Barry Baby & Ballerinas

Barry Baby and friend with a lot of clothes

I mentioned my new lot of dolls a post or two ago, and I've been working so hard on them I'm almost cross-eyed with exhaustion. I have finished quite a lot in the past week, and have a bunch of new stuff in my store. Of course, I found yet another ballerina in the new lot, and then another ballerina outfit as well! I'm getting to be quite the ballerina expert!

This newest ballerina doll is a mystery. She has different markings indicating various manufacturers. Her head has a Valentine mark, but her back has a mark used by Belle, I think, or maybe Deluxe Reading. Then, some of the clothing in the box seem to be Sears Happi Time clothing for their ballerina trunk set, but the size is wrong. I decided to clean the ballerina up as best I could and leave the identification to others.

The flocked blue ballerina outfit in the box fits the 15 N Revlon doll, as well as Elise, and the Dollikin Squirt and Horsman Rini. These are really hard dolls to clothe, as I've mentioned before, so it's exciting to find clothing. I was thinking of keeping them in my stash for future dolls, but I decided to list them instead for people who own actual, not hypothetical dolls.

Besides the ballerinas and fashion doll clothes, the trunk has Cissy-sized clothes, Ginny sized clothes, and then a Ginny-type doll I have tentatively identified as Cosmopolitan Ginger. I haven't started in that doll yet, because the third doll in the box turned out to be much more interesting than any I've worked on for a while.

At first, I thought I was working with a Roberta doll, perhaps Miss Roberta. The marks were wrong, though. A good deal of research finally provided me with a name: Barry Baby Girl doll by Universal company. You've probably never heard of her, because as it turns out, she is remarkably rare! An Internet and eBay search came up nearly empty. I am unable to say if her clothing is original, because I haven't been able to find a photo of the doll in her outfit. Even Doll Reference web site just shows a doll they say looks "similar" to Barry Baby!

Once I'd re-attached Barry Baby's arms and styled her hair and cleaned her, I could see she is a high-quality doll. Her paint is lovely, with sweet blush on the hands and fingernails, knees, and cheeks. One hand has more pink on the fingernails than the other, but it doesn't look like there ever was much on the one hand. It's not scraped off or anything. So, I just left it because I think this is her original paint.

I curled her Saran wig and arranged it to hide a thin spot. She looks a bit like Shirley Temple now! Besides this being a rare doll, she has amazingly unusual eyes. They are a clear, lovely golden hazel with touches of blue. Most dolls of this era have blue eyes unless they are ethnic dolls.

This doll is a head-turning walker, and her walker mechanism works perfectly. Her body is perfect, with no splits or cracks. All I had to do is clean her.

I found all the clothing that fits the doll and cleaned and repaired it as best I could. This doll is another one in a rare size; 15 inches but a child, not fashion, body with a thicker waist, so most 14 inch dolls clothes don't fit and neither do the 16 inch! There were plenty of clothes in the box that do fit, though, so I am assuming these were her original clothes. She has an ensemble for every occasion.

I think the red taffeta plaid dress fits as though it was hers, except the back is rather tight. It fits her exactly. The green sundress/pinafore has some room, but this could mean there was originally another dress that went under it. The pink silk-like dress fits well, as does the "fur" caplet and hat, so I guess this is another original outfit. There were several pairs of shoes in the trunk, but only the red Fairyland size 1 1/2 fit her well. The rayon socks don't exactly match, but this isn't really visible unless you look at them off the feet. I gave her a new-vintage pair of white shoes to go with her formal gown. I also gave her a vintage necklace and bracelet. She came with little hangers and a hand mirror.

I covered some small holes in the dress with handmade flower decorations.

I made this crinoline for the doll.

The metal trunk is in really good shape. I had to stabilize the cardboard drawer with clear tape, but it functions. I cleaned the trunk and decorated it with vintage-look travel stickers.

I just think this is a wonderful set! My daughter couldn't believe how good the doll and her clothes and trunk looked when she got home from school! All these are available in my store, so make sure to check: http://stores.ebay.com/atelier-mandaline.