has a few more to go. The price is already way up there, but as you all know, NRFB black Sarah’s are very shy and don’t come out of hiding very often. click here to check out the auction.
Other recent and current auctions have offered Robyn, Tina, Carmen, Karen, Naomi and Kerri, all NRFB. Quite a good line up and I am sure that I probably missed a few other goodies too. So if you are looking to get some of the more elusive dolls, keep cruisin eBay ladies!
Surely, not the beginning of Mel’s career as a toymaker, as he had been in “the business” for years, but Oodles were the foreshadowing of dolls to come in Mel’s Dollevolution and in particular Baby Face. Each had a different facial expression and pose. Mel called them “Premonitions of Baby Face to come!” and I described them on the Oodles page as the “roots of Baby Face”. They were the inspiration also for the Magic Diaper Babies In the USA the Magic Diaper Babies were rebranded as Baby Face Magic Diaper Babies and only a limited number of the designs were offered.
Although both Oodles and Magic Diaper Babies enjoyed only a lukewarm reception here in the USA (partially due IMO to the confusing Baby Face rebranding), they were wildly successful in Europe and also were popular in Australia, New Zealand and Japan. There they were called Mini Babies, Magic Diaper Babies and also just Magic Babies. There were many different styles and they were packaged in many ways. There was also lots of derivative merchandise that I was previously unaware, but have been discovering lately. All of these little PVC babies are still highly collectable and sought after to this day.
I will be adding to the Oodles page with not only more about Oodles, but coverage of Lil Babies and how they come into the story and of course lots about Magic Diaper Babies.
Something for you to look forward to, but for today how about I give you the Oodles TV commercial.
