Bewitched's Samantha!

The year was 1964 and on September the 17th, the pilot of one of America's most beloved fantasy sitcoms aired on national television.  The pilot introduced a beautiful witch named, Samantha, who falls in love with mortal man, Darrin, and marries him.  Unbeknownst to Darrin, his wife is a witch whose family disapproves of their union.  From there, the magic, mayhem and hijinks play out in every episode.  It was one of my favorite childhood programs, and I was seated on the living room floor to catch every moment of the opening animation, to the final seconds of each episode.  I was seven years old.

I can only imagine how my eyes must have lit up when the opening tune accompanied the wonderful animation of Samantha flying on her broomstick, to a cat jumping up into Darrin's arms, then turning into Samantha.  And how could anyone forget the lyrical twitch of Samantha's nose when she performed her magic?

Goodness knows why I wouldn't have wanted to dress up as Samantha for Halloween that year.  But I was a kid and tried never to ask for anything in fear of repercussions.  I know I dressed up as a witch one year, but do not recall which one.  We made our own costumes out of cast offs and whatever we could dig up.  If only I could go back to being seven, with my brain of today!  Well, I'm sure I'd be impossible to live with and sent to my room more often that I already was.

But the wonderful creativity of the show and the fantasy that anything was possible with the twitch of a nose had me sitting in front of the mirror at times seeing if I could make my nose go side to side.  

The show aired from September 17, 1964, through to March 25, 1972.  The house at 1164 Morning Glory Drive would be visited by viewers from all over the country, as we were introduced to the Samantha's incorrigible mother, Endora, her feisty sister

(played by Montgomery), Serena, and the unforgettable neighbor, Gladys Kravitz.  

And of course, we went to work with Darrin at the advertising agency, McMann and Tate.  They appeared to be the average upper-middle-class suburban family, but we all knew better!

In 1965, Ideal Toy Company introduced a wonderful Samantha doll for the Christmas season, who was modeled from their Misty doll, Tammy's sophisticated friend.

Since Tressy, the doll that grew hair, was introduced in 1963, I'm pretty sure '64 was the year I got the Tressy.  With no clothing to change into, I quickly grew bored of turning the key that wound her hair in and out of her skull.  But, Samantha!  Oh, Samantha!  She was one of my favorite Christmas gifts of all time.  

Christmas morning 1965, I flew her all over the house on her broomstick.  She was gorgeous in her beautifully curled hair, and flame red dress covered in sparkles.  I know I flew her around the house several times more, but Liddle Kiddles and troll dolls probably held more lasting appeal.

There was also something wrong with Samantha.  Wrong?  Yep.  Even to my "never skips a detail" child's mind, she wasn't dressed correctly.  The TV show never showed Samantha wearing this dress, this outfit, and I wasn't going to say anything.  Who would I tell?  My mother would have had a conniption fit if I had, so Samantha quietly got tucked away somewhere for many years.

It was after my mother died and we were going through boxes, that Samantha was found.  And she was perfect.  Still had her broom, her shoes, her hair was nice, really nice, and the costume's only issue if you can even call it one, was that one of the snaps could use new threads.  

Every Halloween, or Christmas since then, I've taken her out for a month, then put her back until next holiday season.  This year would be different.  For one thing, I discovered that she was made from the Misty mold, and last year I spent several months amassing my first Tammy collection, so I was familiar with seeing the Misty dolls.

I started doing a little reseach into Misty dolls, and thought, Why not make the animated Samantha outfit for a Misty doll?  For one, they're really expensive.  And two, they're not in very good condition.  And three, there has to be a three, Misty doesn't look like Samantha.  So I started looking for another Samantha doll to dress.  Repeat reasons one and two and I had to reconsider.

