Saturday, October 30, 2010

Ken Gets Own Web Series


Mattel is about to put the spotlight on Ken, the former beau of Barbie, giving the doll his own online reality series, "Genuine Ken: The Search for the Great American Boyfriend," to be hosted by "The Hills" and "The City's" Whitney Port.

The series, which bows exclusively on Hulu starting Jan. 18, will become the latest media property that showcases Ken after his high-profile role in Pixar and Disney's "Toy Story 3," this summer and now on DVD, and leads into next year's 50th anniversary of the character.
A redesign of the Ken doll is in the works to go along with the recent launch of his Facebook page and Twitter feed, and he'll have a bolstered presence in upcoming animated DVD movies. All of the activity is the first big push for the character since he broke up with Barbie on Valentine's Day in 2004.

"He's getting a makeover to make sure he's still as culturally and visually relevant as Barbie is," said Stephanie Cota, senior VP of Mattel Girls' brands. "He's getting a little work done to get ready for his 50th anniversary."

Hudsun Media (Bravo's "Pregnant in Heels") is producing the reality show, which will unspool over eight 22-minute episodes. Once Hulu runs through the episodes, it will eventually be distributed to other dot-coms.
Hudsun CEO Michael Rourke and Max Benator, VP of digital for the shingle, exec produce with Lauren Stevens.

In the reality show, eight men between the ages of 21 and 30 will compete in a series of elimination challenges to prove that they possess Ken's qualities in order to be "the ultimate boyfriend for every occasion," including being able to surf, design, have a sense of fashion and show a romantic side.

Mattel said creating original content for the Internet is the latest entertainment effort, outside the TV shows, made-for-DVD features, videogames and events to get the Barbie brand in front of more consumers.

In this particular case, Mattel hopes to attract older auds to Barbie.
"With a 50-year history, you have people who have been embracing (Barbie and Ken) from day one," Cota said. While those consumers may never buy another doll, they may buy a T-shirt with Barbie on it or a Ken-themed bow tie.

The digital series "is a great way for us is to have grownup girls and boys stay connected to the brand," Cota added. Read more: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026504.html?categoryid=1009&cs=1#ixzz13qxqHDAr Visit Variety.com to become a Variety subscriber.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Vera's Doll Stories

Our Customer Vera has been having fun creating stories with photos set in Philly! The photos are set in PHilly, not necessarily the stories. You'll enjoy recognizing the dolls!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Doll Devours Damsels Do

Chewing doll nearly consumes girl's hair (1996)

A battery-operated Cabbage Patch doll that can chew had to be taken apart piece by piece this week when it munched a 7-year-old girl's hair up to her scalp and would not let go.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Rothman Doll Show November 14th


Follow the link above for more info on the Rothman Doll Show in Hackensack, NJ on November 14th from 10am to 4pm. Wilde Imagination and Doug James of CED will be there!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

LGBT Doll Meet Up


Please join us for Philadelphia's first LGBT Doll Meet Up.

We will be holding monthly meetings on a Sunday from 1pm to 3pm at the
William Way LGBT Community Center 1315 Spruce Street
2nd Floor - The Community Room
right here in Philadelphia.
RSVP: 215-627-5790
heastore@aol.com

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A Dollhouse Fit For a Queen


It was Princess Marie Louise, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, who first thought 'on the impulse of the moment’ of asking her friend the renowned architect Edwin Lutyens to design a dolls’ house for Queen Mary, the consort of Marie Louise’s first cousin King George V. Queen Mary was an obsessive collector of objets d’art, most particularly of 'tiny craft’, and most passionately of those with a family connection, which she amassed with an acutely knowledgeable eye. There could be no better gift for her than a dolls’ house filled with diminutive treasures. What more suitable tribute, too, for the Queen’s steadfast presence throughout the Great War? With its English eccentricity, this miniature yet monumental scheme was spot-on to capture the world’s imagination.

The Queen’s Dolls’ House, which now belongs to Queen Mary’s granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II, is a creation unlike any other: an exquisite little building filled to its royal rafters with the work, in miniature, of the finest artists and artisans, craftsmen and manufacturers of early 20th-century Britain.

These were the years of post-war convalescence, when the largely unemployed nation needed help to stand on its feet again, in a country 'fit for heroes to live in’. In 1922 the British Empire Exhibition of Arts and Manufacturing, conceived to boost spirits and to stimulate trade, was given the go-ahead, and this tiny masterpiece of an English house, displaying the very best that the United Kingdom could offer, would be its centrepiece. So this remarkable creation, which could have become a mere plaything, a fantastical toy subsumed into the wealth of the Royal Collection, was to become instead a beacon of national importance. Indeed, within days of its inception it was seen as a flagship of endeavour to ease the nation’s woes.

