I took these still shots to capture, study, and share the black doll featured in the 1965 episode of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, "Where the Woodbine Twineth," (season 3, episode 13). The full-length episode was available for viewing online at the time this post was originally published. It is now on the Peacock and Roku apps under The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, season 3, episode 13.
Hitchcock's "Where the Woodbine Twineth" is about an orphaned girl who goes to live with her stern, spinster aunt, her grandfather's sister. Eva's grandfather gifts Eva, who already has imaginary friends, with a black doll named, Numa. In the classic Alfred Hitchcock style, a turn of events brings the doll to life (live doll played by actress, Lila Perry).
After viewing this episode, I wondered whether Numa was on the market in or around 1965 or if she was a mere set doll. After viewing the episode, taking and examining the still shots, I believe Numa was a flirty-eyed white doll painted black/brown Interestingly, the dress and hairstyle of Lila Perry are quite similar to that of Patti Playpal dolls.
In one of the scenes, Eva has an affectionate interaction with Suse (who gives the child more attention than anyone).
In several scenes when her Aunt catches Eva talking to her imaginary friends and Eva attempts to convince her they are real, Eva says, "You never believe me when I tell you things are real."
The final scene is when Eva and Numa exchange places much to the aunt's dismay.
Commentary: During the 1960s when this Alfred Hitchcock episode aired, status and perceived privilege were often depicted in televised shows as well as on film. Art imitated life, particularly southern American life where white privilege was blatantly apparent. The portrayal of African Americans as insignificant beings or hired help was the unfortunate norm on film and TV, as evidenced in this Hitchcock episode specifically the aunt's harsh treatment of Numa at the end.
We've come a long way here in America, but we still have an even longer road to travel with reference to recognizing everyone’s humanity and their inalienable rights.
dbg
Interesting!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't access the video because it is only streamed in the US. The stills and your description are great though.
If you're still interested in watching this movie I'm watching it right now on YouTube Somebody uploaded it this month enjoy
DeleteI'm watching this episode on Roku. As soon as I saw that doll (Numa) I had to research!
DeleteThis episode and Numa incite one's curiosity about so many things
Deletedbg
Hi my sister was born in 1971 and had a smaller version of this doll. She called her Ruthie.
DeleteHi Susie,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry the Hulu video link did not work for you. I found another link at the NBC website. It took a while for the video to load for me. Hopefully you can view it here. Wait for it to load.
dbg
I saw this episode live as a child of 3-4?, and have looked for it for years! I asked my mother and father before they both passed if they remembered it, to no avail... I think I remembered it as the little girl was named Eva, my Grandmothers name, I am a blonde haired woman now as I was then. Was a strange movie to watch as it came on every Saturday afternoon. I don’t see color, have many friends of every ethnicity💜🙏🏻🌎☮️
DeleteThe episode in it's entirety is uploaded on YouTube from time to time. The last time I checked, it was there. Due to copyright infringement, it gets deleted almost as fast as it is uploaded.
DeleteI see color, but not in a way that prejudges. I cannot overlook a person's ethnicity when seeing them, particularly people I don't yet know.
dbg
*...its entirety...
DeleteInteresting! And oh, how true.
ReplyDeleteRuth
That is very interesting. I wasn't aware of this movie. You are right about this doll starting off white and being painted.
ReplyDeleteI didn't actually watch the movie because I have never wanted to watch a movie where dolls come to life. I have too many dolls in my house and I don't want any visions of them turning against me. LOL.
Hi Vanessa,
ReplyDeleteI promise the doll does not turn against anyone in this episode of Alfred Hitchcock.
I wouldn't watch or recommend anyone watch anything that involves dolls attacking people.
dbg
This is a good and memorable episode. Thank you for the still shots.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this link on your blog Debbie!As you know I watched this episode as a child and I was pleased to see it again on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour (on a retro TV station in Pittsburgh).
ReplyDeleteAs a child I always wanted that doll!! But you're right she is definitely painted Black.
I wonder what happened to that doll?Maybe she's still in some Hollywood prop storage.
Bonnie
You have some of the best post! I love the show but I wonder if it was common for little white girls to have black dolls in 1965. Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Sterling were ahead of their time with regards to race relations.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the compliment, Jenna.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't think it was common at all for white girls to have black dolls during the 1960s, but I know some did. The Internet has connected me with several white women who informed they owned a black doll or two as a child. Often, these were their favorite dolls.
AH and RS were definitely ahead of their time, especially AH.
dbg
I was born in New York City in 1961. When I was three or four years old, someone gave me a black, rubber, baby doll. I loved that doll and she was my favorite. She smelled awful due to the rubber, but I carried her everywhere I went.
