We went to a parking lot antique sale a few days ago. They practiced social distancing and everyone went around the store one way… There was lots to look at and I did find something wonderful…but will have to share it another time…
However, I did come home with a doll I’ve never seen before. (She didn’t make a peep in the back seat all the way home.) I wasn’t even sure who she was when I put her in the car… only that she had Ideal Doll stamped on her back… When I got home, I looked her up on Ebay and sure enough, there she was… A 22″ Saucy Walker doll… and one just like mine had sold the day before….same eyes, same red wig with braids, but much cleaner.
You can see the doll I mentioned by clicking this link from Ebay…
This doll needs a major spit bath, but a day at the spa would be even more wonderful for her. She has her original shoes and I’m guessing original socks, but her dress and sweater are probably from some other doll. There was an under garment on her, but it was about as ratty as the dress and sweater.
I need to do a little research and find out what year she was made and more about her. I have no idea, but I’m guessing she was probably from the 50’s… anyone here know?
Since I didn’t know anything about her, I googled a few sites that fix dolls or at least tell you how to. I found a site that shows the mechanism for her eyes. It looks quite complicated, but I might give it a whirl. One of her eyes is tilted up and back in her head and her eyelashes aren’t showing. But this one site I was on, showed how that could be corrected… At least she has both eyeballs and not some one eyed dolly. First I have to find out how the head comes off.
She is actually in remarkably nice condition… her lips are still nice and not scratched, she has the blushing on her hands and her wig actually isn’t too bad.
The dolls have holes in their belly area so I’m guessing she used to have a squeaker that maybe said “mama” when she was tilted back and forth.
I hate to say this, but she was probably thrown in some toy box or sent to the basement to spend a few years. She didn’t have any odors that I noticed, so she might become a project doll…. just something to do in my free time, HA!
Anyway, I thought I’d show her to you and see what you thought! Anyone on here have one?
You never know what I’ll show from one day to the next, do you??? :o)
See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne
Congratulations on your new dolly! She is, indeed, from the 1950s, as my girlfriend Joyce had one and she was born 28 days before I was (12/31/45 for her, 1/28/46 for me). I found a little info here: https://dollreference.com/ideal_toy_dolls1950s.html if you scroll about 1/3 down, you will see a paragraph and two pictures.
It could be she has “flirty” eyes, which is why one seems rolled back a bit. Do they move if you jiggle her a bit? I did find this http://saucywalkercorner.com/CUSTOMERS/NANCY-SCH/A-HOSPITAL-NANCY-SCH.htm which talks a bit about her eyes. I didn’t read it thoroughly though.
I’m pretty sure her shoes and socks are original; they look just like the one Joyce’s doll had (which Were original). They are also very typical of what many Ideal dolls wore in that era.
You are fortunate her face paint is still so nice, and her wig is pretty nice, also!! Can’t wait to see how she comes out once you’ve done a little clean-up and work on her!!
Thanks for the information link you shared, Charlotte.
I hope to check out as many of them as I can and make a decision of how best to tackle her issues.
I think she might have the flirty eyes… and I did see the same shoes and socks on some authentic dolls on Ebay, so I’m pretty sure they are original…They need some help though.
Thanks Charlotte,
I’ll see what I can do to make her at least a little nicer looking for now…
Blessings, Jeanne
No clue, Jeanne, about what will be in the next blog!
I am wondering, if you are selling dolls, what you are planning on doing with this one? At 22 inches, she is a “big” girl! No, I never had one of these, but parts of her look familiar. I had dolls with teeth like that, not painted on, but I guess they were plastic teeth. Her wig is so familiar too. Not the kind of wig you brush and play with either! It is kind of like a soft mohair.
Her socks, gosh darn, those doll socks from long ago! The minute you took them off, they were all stretched out and you could never get them looking good again!
Yes, the speaker holes were for dolls that said “Mama” or just cried. So there are parts of her that I remember,
I do remember having dolls that “walked”, if you walked them just right, but it really was you walking them. They didn’t walk on their own!
A note from the other day about Silver Maples, well, George is a smart man, if you didn’t already know! Our Silver Maple has been dropping helicopters for the past few days now, and what a mess! However, it is staying there, because we would have no other tree providing shade to the west, and it’s too late now to start another tree. It was a free tree from the state that they give to 4th graders for Arbor Day. Little did we know what would happen years later!!
