Marie Osmond with Mary Beth Roe and her parents, George and Olive, on QVC.
The new Baby Mary Beth doll from Marie Osmond.
The QVC show mentioned above also denotes the 18th anniversary of Marie's first appearance on QVC. Doll Reader chatted with Marie about QVC, the doll, and the anniversary.
DR: What is your favorite memory from appearing on QVC?
Marie: There a lot of them, however, I'll always have a great attachment to my fifth anniversary show on QVC when both of my parents made a surprise appearance. My mother started me out collecting dolls before I could even hold a spoon! She was the designer of the first Marie modeling doll, 30 inches tall, sold by Mattel when Donny and I had our original variety show in the 70's.
I still have one on display in my dressing room at the Flamingo in Las Vegas. My mom was so pleased when my very first sculpt, Olive May, in honor of her, sold out within 15 minutes on QVC. My dad always loved to venture into new challenges and so he learned to sculpt right along with me and debuted his sculpt for my line, a doll named Georgette. Both of my parents loved my designer dolls and watched every QVC show I was on. How fortunate was I to have so much support from them? I miss them both so much.
Of course, there are those hysterically funny mishap moments that are hard-to-forget memories. For example, one time I was showing all the details of a doll and I noticed that her index finger was missing. It had broken off after colliding with another doll. Well, I spotted it before Mary Beth did and was trying to signal her, which just made me laugh harder once she realized it.
DR: What was the key to making Mary Beth's doll resemble her? Marie: Viewers tune in to see Mary Beth because, with over 20 years as a host on QVC, she is the person they trust the most. She loves life and it comes across every time she appears. She is authentically kind-hearted, which gives her incredible strength and determination not only on-air, but in every aspect of her life, especially as a mother. So, it wasn't a particular physical feature that we had to capture for her doll, it was more about her expression: always warm and yet strong. I think we succeeded.
I could make a joke about having to sculpt her at 50 and the extra porcelain it would take to add in the mid-life eye bags, but that would apply to me, too. There's a reason I sculpt everyone as a baby!To see a video of Marie Osmond presenting the new doll to Mary Beth Roe, click here.
Click here for Marie's QVC schedule.