Denny’s Adventures in Allee Willis’ “Willis Wonderland” (Part 97 – August 2010)

Submitted by denny February 5th, 2011
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I love these puppets which have popped up on Allee’s blog before but wanted to give them a post in the Wonderland series.

I love the lady puppet.

I don’t know if any of these puppets were supposed to be inspired by anyone in particular.

The bendable family!

8 Responses to “Denny’s Adventures in Allee Willis’ “Willis Wonderland” (Part 97 – August 2010)”

  1. Allee Willis

    The first two photos are a series of puppets made by Childcraft in 1966. They were used in schools to teach about families. Although one of the puppets is Nelson Mandela. He’s identical to the grandfather puppet only has a darker suit on.

    The mom and dad puppets in the third photo are part of the family that includes the puppets in the fourth photo. I really love these because the bodies are so completely handmade. I have plastic cups inserted under all of them so they stand up straight.

    The family in the fifth photo are very tiny compared to the rest of the puppets and dolls shown here. I’m pretty sure they were made in the 70’s when bendable dolls came into fashion.

    I don’t usually collect the Barbie and Ken type clone dolls in the last photo but all of these completely killed me. That two-piece see-through go-go number on the babe with the red hair slays me. The other two came as a couple. Their outfits are so super cheesy.

    Don’t ask me how many of these I have…

  2. Nessa

    I can’t see the Ken very well but it looks like that’s the first “Black Barbie” doll made in 1980. The doll with red hair is Julia, based on actress Diane Carroll’s nurse character on TV. Her hair was black when she was sold, but because it was made with left over color-changing hair, it has turned red over the years.