Lutyens regularly began to hold what he called 'Dollyleuyah Dinners’, which would lead to more than 1,500 individuals becoming involved in the Dolls’ House. It was a formidable force: 250 craftsmen and manufacturers, 60 artist-decorators and 700 artists, 600 writers and 500 donors, many of them still household names today.

When Lutyens took on the Dolls’ House, he had been working on the building of New Delhi for nine years. It gave him particular pleasure to be simultaneously applying himself to 80 square miles of Imperial buildings and a house measuring 5ft high. Lutyens created lofty royal chambers along with mezzanine levels, and ensured that every room had a window, with either casement or real sliding sashes. From the outside, what initially appears to be a podium supporting the house is in fact the basement quarters. Let down rusticated stone flaps and reveal, to the north, the water tank and machinery for the lifts; to the south, the wine cellar and food stores. Most ingenious of all are the revelations in the great drawers at either end of the building. With the flaps pulled down, to the west you haul forth a fully fledged five-bay garage housing a fleet of royal limousines; while to the east, a garden by Gertrude Jekyll – empress of garden design in her day – leaps into life.

There can surely be few more splendid last salvos from Edwardian England than the decoration applied inside the house, with its woodwork, plasterwork and damask-hung walls; its superbly imaginative ceiling paintings; as well as the murals by such giants as William Nicholson and Edmund Dulac. There is a wealth of rich-hued marble. In a letter to Princess Marie Louise, Lutyens had wondered whether 'government would allow us to tap maharajahs for Dollyleuyah 1) Would the Queen mind? 2) Would the Viceroy?’ Whatever he eventually did, there is Indian marble on the walls, floors, door-cases, dados and ceilings, and fashioned into fireplaces which then decreed the decorative colour scheme of the rooms.

When the shell of the house was finished, it was moved (the wall of Lutyens’s office in Apple Tree Yard, St James’s, London, had to be torn down to get it out) to Lutyens’s house in Mansfield Street. There it was to stand, taking up half his drawing-room, for nearly two years. The elite of the nation’s talent poured through the door: Sir Alfred Munnings (1878–1959) with his miniature painting of the King’s charger, Delhi; Alfred Dunhill (1872–1959) with his tiny cigarettes, cigars, pipes and tins of 'My Mixture’ – tobacco custom-made for the King. Ursula Ridley, Lutyens’s daughter, told me of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) arriving with his diminutive, hand-written and leather-bound story How Watson Learned the Trick. Queen Mary, enjoying every development, came to Mansfield Street several times.

In 1924 the house was finished. 'The most perfect present that anyone could receive’, wrote the Queen to all those involved in its creation. During its seven months at the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley the Dolls’ House was seen by 1,617,556 people. A year later, it was taken off again, in 45 boxes weighing four and a half tons, to the Ideal Home Exhibition at Olympia in west Kensington. Finally, in July 1925, it was put on show in Windsor Castle, in a room specially designed by Lutyens. There it has remained ever since.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

You Great Big Beautiful Doll

VERNON HILLS, IL, October 18, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Chicago doll artist Cyndi Safstrom has been creating action figures of everyday people for the past three years. Just send good pictures of your loved one's face, and she can turn them into a doll, display box included. The face is sculpted from polymer clay, then integrated in to an 11" doll body. Add the clothing of your choice and you have a unique and personalized gift that will be a huge hit on Christmas morning.

When Ms. Safstrom created an action figure of a fellow YouTuber for his birthday in 2007, she didn't expect it to turn into a new career. "I had lost my corporate job earlier in the year. Zipster08 put up a YouTube video showing off his doll, and the orders started coming in."For the first year, YouTubers kept Cyndi busy making action figures. Surprisingly, most of her business came from men wanting figures of themselves.

In early 2008 she created a website and opened her talents to the rest of the world.Be A Doll has now shipped personal dolls/action figures all over the world, mainly as gifts for wives, husbands, parents, siblings, and friends. "I love doing something creative for a living and helping people express their love for each other."Be A Doll creates 11" dolls of real people like YOU. Action figures for everyday heroes.See samples of our work at http://www.be-a-doll.com, or email beadoll55@aol.com.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Halloween

Here's a look at our display windows. I like to change one of the two every two weeks. Hmmmm, wonder what the theme is this week?



Friday, October 15, 2010

A Reason To Do Your Own Cleaning

NEW PORT RICHEY — A cleaning lady is accused of taking a collectible doll worth $3,000 from a client's home.