HI Linda,
I’m not sure what I’m going to do with her just yet… I guess it depends on how much time it takes me to fix her up to my liking. No, I’m not necessarily getting into the doll selling business, but I do have a few more to list…
Our Silver Maple trees were huge too… but they kept dropping limbs and were where we decided to build our garage.
I finally sold the pink coat and dress set today! Yay!
Thanks Linda,
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, this is timely! I recently found a Saucy Walker just like yours at Goodwill, only mine is in a little worse shape than yours! She has a large crack near her shoulder which will need to be glued and clamped. Her eyes are all wonky, falling back into her head, so I will need to fix those, as well. Could you please share the link you found of how to fix the eyes? I’ve read that they are loose to begin with, because of the “flirty” mechanism, however, mine are much worse than that. My Saucy came to me wearing only her “birthday suit”, so I will need to make her a new dress. I have several, vintage doll dress patterns, so I am looking forward to making her a sweet, 1950’s era dress, and maybe a matching bonnet.
HI Angela,
Congratulations on finding your Saucy Walker too… I’ve had several ladies email about theirs today… The link I found was pretty nice and had lots of information… It’s a site called This Old Doll and here is the link that will help you with most of the issues of these dolls.
The Old Doll site
The section of the Eye Alignment help was the one I read… but I see there are lots more I NEED to read.
Hope this helps us both!
Blessings, Jeanne
Well, now I know the name of my doll. I had one of these as a very young child. I think I was three of four at the most. A relative must have given her to me, but I can’t remember who it was. However, I do remember when I had to give her away at about the same age. I had named her Cathy. Those teeth were very interesting. I remember them well. Mine had blond hair. My mother didn’t like her. She told me she was too big for me. And then she was gone. 🙁
It will be interesting to see if you can restore the eyes. In your free time of course. With your sewing room project, do you have a time frame for the kitchen cabinets? That’s going to be a big project.
HI Joy,
Congrats on being a mom to one of these sweet dolls. Too bad your mom thought she was too big for you… I had more issues of this doll looking “creepy” not big…
I’m working on something else to “perfect” my kitchen drawers…. before I paint them!
You’ll see soon…
There are so many steps to doing the eyes on the doll, and the way it’s shown is all through the neck… I just don’t want that cord or whatever it is that’s holding her head on to break… I put the link to the doll hospital I found up in Angela’s comments.
Thanks Joy,
Blessings, Jeanne
Hi Jeanne,
First off…absolutely love your blog. Love all your sewing ideas, especially for the American Girl dolls. But, feel I have come to know you as I follow your other around the house projects and family life. You have a true gift of sharing thru your writing and pictures.
Your new “little girl” has prompted me to write. I have a 32inch Saucy Sally Walker doll. She was a Christmas present some time in the mid 1960’s. I was never as fond of her as my mother had hoped. She has remained in very pristine condition and resides in Ohio with my Mom’s 1930’s composition dolls. As I have begun my doll sewing in my retirement I have come across cute dresses at thrift stores that are vintage in nature and have purchased them to “dress up” Sally and her composition baby sisters. My doll can wear girls size 2/3 toddler items. As my girls are grown and the grandchildren are too…my 88 year old Mom and I delight in sharing the joy in dressing these doll cuties in our vintage finds. My Sally might have taken a while to tug at my heart but she’s so sweet and loves all the attention.
Blessings to you and thank you for showing all your creativity…you have really inspired me to up my love of details thru sewing for my American Girls here at home.
Doreen, Arkansas
Thank you so much for your very kind words, Doreen!
It’s nice to have you commenting today and please do so again.
Wow! A 32″ Saucy Walker doll is really big! She is a full 10″ taller than my doll! Kind of like the bigger Himstedt dolls, right? I bet you can find some really cute clothes for her if she’s real little girl size! That must be lots of fun shopping for her.
Thank you again Doreen,
I’m so glad to have inspired you to do more sewing and loving on your dolls! They are fun to “play” with, aren’t they?
Thanks again,
Blessings, Jeanne
A great doll project to work on! She does have potential. I hope you show us how you tackle her repairs and clean-up.
