DECIDEDLY DOLLY 7

Hello Everyone,

I bought a doll’s house recently. I didn’t mean to do this, because I have enough trouble finding room for dolls, but I had been thinking about the doll’s house I used to have as a child, and decided I would like to ‘get it back’ as it were. I knew that the house I originally had was a Tri-ang, because I recalled the triangular logo on the back, and after a bit of research discovered that it was called a ‘Tri-ang 50’. My childhood doll’s house had roses around the door, and I discovered that this would have been a very early model, with hand-painted flowers. It was probably made in the 1940s.


I spent ages watching ebay, but ‘my’ house never showed up, it must be quite rare now. Then I saw a similar model, except that this one had a completely plain front. As the seller didn’t live too far away it meant I could collect it and save on postage. The house is just as I remember – tin fronted with two bay windows, two little trees in pots by the red metal front door, and a hinged front which swings open to reveal four rooms. It has a sloping card roof and a tiny hook to secure the front of the house when it is shut.


They say that you shouldn’t alter old toys without a valid reason; well, I’ve thought long and hard about this, and consulted several doll’s house experts. The general consensus was – go for it! I was told to paint roses on the front, just as I remember it. Make it my own. Recreate it as my own doll’s house was all those years ago. As the experts pointed out, it is isn’t as if this plain house is a rare model, it’s like a blank canvas, waiting to be decorated. And so that is what I will do. I’ll paint roses round the door and fill the house with plastic Kleeware furniture, so typical of the time. The occupants will be those funny little 1950’s rubbery dolls with outstretched arms and bent knees.


The trouble is, I am so pleased with my dolls house, I have now bought two more! One is a modern one which I found at a collectables centre for £15, the other is a 1950’s GeeBee model, which I bought at a doll’s fair for the same price. This is definitely one hobby which I won’t pursue, much as I would love to, as I can’t afford the space. It might be fun, though, to collect dolls house furniture and tiny dolls house dolls, not only to go into the houses but also to display in a bookcase. They would take up very little room, and could be arranged in room settings, using backgrounds made from small-print wallpaper mounted onto card. Or, by using pictures cut from a scenic calendar, garden settings or even picnic or seaside arrangements could be made, using small dolls and appropriately-sized props. It might be fun to make a schoolroom, or a nursery or a Christmas scene or a shop – the possibilities are endless.


Changing the subject, I am pleased to say that my book, Classic Playground Games, has now been published by Remember When, an imprint of Pen and Sword. It’s nostalgia based, containing all those old skipping rhymes, dipping rhymes and chants we learnt at school, as well as the games such as ‘What’s the Time Mr Wolf’, ‘Queenie, Queenie’, ‘Hopscotch’, ‘Simon Says’, ‘Dusty Bluebells’ and ‘Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush’. There are details of the toys, too – marbles, jacks, five stones, yo-yos, skipping ropes, hula hoops and Rubik’s cube – and of the board games, puzzles and games with pen and paper which amused us during rainy playtimes.


I’m now working on a book about Girl’s Toys, for publication in 2010, while next year my two books on 1950’s Dolls and 1960’s Dolls will be published, both by Remember When (Pen and Sword). So I get plenty of opportunity to play and to relive my childhood, all in the name of ‘work’! Great fun!

Sue X