Rich Toys Cottage Twins!

 

I've shared stories of Schoenhut Neighbors 

and Keystone Sisters....

and now I have Rich Toys Twins!

These little 2 room cottages, produced in 1936, have two windows....

one on the front and one on the side.

With only two rooms, I've set them up as guest cottages.

 Hopefully there is a communal toilet somewhere. 

Hollyhock Cottage...

...is furnished with Kage, produced from 1938 to 1948. 

The yellow lamp is Strombecker, the blue chair was made by Dixie Doll 

and the vanity lamps are  Nancy Forbes.

The blue table lamp is Strombecker.

Woodlands Cottage ....

....is furnished mostly with Schoenhut, 

produced 1928-1934.

The dresser, bedside table and bed are Schoenhut, 

while the chair is Kage, and the vanity lamps, clock 

and table with vase are Strombecker. 

The Schoenhut sofa and chair have been neatly upholstered. 

The floor lamp is also Schoenhut, 

the end table is Strombecker and the radio is Kage. 

Ahh, we have our first visitors to Hollyhock Cottage!

How neat that they come in traditional dress...

can we assume Bavarian tourists?

And more visitors, this time to Woodlands Cottage. 

We know our travelers have been to Montreal! 

Funniest thing.....overnight the Woodlands Cottage 

picked up and moved itself to Bolivar, Missouri. 

Saving dollies from the dust bin and stories to tell...

I have a friend in the far north....well actually just Wisconsin...who is an avid collector of dollhouses and the little dolls that live in them. We discovered that we had the same Keystone of Boston dollhouse in our childhood years....the Keystone Tudor from 1947. Neither one of us were able to keep our dollhouse, but we both have a wonderful replacement that we cherish. 

Jamie often sends me funny little stories of a day in the life of her dollies, and I love sharing them because they always bring smiles and laughter to my day.  Here's her latest! 

Featured is the Caco Dad doll that I had found cleaning out a cupboard. 

Unfortunately his wrappings underneath his clothes were rotting away to dust, 

so that's why he had to go through a de-mummifying. Not only were the foam like wrappings turning dusty, but his clothes were dirty and his poor head was barely hanging on, so double trouble for the poor old boy. His clothes were put away to make a pattern off of but think they mistakenly got thrown out, 

so the doll seamstress will step in once again....

This is the B.D.A.T. ....or Broken Dolls and Toys support group. They are waiting for their own make over and meet once a week to whine about their sad situation to ad nauseam! 

You can spy our man second from the left having to hold his own broken head in his lap, but he miraculously hears every word of encouragement his little friends give him. 

Yes, and even one handed monkeys are welcome ....as long as they behave.

The Victorian bisque lady has one fatal leg injury, and will probably be looking for a replacement job. She hates coming to the meetings, as it feels so unlady like exposing her leg for all to see. She'll never get over Victorian propriety. 

The Flagg doll in the foreground seems to dominate encouragement by his outward gesticulating arms.  He suffers from a bad wiring job gone south and can not put his arms down.

And finally the reveal picture of a pretty dapper looking young gent if I do say so myself. New wrappings, new clothes do make the man!

My friend Jamie makes wonderful new clothes for her dollies....from sweaters, like the red one above, to precious little dresses for little girl dolls and even underwear!  I will share more in a later post. 

Yes, Virginia, cowboys do live in Texas!

 

and some of them live close to the Village.....

 

Diego Pickett is the stationmaster at the Keystone Outpost 

 on down the road * from the Village. He lives there with wife Savannah

and his children Little Zeke and Liza.

Savannah is so proud of her new Barbie cowgirl hat that Diego bought her on his last trip to  town...she is trying to figure out a way to show it off. Maybe a little hoedown*... they can  invite all the neighboring ranchers and farmers . "We can celebrate my new Barbie hat!" she says to Diego. Southern girls can be a bit shallow at times.

Little Zeke likes to climb the rocks around the fort....

and Liza follows so she can tattle on him.

Agreeing to Savannah's suggestion, Diego decides that Little Zeke is old enough to ride to the neighboring ranches and invite everyone to the hoedown. Little Zeke saddles his horse Trusty and heads out while everyone waves goodbye. Savannah is hoping he remembers to ride his horse at least part of the way.

The Flagg boys, Buck, Spud and Chance, and little sister Sissie, are excited about going to a hoedown. They dress in their best bib and tucker*, tuck their pistolas* in their belts and get an early start. Texans don't go anywhere without their pistolas. Stopping to rest the horses, Spud is the first out of the wagon and already has his pistol drawn looking for something to shoot. Chance is standing on the wagon tongue hoping he won't be played out* before he gets there. Buck has headed to the nearest rock to see a man about a horse*....Sissie is last out of the wagon.

Sissie heads behind the biggest cactus while Buck walks to the side of the wagon to stretch his leg. You notice that Buck is walking with a crutch...he lost his left leg in a bull riding accident....a mechanical bull riding accident. Ow-ooch!

Spud starts shooting at the tumbleweeds to see how far they will roll.

"Dad blame it * Spud!" yells Chance, "you're gonna spook the horses.

 

 Before leaving, they stop to take a selfie, forgetting they don't have smart phones. 

Nice smiles however guys!

