When she arrived, I wasn't sure if her pale-blue fishnet tights were original or not but decided that, on balance, they probably were.
Well, now I know for definite because I was leafing through one of my favourite books this morning, 'Dollhouse and Miniature Dolls 1840-1990' by Marcie & Bob Tubbs, when I spotted a this photo:
Lo and behold, there was a similarly-dressed teenager, wearing the same pale-blue fishnets! I love it when pieces of the jigsaw fall into place like this.
My teenager definitely looks more sassy than the one in the book and I think that's down to the length of her dress which is, let's be honest, quite immodest!
I notice that the Tubbs book teenager has a longer dress and that her legs are nicely bound under her tights. Whereas, Little Miss Sass' legs are only bound half-way up under her tights - so I'm wondering if her dress was originally a little longer.
Perhaps her fashion-conscious young 'Human Bean' decided that she should lead the fashion for ever-shorter dresses as the 60s progressed and took the scissors to her.
On the other hand, the seams of her dress are properly finished and don't show signs of being re-stitched, so maybe it was down to a daring streak in the out-worker who originally dressed her - who knows?
The other thing I picked up from the photograph in the Tubbs book was that the Grecons in the photo are described as a "set" dating from the late 1950s, early 1960s and, apart from being pleased that my dating of her was in line with this, I realised that I had this contemporary young man waiting in the wings to keep her company.
Given that all my other Grecon teenagers look rather prissy when compared to Little Miss Sass, I'm very pleased that she'll have this young man to knock about with. He has slightly different feet (longer and flatter) and might be a touch earlier, but they seem reasonably well-suited and we'll just have to see how it works out for them...
Until next time,
Zoe
[You can see my original post about my Sassy Teenage Grecon here.]
Great discovery Zoe! Little Miss Sass looks to like she was very important to a former young owner - she is so very heavily handled but this was obviously done quite carefully as her tights and dress are still intact in spite of this. A great character - and perhaps a role model or source of hope for a less daring or disapproved-of HB girl in the past?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edel. I often wonder about the original owners as I think these characters would have been very easy to get attached to and, being so small, they'd be very easy to keep with you at all times. I also wonder, if I Grecons had been on my radar as a child, which ones I would have gone for - I've got a feeling that the fabulous detailing of the posh schoolgirl outfits would have lured me!
DeleteYes, I'd imagine many Grecons may have been pocket companions to be kept with you at all times - a bit like Rumer Godden's "Impunity Jane" ;-)
ReplyDelete