DeleteI guess if I lived in the South, folks would have whispered. I carried her until her faced rubbed off and I believe that my mother thought she looked much too odd "faceless" and she was taken away from me. I remember crying about that baby.
Also, I watched the "Where the Woodbind Twineth" and I thought the episode was spooky. Eileen Baral, the young actress was extraordinary. It appears that she dropped out of Hollywood, but I believe that she lives in Manhattan Beach, CA.
Jenna
ReplyDeleteI don't know how common it was but I have a few antique/vintage photots of little White girls and their Black dolls. (I also collect antique/vintage photos of little Black girls with their dolls and if I come across a photo of a little White girl with her Black doll on eBay I try to get it!)
Bonnie
This show is running now and I happened upon this site while looking to
ReplyDeleteI didn't know if anyone mentioned that this show is based on a short story by a man named Manly Wade Wellman. He apparently writes lots of spooky stories the Woodbine and that's totally up my ally, but I can't seem to find his books for a reasonable price. I'd love to get my hands on it to see how close the screen adaptation was to the original.
Adia - Thank you for sharing the inspirational source for Hitchcock's "Where the Woodbine Twineth." I looked the author up on half.com where several of his titles appear available and some are reasonably priced.
ReplyDeleteI hope this helps!
dbg
I know I'm late in posting this comment since I just discovered your blog, but I am so glad you wrote about one of my favorite episodes (so far) of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. What I found interesting about the doll's name is that Numa sounds like pneuma, a word that can mean the breath of life. The girl's imagination (or magic?) brings her to life.
ReplyDeleteThank you for providing a perspective on this other than the one I saw somewhere online in which the reviewer describes Numa as a voodoo doll, an assumption I found off-base and racist. I've been getting into mid-century tv shows lately, and am always fascinated to find the ones that defy the sterotypes of their day. A white girl with a black doll is definitely groundbreaking and thought-provoking.
It's never too late to comment on any of my posts, Tiffany, and I am glad you discovered my blog and shared your thoughts.
DeleteI had not made the Numa/pneuma connection. Thank you for sharing it. I wonder if that was Hitchcock's underlying theme -- that Eva's love for Numa was powerful enough to bring the doll to life while sacrificing her own.
dbg
Thanks so much for posting! This was my 1st time seeing it,,,was very interesting.
ReplyDeletePCC
You are welcome, PCC. I am glad you viewed it and found it interesting. Thank you for posting your comment.
Deletedbg
Nice blog. My favorite episode haven't seen it since I was nine.I have been waiting for this one and fell asleep before it came on. It came on at 1am and I woke up on the last 15 mins.Does anyone know what that wierd nursey rhyme Nuns and Eva were saying?
ReplyDeleteHi Rose Petals,
DeletePardon my delayed reply regarding the nursery rhyme that Numa and Eva were saying. I had to re-view this Alfred Hitchcock episode before replying. If you are referring to the end when Numa has come to life and is playing with Eva the doll, the rhyme is something that was probably written specifically for this episode. It explains the contrast between reality and make believe -- where the woodbine twineth. I have copied and pasted the words below:
"Life is hard but where the woodbine twineth it’s summertime all the time. There’s apples and peaches. You can play anything you want to play anytime you want to play it. The jacks are the stars and the ball is the sun and the moon. There’s candy canes and everybody has a doll."
Numa
(It sounds like a wonderful place to me.)
dbg
Doesn't sound like a wonderful place to me.The nursey rhyme I'm talking about is not the one you quoted. Someone else remembers it as well. I remember a scene where a woman is troubled by a little girl who sings the grisly skipping rhyme:
ReplyDeleteWhen she's dead, Boil her head, Turn it into gingerbread. This is from someone's website. The kingdom of GOD sounds like a wonderful place to me. As I was reading my scriptures and doing word studies I noticed, Pneuma is a noun meaning soul , spirit. GOD breathed into Adam the breath of life and man became a living Soul(Pneuma). So apparently Numa was a spirit.
I read this morning, probably from the same website you are quoting, that this "boil her head" rhyme is not in the Alfred Hitchcock episode.
DeleteWhat I read specifically states:
She adds: 'I also found out that the little song about "stuff her head with gingerbread" is from a movie called Girly. I watched "Where the Woodbine Twineth" eight times and it is not in it anywhere.'
