Just Like Bea's.....well, almost!

I first saw this  French dollhouse on Bea Dassonville's wonderful website Chez BEA several years ago. Bea dates the house to the 1950s and shares that it was manufactured by a company named Thomas in Mureaux, France. She calls her house "La maison de Virginie" because it once belonged to a little girl named Virginia. Bea also has 3 other houses on her website  made by this same firm.

I say mine is almost like Bea's because mine is missing the window panes, the curtains, the original flowers in the window boxes....and the front door! I've added flowers, and the other items are on my "to do" list...which gets longer and longer everyday.

I call my house La Maison de Lorraine Aubuchon....it's her country cottage and she loves to spend weekends and holidays cultivating lovely flowers in her window boxes and creating colorful displays in tubs and old pots.  This weekend  she is hosting a  gathering of her favorite people....

Here we see her showing off her latest creation to her friends Guillaume and Laurent...hmmn, are they each holding a bottle of ketchup...or are those long-necks?

Back in the kitchen, Lorraine discovers that chef Gaston and his partner Julien have set out a scrumptious looking spread for afternoon nibbling....which is the main reason they were invited.  Lorraine has difficulty managing other than her wine glass because her arms are made of pipe-cleaners. Guillaume is eyeing the food with delight...one  reason why he has a small problem with his weight. Laurent heads for the fridge for another bottle of beer....or ketchup.  Lorraine wonders just where Gaston and Julien have disappeared to....

Oh, here they are in the living room.....all comfy and cozy and looking at a design book for ideas on how to decorate their new apartment in the city. Looks like they are also partaking of the beverage that France is famous for!

Lorraine, wondering why her friends Etienne and Elise haven't arrived, heads up stairs to give them a call.....but discovers....

"Elise! Wake up! Wake up! Please remove your glass from my good furniture before it leaves a ring!"

Lorraine Aubuchon is a soft cloth body doll with solid plastic/celluloid head and legs...her arms are made of pipe cleaners. Her beret is made of a red pipe cleaner wrapped circular and glued to her hair.  The other dolls are light weight plastic/celluloid and have an embossed fleur-de-lis trademark on their back.

Furniture is by Barton and Lundby, green wooden items Strombecker, mantle clock is Kage, and the bathroom furniture is Fairylite. Champagne is courtesy of Trader Joe's in Illinois....

Don't forget to visit Bea's wonderful dollhouse site
at Chez BEA ,

....guaranteed enjoyable!!



Radios....I have radios, lots and lots of radios!

Children of my generation learned to use their imaginations well because, before TV, the most dominant home entertainment medium was the radio. I remember lying on the floor in front of the radio listening to concerts, musical shows, dramas, comedies, and one that threatened to "catch you in the jaws of a vise". My imagination always made me worry about that one.

These radios were made by Strombecker. All radios on the back row are 1" scale; from the left, the dates of production were 1936, 1938, and 1931. The art deco blue radio, part of their "Modern Design" line, was first marketed in 1938. The table radio was listed in their catalog in 1934.

Other dollhouse radios marketed during that period and later were...

first on the back row left is the US Menasha Woodenware radio from 1934;

US Converse produced this radio as part of their "Realy Truly" dollhouse furniture starting in 1931; the radio last radio on this row was made by UK Barton around 1957.

On the front row is a radio made by US Nancy Forbes circa 1940; US Kage made the second radio from 1938 to 1948; the last radio was  made by US Strombecker in 1942.

Plastic dollhouse furniture became popular after World War II. The 3 radios grouped on the left were made by Renwal. The open drawer housed the phonograph...this is almost an exact replica of the Philco radio that my family had in our living room. I remember when I was old enough to play my colorful cardboard records on the phonograph without supervision. I sometimes see old cardboard records on eBay. :)

The next two radios are almost duplicates...the dark radio was made by US Ideal and the brown one by Canadian Reliable. The only difference is each radio has their brand name posted on the front above the dial. In Zillner's Furnished Dollhouses 1880-1980 she says that "Reliable was licensed by the Ideal Toy Co. to copy some of Ideal's products." That explains the identical radios. The last radio was made by Jaydon during World War II.

Not only did Renwal have a phonograph in the opening drawer, they also had radio tubes and speakers as seen from the back!

Between radios and TVs...there were combos

Combination TV/radio/phonographs were popular starting in the 1950's. Some units had only the radio/record player available, but as the popularity of television grew, many units had all three built into one cabinet. Here are some of the ones I am lucky enough to have in my doll houses....

The console on the left is a German music box that plays Kerzenwalzer, or Auld Lang Syne. On today's blog, http://diepuppenstubensammlerin.blogspot.com/ has a catalog picture of Bodo Hennig furniture showing this radio, so it's possible this is a Bodo Hennig product. On the right is a radio made by Lynnfield-Blockhouse during the late 1940's or early 1950's.

On the back row left is a Barton radio/phonograph console circa 1970's. Skipping the blonde model, the small dark plastic TV/radio unit was made by Plasco, 1948. The large dark plastic console on the end was made by Ideal for their Young Decorator series in 1951. Marx made the 2 red units, 3/4 and 1/2 scale, while the aqua console is Canadian Eagle. In front is a Lundby radio/phonograph.

In 1947, the Ideal Company produced and sold this dollhouse console as one of their specialty pieces.

The door on the left opens and the phonograph flips down; in the middle the TV flips up; and on the right the door opens to reveal the radio.

...and TVs for the younger set!

For you youngsters under 60 who never lived in a house without a TV, here are a few of the sets that furnish my little houses.....

All of these TVs are made of wood with stickers or plastic parts.
Back row from left, a 1970s TV from Hall's Lifetime Toys; white TV from Strombecker circa 1960; large cabinet TV made in Germany and imported by the toy store FAO Schwarz in 1966; this next TV came with Dol Toi furniture, but one very similar is shown in Marion Osborne's book, Barton's "Model Homes", circa 1959; last, unsure of maker but could be Barton or Dol Toi.

Front row on left also shown in Marion's book as being made by Barton 1970s; unknown maker on this TV, made of plastic with wood veneer strip casing.  UPDATE: Thanks to Sue Freebern who helped identify this last little TV as a Lundby product from 1960!

Marion has written 3 very informative dolls house books; in addition to the Barton book, she has Lines & Triang Dolls Houses and 1914-1941 A-Z of Dolls Houses. Information on purchasing these books can be found on the http://dollshousespastandpresent.webs.com magazine website.


I'm sure everyone recognizes the Lundby TV in the middle of the back row. The white TV on legs was made by Marx for their Little Hostess line. The tiny TV in front belongs to a 6" wide Japanese house that came free, room by room, with a soup/sauce mix.

Now to get all these little radios and TVs back into the right little houses.....