 



 

 The Mueller family of the nearby Fenstermacher Ranch decide to go in style and hire a stagecoach to travel to the Pickett hoedown. Klaus assures them he can drive a stagecoach and he knows the way. Problems crop up quickly....the stagecoach doors weren't made to open so Sigrid was forced to ride on top, while Axel and Dieter hop on the back and say their prayers. 

 

 

First they ride easterly....

 

 



  then they ride westerly.......

 

and east again.....

 

Finally Deiter yells, "Whoa! I'll jus climb that tall cactus  yonder 

and see whats to see. Oh, it's still a fur piece* to the outpost!"

 

 

On his way to the Village, Little Zeke stops by Three-and-a-Half-Rocks

 to invite his climbing buddies Mohe and Kanuna to come to the hoedown.

 Of course, their parents Koatohee and Hileah, and little sister Leotie, are invited too!

Let's see who else was invited....

Ruby Lou Ketchum is headed to the hoedown

with her twins Royal and Blaze.

 

 

Ruby Lou curled her locks special for today. 

Son of a gun...she just had a bath last Saturday and she didn't want to show up smelling like a horse.

So she walked instead, hoping those handsome Flagg boys might be there. 

 

 

 Royal loves to ride carrying his Texas flag....he  pretends

he is part of the United States Calvary charging forward! 

 

 

 Aging starlet Constance Blain arrives with her boy-toy Mix Match wondering if she found the right outpost. She's hoping some producers will be around to spot her talent...after all she is a Hollywood Doll. And yes, Elvis did give her that pink Cadillac back in 1961...I told you she was talented. 

 

 

 

Timothy Twinky sneaked out of his mama's house to come to the hoedown.

 Last hoedown his cowboy hat was peppered with holes, and his mama doesn't think hoedowns are a safe place for a 19 year old town boy to be. 

Seems like no one is home....did he come on the right day?

 

 

 

 I'll just wait a while here on this rock... 

 

 

 

 Looks like the drugstore cowboys* and cowgirls 

have wandered in from town....

those two on the right look like real pale-faces.

 

I think the hoedown is finally getting started....let's see what's happening.....

 

 

There are two of the Flagg boys hustlin' Ruby LouKetchum...

or is it the other way around? Watch out, boys!

Klaus has spotted Constance Blain....

he remembers her from Saturday serials

at the movin' picture-show....

maybe she can help him break into movin' pictures!

  

Looks like Dieter has fallen head-over-hills for Miss Blaze!

Sissie Flagg is happy to have finally trapped Timothy Twinky 

in a position where he can't escape easily.
 

Sigrid is making sure Axel doesn't get too enamored of little Belle Clanton....

both of the Clanton boys carry two pistols everywhere! 

 

Royal Ketchum is trying to convince Sundance Clanton to let him

 join-up with him and brother Cody in their Wild West Shootum-Up Show.....

 

 

 

 Sundance and Cody are staging one of their shoot-outs right now...

hope those are not real bullets they are using!

 

 

Hey, those are not pistolas those two pale-faces are toting!

 

  

 

 

The Picketts are bisque dolls made in Japan, probably in the 1950s. 

The 2 smaller ones came new in the box, still wrapped in crisp cellophane.

 

 

 

Caco dolls from Germany. The 3 on the right have metal hands and feet

 which would place them as early as the 1960s. 

I think they originally came with cowboy hats.

 

 

 

 Flagg dolls made in the USA, starting around 1947,

by Charles and Sheila Flagg.

 

 

 

Bisque dolls stamped Japan.

Headbands and wigs on Indian braves are not original.

 

 

 

Hollywood Dolls made  1941-1956. Several different sizes were made. 

The earliest were composition, these are plastic.

 

 

 

Tiny Town dolls made in USA by Alma LeBlanc

from 1948 through 1955. The wig on Ruby Lou is not original.

 

 

 

Twinky doll made in USA by Ethel Strong from 1946 to 1953.

Some cowboy dolls had chaps to cover the pants.

 

 

 

 Various celluloid/plastic dolls most likely produced in Japan from 1950 -1970.

 

 

 

  

This is a "Model #823 - Keystone (of Boston) Shooting Frontier Set with Rifle and Harmless Bullets - Real Stage Coach and Covered Wagon with Cowboys, Indians, Soldiers, Buffalo and Movable Stockade Fence"

My set didn't come with the rifle and harmless bullets.

Update 2023: I listed this set on Ebay and it was purchased by a wife as a surprise birthday gift for her husband who had this set as a child. I hope he has had many happy memories.

 

 

Glossary: 

On down the road....famous quote from our illustrious gov Rick Perry when his driver was pulled over for doing 75 mph in a 55 mph zone....Perry exited the SUV and asked the DPS trooper "Why don't you just let us get on down the road?" and he was only the Lt. Gov at the time.

hoedown...an informal country party where people do square/folk dances.

best bib and tucker...your best clothes.

pistolas....Spanish word for a handgun.

played out.....exhausted

see a man about a horse....going to the restroom/water closet/loo to relieve yourself

Dad blame it!....euphemism coined to allow expressive speech without swearing.

still a fur piece....take you a while to get there.

drugstore cowboys....one who wears cowboy clothes but has had no experience as a cowboy.

 

YES!!! this is finally over!!!