(http://www.wildyorkshire.co.uk/naturediary/docs/2003/6/24b.html)
If you saw/heard it in the episode, please tell me the time location where it occurs on the YouTube video?
dbg
What youtube video? I saw it as a child. When it came on tv I woke up on the last 15 mins of it. The one you watched eight times was on youtube? I tried to watch it the volume/audio is bad. But I know what I heard maybe they edited out. Don't know. It might be on the Alfred Hickcock Hour DVD. No big deal.
DeleteThe other rhyme goes like this "... Where you from? New Orleans. What's your trade? Lemonade..."
DeleteUnfortunately, I don't remember all of it.
The link to the Youtube video was included in my. Blog post.
ReplyDeletedbg
The doll in the seen reminds me so much of Patty Playpal Doll. She was 3 feet tall, white and had blonde hair. I would be very easy to dye the dolls skin and hair. Your pictures reminded me of that doll....I looked on ebay and there are some of the faces of those dolls that look like Numa. I want this video if anyone finds it....I'll keep looking.
ReplyDeleteHello R Adams - I just updated this blog post with a video of Where the Woodbine Twineth. This is about the third time I have had to find the video and republish it here. I hope you are able to view it before the link is removed from the Internet.
DeleteI do not believe the doll used in the show was a Patty Playpal. She does resemble Patty, but Numa appears to be shorter than Patty's 35 inches. I now do not believe the doll was manufactured as a black doll and that the doll used was probably originally white and painted black/brown.
dbg
Oh my gosh I took another look at Numa and the first thought was of Chatty Cathy...she first came out in 1959 and again in 1960. But since then of course I have not seen another....I looked at my doll and there is a big resemblance. What do you think? She could have easily change to fit the part of Numa. Thank you for your time.
ReplyDeleteThe doll's ID remains a mystery, R Adams as she is definitely not a Chatty Cathy. She is taller and the head sculpt is different than Chatty Cathy who has and overbite with two front teeth and larger eyes. The only doll that I have seen that resembles Numa is one that was made in Italy. You can see the doll here. They only resemble and are not the same doll.
Deletedbg
"You NEVER believe me when i tell you things are real!"
ReplyDeleteBlack baby dolls were always played with by White girls. The girl who played Joan Crawford's youngest daughter in the movie "Mildred Pierce" had a black doll she carried around. Black baby dolls have been a popular collector's item since the colonial days. There is no way that doll was painted black. With all due respect, I think a little history in dolls and doll making needs to be learned.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input, me me, I am always open to learn something new about the dolls I love.
DeleteAs the author of this blog since 2008, a black-doll enthusiast since 1991, and the author of three books on the subject, I am well aware that black dolls have been around for centuries. They have never been as plentiful as their white counterparts, unfortunately. Therefore, it stands to reason if a doll like the one in the episode was not available as a black doll and Mr. Hitchcock wanted that particular doll used in "Where the Woodbine Twineth," he quite possibly could have exercised his creativity to have the white doll painted brown/black. That is exactly what appears to have been done. Perhaps it doesn't appear to be that way to you, but "with all due respect," we can agree to disagree on this matter.
Alfred Hitchcock Hour is on this werkend and that episode just went off so I decided to look up the little girl, Lila Perry, who played the doll and came across your blog. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Sandra! I am glad this post was available for you.
Deletedbg
Just to let you know, your recollection of the story line is wrong. Eva went to live with her dead father's sister, not her grandfather nor the sister of her grandfather. Eva's Aunt Nell was Eva's AUNT. However, Eva's grandfather did come to visit frequently. I also agree with you 100% that the doll 'Numa' is clearly a white doll that has been painted black. Upon close examination many factors point to that being the case; among them the color being TOO black for the Black dolls made at that time, and the high luster of the paint.
ReplyDeleteCheers, :)
Thank you for pointing out that my recollection of Eva's relationship with Nell and the captain was incorrect. I will correct the post to reflect the correct relationship between the three.
DeleteDebbie
I just watched this last night and the nursery rhyme goes something like, "Bom, bom, where're you from? New Orleans. What's your trade? Lemonade." When Sus asks her in the kitchen what games she plays with Numa, she lists "Bom, bom" as one of the games. Also she lists "Doll," a game where Numa is tired of being a doll and so she becomes the girl and puts Eva in the box. A foreshadowing of the end of the episode.
ReplyDeleteHello K,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input on what has been one of my most popular blog posts.
dbg
To Anonymous August 20, 2022,
ReplyDeleteThe Horsman doll company made a series of Ruthie dolls for several years from the 1950s well into the 1980s. Your sister's doll might have been one of Horsman's Ruthies.
dbg
The episode airs on Roku channel the Alfred Hitchcock hour.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
Delete