My Story

In the fall of 1969 MamaT's parents were out doing their Christmas shopping. I actually don't know where they found me, but I have always imagined it was at the Teddy Bear Toy Shop at the Sherwood Gardens shopping center in Salinas, California. The center had a rustic wood porch and inside the front door of the shop was a larger than life (at least 5' tall) teddy bear. MamaT thought the place was almost magical, even better than visiting “The Sugar Plum Farm” near Gilroy. And how could a place with a name like that NOT be exciting when you're 5? Anyhow, MamaT's daddy caught sight of a Sasha doll like me in the store window display. Although I was a bit on the expensive side for a play doll at the time ($17), her Mama agreed, and they picked me out and took me home to put under the tree on Christmas Eve. I wore a plaid skirt and white sweater and am known to Sasha collectors, as a "kilt" doll (not a very romantic name, I know). I was manufactured in England by the Frido doll company and was packaged in a "crayola tube" shown in the video below. That was back in the days of the 8mm silent home movies, and MamaT has a video clip of the moment she first opened my crayola tube and pulled me out. I love seeing the smile that flashes across her face when she first sees me. MamaT's daddy labeled the film box. "Christmas 1969--the year that Sasha came". It was like I was an additional member of the family. MamaT is the youngest of 6 girls in the family, and somehow she was the only one privileged to receive a Sasha doll. That didn't prevent the whole family from falling in love with me. In some ways, I was like MamaT's little sister and the real baby of the family.

I've posted the video-clip below, but before you get your expectations up, I'll start with an apology. The film was taken as a Super-8 home movie, and it was always a family favorite for repeat viewing. A decade or so ago, MamaT's sister, AuntieN, transferred many of the old home movies to VHS video format by projecting them on a wall and videotaping the projection. From this version, MamaT used a digital camera to capture this clip by filming the television screen. Through all of this the quality of the film has gotten quite poor and dark, so we apologize for that. And possibly the quality was never that great to begin with. We also had the VHS version professionally transferred to a DVD, and I think the digital camera version is no worse than that. In the film, you can see AuntieN (who was 8 at the time) is as excited about me as MamaT and very eager to "help" her with me. The video includes a clip of another baby doll that MamaT got that year just because it's a cute scene, but the baby doll is long gone and never got to become real, while MamaT swears she would never part with me at any price.

The Sasha link I'd like to share with you today is Cecelia's page. It features a couple of kilt dolls just like me, and even shows an original sales receipt. Now you can see what my original outfit looked like. My own was long lost over the years, and I am wearing a replacement outfit which was produced in the 70s and not quite exactly like my original skirt. Here's the link:

• http://www.dcai.com/sasha/


• And now for the video clip, click the box below...(if nothing happens with the first click, click again.)