I enjoy projects like that.
I have no idea about who she is but I’m sure someone out there knows her name.
HI Paula,
Well, I haven’t had any time to do any more investigating on the doll I got, but only know she’s an Ideal Doll, that’s 22″ tall and is called a Saucy Walker… I noticed on Ebay there were several different names for them… I’ll have to figure out who she is…
She’ll get some kind of fixer upper session from me… probably more than one session! :o)
Thanks Paula,
Blessings, Jeanne
Cute little waif you brought home, Jeanne. My mom has a Madame Alexander “Maggie” doll
and 24 inch walking doll that have similar faces- the dreamy blue eyes and red painted lips.
Maggie still has her original wig, But the walking doll needs a new wig, although she does have her original dress, bloomers and socks. Her complexion is still flawless.
If her head is attached like either of those, she has a heavy hook like wire that attaches to some sort of elastic to hold on her limbs and to the top of her head under the wig. Since the wig is off of my mom’s doll I can see the metal circle at the top of her head. They are both composition material as well.
I’ll enjoy seeing how you fix her up.
HI Laura,
This is quite a bit out of my league, but I’ll at least give it a go and see what happens. I think even just washing her face and arms and legs will help her tremendously! The link I added up under Angela’s comments, gives the link to the site I found, with all kinds of information on fixing these dolls… I’m sure I’ll be using it a lot!
Thanks Laura,
Blessings, Jeanne
What a lovely find, Jeanne! I’m so glad you two found each other. Miss Saucy Walker looks like a great project to tackle for one with your gifts and motivations with dolls.
I love reading and seeing most anything being restored or resurrected and will follow your story with Miss SW as you have time and energy to make her into the doll she was meant to be.
I’ve been reading everyday, Jeanne..the losses (your mom), the projects, the happys and sads of your life and am right there with you in spirit.
Blessings.
Oh how nice! I have a couple of these dolls. I was trying to attach a picture of my 16” one but I can’t seem to do it! I will email it to you later. The shoes on yours do look original, but I don’t believe the dress is. Her eyes were supposed to move right to left with the walking mechanism, but as you can see, many of them now have frozen eyes. They were made in the 1950’s in 16” and 22” sizes. Then for whatever reason, Ideal decided to name one of their Playpal dolls Saucy Walker in the early 60’s. The Playpal versions were 28” and 32”. I can send you a picture of that one too! I have a fondness for the vintage Ideal dolls. The Saucy’s are such fun to sew for—enjoy yours!
HI Carolyn,
Wow…I’ve gotten quite a few emails from ladies who have this doll, or had her when they were younger. I didn’t’ know anything about them, but it will be fun to learn.
Yes, please email me a picture of your dolls… I’m sure everyone will enjoy seeing them.
They are large enough to sew for, you’ll think you are sewing for a little girl! :o)
Thanks Carolyn,
Blessings, Jeanne
Thank you Becky,
So good to hear from you today! I hope things are going well for you and your family on the farm!
I will most definitely be posting when I do something to the new doll…. Maybe I should find out her name first… or give her one… Maybe HOPE would be a good name for her or maybe Destiny, since I already have a doll named Hope. I hope I can do her some good and make those flirty eyes shine once again!
Blessings to you Becky,
~ Jeanne
This was a surprise! Have you always had an interest in vintage dolls? I have a babydoll that was my mother’s. The doll is over 75 years old. I packed her away for now because I want a doll buggy to put her in. She’s in excellent shape because my mom was 12 when she got her and never really played with her. She was mostly a decoration. She has all her original everything. She even still says momma!
HI Julia,
Didn’t see this one coming, did you? Neither did I. I’ve never really had an interest in vintage dolls, but when we are out antique shopping, and I spot one, I do notice them and have to see who they are…
When you get your dolly unpacked, we’d love to see her… I’m hoping you get a buggy soon so you can enjoy her on a daily basis! :o) She sounds wonderful!
Thanks Julia,
Blessings, Jeanne
I never had a Saucy Walker doll but I do remember her. Dolls were not terribly forthcoming in our home, probably because of the cost. I had a Betsy Wetsy and a ballerina doll and a yellow and brown teddy bear and that was pretty much it for things like that. That’s probably why I loved paper dolls so much. We could afford those and I had a bunch.
