Kenya Doll Scheduled to Return in November

Do you remember the Kenya doll from the 1990s by Tyco?  I do.  Kenya was made in three African American skin tones:  light, medium, and dark.  Included with the doll were hair-styling accessories and a magic lotion to "straighten" the doll's hair.

My daughter owned the first Kenya.  In the late-1990s/2000 Daughter agreed to sell her doll to someone online who contacted me for help in locating one. That was an easy $35 plus shipping for her.

Kenya Growing Up Proud! by Uneeda, 2003

In 2003, Kenya was re-released by Uneeda.  The doll was identical to the first version in concept and accessories.  I purchased the darkest complexion version from Wal-Mart (shown above) for myself.

According to a Huffington Post article, the third time may be a charm for this "Growing Up Proud" doll line.  In addition to the original Kenya with three complexions, the new company, Kenya's World, LLC, plans to include cloth dolls for infants in three complexions as well as fashion dolls for tweens. 

Read the article, view the gallery of soon-to-be released dolls as well as dolls from the past, and watch the video here.

dbg

Follow my Dolls for Sale blog

Please visit and "Like" The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak I Listen

I Want Twist 'N Shout!

Image from Wikipedia.com

If you are thinking about the 1960s song Twist and Shout, first recorded by the Isley Brothers (1962), then The Beattles (1963) that is not what I want(ed).  I am referring instead to friend-of-Poppy Parker, Twist ‘N Shout Darla Daley by Integrity Toys (IT)  from the 2011 collection whose bio reads as follows:

Introducing Poppy's best friend, Darla Daley. They met in a record shop and now, they are inseparable. Darla is an upcoming young singer who just made her television debut on the Ted Mullivan show. Thanks to her appearance on the show, she now has her first hit single!

Limited Edition of 400 Dolls Worldwide

After seeing a Facebook friend’s headshot of the original Darla Daley and asking, “who-is-that-doll?” my I want one antennae rose.  The mission to find Darla was not immediate, but she loomed in the back of my head for weeks to months.  Occasionally I would search eBay for her, but knew I did not want to pay one hundred+ dollars.  For a while, I waited for Toonaroona.com to discount Hit Single lower than their sale price of $70, but quantities sold out at that price first.  Thank goodness that happened because I would have been very disappointed with the purchase. 

I recall Facebook Friend writing, “I’m glad I got her before the mold changed.”  I wasn’t quite sure what she meant, but later discovered some interesting history about the original Darla Daley… the head sculpt I desired.

Thanks to Dolly Panic’s blog of March 2, 2012, I discovered why the one I had been hoping would be discounted would not be the version of Darla I wanted.  Dolly Panic wrote: 

…someone at the factory Integrity uses broke the original Darla face mold (so I've heard ... apparently, this was revealed at Integrity's convention this past October). They had to re-do the Darla sculpt, which is why the original promo photos of "Hit Single" look so different from the production doll. She even managed to go from left-glancing eyes to right-glancing.

See the comparison shots of the original and the new Darla Daley here.   Dolly Panic’s PoppyParker-dedicated blog again mentions Darla’s damaged sculpt.  

After nailing down for certain which Darla I wanted, I googled “Darla Daley Twist Shout” in hopes of finding a reduced price doll.  Bam!  I found one down under, literally, in Australia for $59 shipped from the merchant's American store.  The seller accepted Paypal so I immediately ordered and a few days later received a shipping confirmation minus tracking number.  After waiting a couple of weeks for the doll to arrive, I contacted the seller to  request tracking information and to find out if the doll was shipped from Australia or from their American store (if shipped from Australia, that could have been the reason for the delay, I thought).  That email went unanswered.  Panic and worry set in. 

Long story short:  After no word from the seller, I filed a Paypal dispute that was later escalated to a claim.  Because the seller failed to answer Paypal’s inquiry about my purchase, they sided in my favor and issued a refund on September 29^th (the doll had been ordered on September 2^nd, the claim filed on the 12^th and escalated to a dispute on the 14^th). 

The day after Paypal issued the refund, I found a nude OOAK repainted Twist 'N Shout Darla Daley waiting for me on eBay.  The auction had been listed for several days with two more days to go.  I wondered why no one had purchased it for the low, buy-it-now price with free shipping, a price that was less than what I paid for the one that never arrived.  After emailing the seller with my routine questions to ensure I would be happy with the doll, I completed the buy it now and realized the seller had spelled Darla's surname incorrectly.  I must have inadvertently spelled it "Dailey" like she had in my final eBay search for the doll. 

After the postman rang my doorbell this past Wednesday, I felt like twisting and shouting when I saw one of two packages left on the porch.  Based on the size and shape of the smaller package, I knew it contained my original-sculpt Darla Daley... at home at last.

Twist 'N Shout Darla Daley

Twist 'N Shout is temporarily dressed in SIS Trichelle's dress and Top Model Nikki's extra shoes.

  


dbg

Follow my Dolls for Sale blog

Please visit and "Like" The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak I Listen

The President's Internal Fixation

The reader is referred to my previous post regarding my TrueType (Obama's) fractured arm where I decided to either turn the repair over to my husband or to secure the broken pieces with tape or a Band-Aid after my initial Super Glue fix did not work.

Immediately after publishing that post, I decided I did not want to put a Band-Aid on the problem.  I wanted a permanent fix.  I consulted my husband to get his opinion.  Doc Garrett's assessment and procedure are outlined below:

You'll need to remove the inner peg from both pieces and create a stent [rod] to hold the two pieces together.

He attempted to remove one peg with a corkscrew-looking device he had on his desk, which bent the device.

This will have to be heated in order to melt the plastic to create a hole large enough to insert a wooden or plastic rod.  This might work better (handing me a metal math compass for me to do it). 

I took the compass into the kitchen, heated the pointed tip on a burner, and attempted to create a hole in the inner section of the upper arm.  Doc arrived in the kitchen to observe my failed attempt.  "It bent."  I said.

Doc:  You didn't get it hot enough.  (Takes it from me.)

He successfully melted the inner areas of the upper and mid-sections of the arm and bored out the plastic pegs from both.  Meanwhile, I searched the kitchen for a rod-like device.  He picked up one of my wooden paint brushes and said, "It needs to be something like this that will fit the holes."

Holes created in upper and mid arm joints using a heated metal compass tip

Rod created using a plastic paint brush

Not wanting to use one of my good brushes, I retrieved a yellow plastic bristle/plastic handled paint brush to use as the internal fixation device.  A section of the lower end of the brush handle fit perfectly after Doc trimmed off the bristles.   The trimmed end was super glued and allowed to dry but the procedure had to be modified.  The paint brush would not remain securely in place inside this hollow section of the upper arm.

Another piece of the yellow handle was trimmed to fit the hole in the mid-arm where it was secured with cement glue and allowed to dry for 24 hours. 

Next, Doc trimmed off the excess rod that was glued to the mid-section of the arm.

After trimming, this is how the internal fixation device (rod) looked before inserting into the upper arm.

The mid-section is now connected to the upper section and the lower arm is screwed into the mid-section as it was before the injury.

.

Shirt, jacket, and tie are back on along with the hands.

With my husband's assistance, the President has recovered nicely from his injury and is almost as good as new.


dbg

Follow my Dolls for Sale blog

Please visit and "Like" The Doll Blogs: When Dolls Speak I Listen