It is my sincere pleasure to report that my friend Fanny Wong won the inventor/designer award at the fifth annual Wonder Women of Toys Awards, presented by Women In Toys and ‘Playthings’ Magazine, and I couldn’t be happier!

When Addie and I were just starting out, Fanny was a big help to us, because she was already manufacturing the ethnic baby dolls we needed for our customers. We had a good working relationship for years, and then she invented what we think may be the most perfect baby doll ever!

Nighty-Night baby doll

Nighty Night Dolls are perfect baby dolls because they are soft, safe starting at age 2, machine washable, are available in ethnicities, are absolutely adorable — dressed in their sleepers and carrying their teddy bears dressed in matching sleeper – are large enough for two or three year olds to play with yet light enough to carry etc. They are our most popular cloth baby dolls – year in and year out. here’s a 10 second clip from our YouTube video

Fanny designed them.

PS: For all you Sleepless in Seattle fans, I stay in the Pennsylvania Hotel each year when I’m at the show, and it’s just down the street from The Empire State Building… and yes they do light it up in red on Valentines Day! Here’s a picture.

The Empire State Building lit up in Red for Valentines Day!

Illustration from the book

We don’t sell Golliwog dolls, although we do sell dozens of black baby dolls. Golliwogs are still sold in England, by Trendle International.

Razz Golliwog courtesy Trendle Int'l

I guess the bottom line is: If someone gave us a Golliwog, would we be embarrassed to put it on the shelf with the rest of our doll collection? And if not, should we be?

I have a pretty serious request for all my readers today. I am going to ask, no BEG! – you all to go to this link and sign this petition. The US government, in it’s attempts to increase toy safety, ( a good thing ) has written rules that require testing of all toys for children.

Unfortunately, that also means that if you handmake rag dolls here in America, and sell them to your local toy store or gallery, technically you need to get your dolls tested as well. Or if you make one of a kind Art Dolls. If you make children’s clothes, quirky, fun and original.

That will cost you from several hundred to several thousand dollars per doll. Even if you use all natural organic fibers and stuffings, these new rules still require testing! So Art Dolls, (if they’re to be sold,) Folk Art and Crafts Dolls Children’s quilts etc., all of us will be poorer for this rule. If not corrected, it could mean the end of home crafted dolls. Can you imagine a world with nothing but Barbie™?

This petition is to ask that Congress amend the law to exempt these small American Cottage industries that make handmade dolls and toys from this expensive testing.

please go here to sign this petition

Please visit here for more information The Handmade Toy Alliance

Showstoppers, makers of fine porcelain dolls and gift dolls,

(Here’s one of their dolls)

sent us this email:

After almost 30 years of enjoying the pleasure of bringing you some of the most exciting dolls available anywhere, we have decided that 2009, will be a good year for us to take some time to get renewed, refreshed, and invigorated.
The uncertain economy, and factory conditions overseas, have played no small part in our difficult decision. This means that we will not be producing any new designs for 2009.

They do go on to say:

We intend to use the second half of 2009 to re-evaluate the economy, and examine the value of the contributions we can offer to the doll and gift industry going forward. We will keep you informed of our progress.

Shortly after that, we learned that long time gift and plush retailer Russ Berrie is changing direction and will concentrate on it’s children’s furniture business; and is selling it’s gift business, (including the plush dolls and bears) to The Encore Group. It’s a complicated deal with licensing rights, subsidiaries, exclusivity clauses and such, but I think the sum total will be, that when we go to the toy show, we’ll be talking to different folks.

Addie and I have a soft spot for Russ Berrie, for it was their Ling Doll that turned our business from failure to success. We’ll devote a special entry to that story next time.

At any rate, we thought that our readers would be interested in the following information: It’s from the list of the top forty unsecured creditors filed with the court.

#1 with $27 Million + is Li & Fung Toy Island Manuf. in Hong Kong. Consolidators and shippers. This company would source all kinds of toys from China, bring them into the ports and then distribute them to the stores. More of a service industry than anything else, they would be responsible for very generic types of dolls.
#2 with only $1.3 Million is Mattel.
#3 Energizer battery $728 thousand
and down from there. In no particular order, Lego, Crayola, Hasbro-Milton Bradley etc.

They blamed the sudden downturn in the economy.

My Opinion? They had a poor business model. Selling toys is about selling play and fun. Successful neighborhood toy stores are an adventure and a pleasure to visit and explore. Not KB, – at least in my neck of the woods – (nor for that matter Toys R Us or Walmart or KMart either.) Their stores were never a pleasant place to visit, you just went in because you were looking for a particular toy and hoped they had it… they probably weren’t even your first stop in the Mall, they were probably a while I’m there I’ll check and see if they have… type of place. Plus, pardon my language but that 27 Million dollars worth of stuff on the shelves? IMHO, most of it was cr*p.

So put a bunch of cr*p in a store that was no fun to explore, never seemed to be part of the neighborhood, or care about your kids, like your friendly local specialty Toy or Doll shops… of course they failed. I just wonder that it took them so long. By the way… Toys R Us may survive online, but they’re next. Mark my words. Who was KB’s management as they emerged out bankruptcy four years ago?.. folks who came from Toys R Us!

But we are a little bit puzzled by the folks who are complaining that the toy industry advertises too heavily to children. And that during tough times, it’s not right, because it makes parents feel bad to have to say no! (Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood: http://www.commercialexploitation.org/ )

Nobody likes commercials, we’d rather watch the show without them. And the toy industry certainly does market to children… better get used to it – always has and always will.** That’s how children learn what’s out there.

But if you want to blame TV commercials for not buying your kid a doll… well then you really are in sad shape. Dolls don’t have to be expensive; better yet, make one yourself. Some old rags and needle and thread… a few hours and you’ve got yourself a doll.
Here’s one from Martha Stewart

Our advice? Don’t look for excuses or outside sources to blame. Little girls love their dolls unconditionally, it doesn’t matter if they are small or home made. And the smile on their faces when you give them a new doll? Priceless.

**Doll ads from Sears catalogs from the last century get lots of money from collectors; and fashion dolls were themselves originally advertisements. In the 1800′s dolls were dressed in the latest European fashions and sent to America so ladies could see the latest styles!