Your new family member definitely does need a spa day and some new wearing attire. I can’t wait to see what she looks like down the road. I suspect the challenge to clean her up will be irresistible to you so we will probably see this sooner than later.
You said your governor extended your stay-at-home until the end of May. Thankfully ours ends 4/30 and things will be starting to open up May 1 with restrictions. If Governor Abbott had extended anything people would be setting fire to the state. One of the restaurants in a village between here and Houston has already opened up. He does 25% occupancy right now, takes reservations, uses table distancing, disposable menus and other precautions concerning staff. He said his phones are ringing off the wall. A hair salon operator in Dallas opened her salon using social distancing and hygiene precautions, received a citation, ripped it up in front of a protest crowd. Where I get my hair done there is usually just me and my hairdresser in a huge room. Sometimes the owner is there and she may have a customer, but there has never been more than four people when I’ve been there. Governor Abbott is hoping to increase the restaurant capacity to 50% and open hair salons and barber shops in a couple weeks. Oh and retail is opening. JoAnn’s???
HI Barbara,
I was into paper dolls too…big time! We even cut girls from the catalogs and taped the our closet door…then we cut out the other things we could find in the catalog to use for accessories… When we got our Skipper dolls we still used the catalog “finds” with them.
It forced us to be creative…
The link I posted up in Angela’s comments will be of great use to me, I’m sure! Eyes, hair, cleaning, etc… I hope to make her as pretty as she can be! :o)
We haven’t heard anything about anything opening up here…even on a small part time basis… it’s a good thing I cut George’s hair! He’d be quite the wooly booger if I didn’t! :o)
Thanks Barbara,
Blessings, Jeanne
Dear Jeanne, what a great find. I am sure that you will have her looking beautiful in just a little while. I think she just needs some good love.
I am looking forward to seeing the “something wonderful” thing that you found.
A friend is picking up my Peapod order today. I am kind of excited. Isn’t it funny how little things make us excited these days (chuckle)?
HI Dorothy,
She does need some good lovin’, doesn’t she? I hope she gets it from me! :o)
I was working on the “something wonderful” today…it is!
I’m like you, it doesn’t take much to make me excited these days… I find it’s the simple things that I love the most… You too!
Thanks so much,
Blessings, Jeanne
Oh goodie a fixer! Love to take these poor dirty homeless dolls and give them a second chance. She has all the things easy to fix and her basics are great. Shiny eyes, no scratches or rubs on her face. Good wig, good color. Does she have any odor…sour kind of? I’ve been using soft scrub lately to clean dolls. Comet only if the dirt is greasy or bad. Use a q tip near her eyes so the lashes don’t come off and gentle touch on her blush. The body isn’t as touchy.
Her shoes and socks will clean up and you may need to run some super thin elastic thru the tops of her socks. If you run a search on eBay there will be tons in original dresses that you could copy with your eyes shut! Her walking mechanism runs clear into her head if I remember right so you will need to peel back her wig to get to it. I only fixed one and that was a long time ago. Keep looking for info on her eyes….that always seems to be an issue with Saucy
HI Kathie,
I posted the link I was talking about up in Angela’s comments above that shows all about how the eyes work… I just want to be careful not to pop her head off… I wish we lived closer together… we could work side by side… (well, I guess not NOW….) but it WOULD have been fun… :o(
I’ll be careful with her and see what I can do to help her out. I was pretty impressed with how “almost” nice condition she was in. I’m hoping for a miracle…and maybe she’ll get one… I’ve seen a few on Ebay that were redone and they were fantastic looking. I can only hope!
Thanks Kathie,
I’ll keep you posted…
Blessings, Jeanne
Awww, what a sweet example of Saucy Walker! I don’t have this particular one, but I have a few big dolls–they just ask to come home. Can’t wait to see her all fixed up! I sure do enjoy your blog–love all your projects! I wish I had the inspiration and energy you do!
Thank you Beth,
She hopefully will look nicer the next time I show her… Even just wiping the dirt off her and putting her in a pretty slip would do wonders for her. I’m glad you have joined in on all the fun we have around here… Keep watching and you’ll see what my girl transforms into! :o)
Blessings, Jeanne