Saturday, December 20, 2008

Cora and the Diversity of Sasha Dolls

This is me, Cora Morgen Cora Morgen is my name, and it is about time Sasha granted me a turn on the blog. I have been after her to let me have my turn ever since I arrived in late July. She keeps on insisting we have to go in the order we arrived in MamaT's possession. How silly is that? Now by raise of hands, I want to see how many people out there really care that we get introduced in the order that we arrived here. See there, I don't see a single hand raised, and Sasha, you don't count. I wasn't asking you. I already know your opinion. And so I have had to wait around for Cara and Patrick and Sandy AND Lona all to take their turns first, not to mention several turns for Sasha. I know Lona, for one, would have been happy to let me go first. Then when it finally WAS my turn, MamaT got busy working on some job application and Christmas letters and she has absolutely been HOGGING the computer all the time. I know a lot of folks have been looking for a new entry for a long time, so I think you will say along with me, it's about time I got my turn.

Now you did get a sneak peak at me late last summer when I was priviledged to be the only doll MamaT took on an outing to Glacier National Park, (although Sasha and Angela Karinne used to live in the park when MamaT lived there). That was pretty amazing and so beautiful. I really liked the bighorn sheep we got to watch. I made friends with her granddaughter, Ryin, that day too. MamaT says I was a breath of fresh air after Patrick and Lona, because I was not the fixer-upper sort. I came in perfect condition, missing only my box. And that makes MamaT smile too, cuz she hates having boxes to store. I am a “warm-toned” Cora doll with a flowered dress produced by Trendon between 1980-84. There were 2 styles of flowered dresses. The other had a dark blue background, and both were very pretty, I think. In my former home, I had a brother, Caleb, and I still miss him, though my new family is very cool, even if Sasha can be a bit anal at times. Black dolls were first produced in 1972, as Cora, Caleb, and an unnamed baby girl. The earlier dolls had dark black skin, like native African born blacks. Beginning in 1980, they started producing lighter or warmer-toned black dolls, more like American and probably European blacks. In 1984, the baby girl was named Cara.

Now I want to talk to you about the diversity of MamaT's doll collection. She has a relatively small collection (by Sasha collector standards), but has tried to include as much diversity as her budget allows in our small family. Here is how the family (and our diversity has grown).
--First there was just Sasha, an English Frido produced blonde girl.
--Then Angela Karinne came along, so there was a German Redhead and an English blonde.
--Next is Gregor, so then there was a brunette, English Trendon boy, and 2 girls as above, one by Frido and one by Gotz.
--Next a dark black baby Cara is added, so she had a baby, a boy, and 2 girls, with black, brunette, blonde and red hair.
--Then another redhead boy was added, so there were 2 boys, 2 girls and a baby.
--Next we got a honey blonde baby, so we had every hair color produced in just 2 boys, 2 girls, and 2 babies.
--After that MamaT got a brunette 70's girl for her birthday, so there were blonde, brunette, and redhead girls, along with the 2 boys and 2 babies.
--Then she needed a warm-toned Cora doll and that was me. I am also the only short-haired girl in the family (besides the babies). Only one other short-haired girl was produced by Trendon, the sweater blonde. There were some unisex dolls produced in the 60's by Gotz that could be whatever the owner chose. And when I arrived, she had 4 girls, 2 boys and 2 babies.
--This fall MamaT got custody of her sister's 3 dolls, to be introduced later. Now she is beginning to get some duplication with a twin for Margot, a younger brunette girl, and a redhead trendon girl. But she likes having an English version each of a blonde, brunette and redhead girl.
--So what could be next to further increase our diversity? We still don't have a toddler or a fair skinned Gotz doll. A doll like Iona or Ollie could fill both of those roles. We could add South American Yamka and an Indian Sari doll. Then we still need at least one 60's Gotz doll, and a least one Limited Edition doll, like Kiltie or Velvet. Then one could go on and collect a doll in every outfit ever produced. Then we don't have an example of a course doll either or a custom repainted Sasha. And there is no end to the diversity represented in the studio dolls, but there aren't enough of those for every Sasha collector, so we stick with enjoying photos of those. These are just some fun fantasies, but we do love all the diversity in Sasha dolls.
--signed Cora Morgen
P.S. And speaking of diversity, for today's link, you'll see a number of example of customized repaints on Sasha dolls.
http://www.dayco.org/pages/PageFiveTest.htm


Cora and Cara
Me & the boys
Just us girls

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