Deborah Ann Jelicks, 40, admitted to deputies that she took the Hummel doll this month, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report. She returned the doll to deputies.
Jelicks of 7525 Mallard St. was arrested Thursday and charged with grand theft. She remains at the Land O'Lakes jail in lieu of $500 bail.

In addition to working as a cleaning lady, Jelicks completed training in August to serve as a substitute teacher for Pasco schools. After the arrest, the district temporarily removed her from the substitute pool, and will revisit her status after the criminal charges are resolved, human resources director Renee Sedlack said.

Tonner - New York Comic Con exclusive

Tonner vient d'annoncer la poupée exclusive qu'ils présenteront lors de la Comic con de New York.NYCC EXCLUSIVE ARTEMIS OF BANA MIGDHAL (limitée à 200 exemplaires)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

December Dolls Magazine



Dear DOLLS subscriber,
Your December 2010 issue of DOLLS is now available. Click here to get instant access.
Turn to page 20 to read about and see the stunning beauty soul survivor Joe MacPhale creates from listening to the whispers of his heart.

Keep flipping to page 26 to key into the debate about what is and isn't doll art.
And be sure to check out the far-out art of Jill Penney on page 36. You won't believe your eyes.
Hope you enjoy the latest issue of DOLLS!

$500,000 Barbie - I'll Take Two

A one of a kind, custom Barbie doll will be auctioned off at Christies auction house in New York on October 20th and the accessories on this doll will make any girl jealous. This particular Barbie will come with a necklace featuring a real emerald cut 1-carat pink diamond designed by jeweler Stefano Canturi.

The doll is expected to fetch anywhere between $300,000 – $500,000 and that would make it the record holder for most expensive Barbie ever at auction. All proceeds will benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
The doll’s black strapless dress, stilettos, hair and other features were also designed by Canturi.

For more information please visit Christies.com

Friday, October 8, 2010

10-10-10 Bratz Return

TORONTO, Oct 7 /CNW/ - This year, 10-10-10 takes on a fashionable new meaning by marking the return of the beloved, fashion-forward Bratz® dolls that have been stealing the hearts of young girls around the world for a decade. MGA Entertainment, the toy company behind Bratz® and other popular brands like Little Tikes® and Moxie Girlz™, is celebrating the brand's 10th anniversary by introducing 10 all-new Bratz® dolls on October 10, 2010.

"Bratz is not only back, but better than ever this fall," says Diane Goveia-Gordon, President of MGA Entertainment Canada. "We are thrilled to be celebrating a decade of the popular fashion doll with the unveiling of ten new characters and we expect to see an even bigger increase in popularity with the new lines slated for release over the next year," adds Goveia-Gordon.
The new Bratz® 10th anniversary line welcomes Carrie™, Adri™, Shira™, Shadi™, Tyla™, Ashby™, Lydia™, Joelle™, Lilliana™ and Leora™ as they join the world's favourite Bratz® pack - Cloe™, Yasmin™, Sasha™ and Jade™ - on October 10, 2010. Each doll, complete with an individual personality and unique outfit.

MGA Entertainment also unveils the new Bratz® Party Dolls line. Each doll is decked out in full party mode and ready to strut their stuff with two fun outfits - one for daytime and one for parties. The new dolls feature multiple points of articulation, including knees, wrists, head, shoulders, waist, hips and elbows. The perfect gift for children ages six years and older, Bratz® Party Dolls are available at major retailers across Canada for a suggested retail price of $19.99.

'Speaking' of new Bratz® dolls…the new Bratz® Let's Talk™* dolls can not only speak, they can also ask questions and understand responses. Bratz® Let's Talk™ dolls feature a 12" fully articulated, pose-able body and voice recognition technology that allows the doll to talk and understand. And they have plenty to say, with 500 phrases and a variety of games and other activities like quizzes, fortune telling and secret sharing.
The girls with a passion for fashion™ first exploded onto the scene a decade ago, and young girls everywhere are still keeping up with these stylish dolls. Multi-ethnic, sassy, and chic, the Bratz® became instant icons, with style that not only kept up with, but often set the pace for emerging fashion trends. Inspired by their message of self-expression and individuality, pre-teen girls couldn't wait to get up close and personal with the new style stars. These trendsetting fashion icons have unleashed something in young girls everywhere - the passion to be who they are! For years to come, the Bratz® will always be there exploring new fashion trends to inspire girls around the world. For more information, visit www.Bratz.com.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Integrity Dolls To Appear in Film

http://www.jackbootsonwhitehall.co.uk/
A few Integrity dolls are making an appearance in a new movie, Jackboots on Whitehall. Check out the website here: http://www.jackbootsonwhitehall.co.uk/ Under characters, click on Daisy. Also, check out the backgrounds for other gals appearing as movie "extras".