In the meantime, a lady named Peggy, who refashions Liddle Kiddle dolls share this photo of her recent Samanth and Endora creations on Facebook and I went nuts. Dummy me was 

"unaware" that these Kiddles were ever made, so I wrote to her.  This is how I found out that she refashions the dolls and these two would be up on Ebay shortly.  They now reside with my Halloween doll collection.  Her Endora is such a hoot!  The costuming is made from wool felt, so yes, I could do this, too.  I may make my own Jeannie of I Dream of Jeannie from a Kiddle sometime down the road.  But I digress.  The Kiddles are precious.

And my research continued until I started finding that they'd made Samantha paper dolls in the 1960s.  The show was so popular that TV Guide produced a Bewitched Fun and Activity Book!  Well, guess what?  Now I own a copy that's never been played with, drawn in.  And I'll be sharing some of it on Facebook in October for a fun treat.  I would have LOVED having the paper dolls and this activity book as a kid, but again, there was my mother.  She simply hid things from me, knowing that if I saw them, I'd want them, and bug her until I got them.

And this is how I collect.  When I'm really into a vintage doll, if there are books or toys or accessories of some kind that were related to the doll, I try to find them.  I may not have been able to enjoy them as a child, but maybe I get more out of owning them now!

As it turns out, I wasn't going to buy a very expensive doll in poor shape just to costume her, so I decided to actually play with my childhood Samantha.  But first, I needed black shoes.  Without the shoes, there's no point.  Just try finding a pair of those squishy black kitten heels that fit Tammy and Misty!  I looked for months last year with no luck whatsoever.  Then several days ago when I was once again looking, late in the wee hours of the morning, an actual pair was listed on Ebay.  I bought them.  Didn't think twice.

I was off to a good start.  Those magic, black kitten heeled shoes!

For the first time in 60 years, Samantha would be dressed as she should have been.  

I've never sewn for Barbie.  Never.  And sewing for this Misty body was very much like that only the Ideal body is a little less "sophisticated".  The bodies are more like a young teen's body.  I started looking for Tammy patterns to use as a mock up and found one digital set that I could only use the upper darts for.  Of course.  See?  That's why I make my own patterns.  What I want to sew, there isn't a pattern for!  So I launched my new project a couple of weeks ago and agonized for hours over it.

After this, I've pretty much taught myself how to make those long darts in the front and in the back, which sinch a dress to a more form fitting appearance.  Three tries.  Silk...muslin...silk again.  My confidence was flagging.  First of all, I'm not experienced with

making my own darts so there were many fittings, thread pulls, resewing etc.  But the worst problem and I hate to admit this, but I can no longer sew black and black.  I simply cannot see the thread going into the black fabric.  Close to giving up, I decided to just try using a thread I could see to sew with.  I used a dark gray.  That seemed to help a great deal, but it will forever bother me that I couldn't use black thread.  I can't even sew a tiny black button with black thread on a black dress.  I did, but I won't do it again.  I'm not going to analyze (yes, I will), why I can't do this any longer, but let's suffice to say, it has something to do with aging eyes.  

And now my beautiful Ideal Samantha doll is dressed the way I always wanted her to be dressed.  In that adorable outfit she wore in the opening animation of the show.  And by the way, the cape is secured to the bodice with loops on the edge of the cape and tiny buttons on the inside of the bodice so that the cape folds inside the edge of the bodice like the animated costume.  I discovered that Madame Alexander did this with their version, only the red was

green.  Go MA!

While doing my research, I watched both the first pilot episode of Bewitched on YouTube (go YouTube!), and will once again, this December, watch the first year's Christmas episode when Samantha takes an orphan boy, played by Billy Mummy, to meet Santa Claus at the North Pole.  If you get a chance, read this blog on that episode.  It's wonderful! Christmas TV History: Bewitched Christmas (1964)

I don't impress very easily, but sometimes I get a nice surprise.

When I was undressing my doll, I started to marvel at the condition she was in.  Even the pink underwear is in pristine condition.

No stains.

Perfect hair that is still soft and smooth, and get this! Still has the original pins in it!  Now I did do one thing to preserve her tresses.  I took out the old rubber band that was rotted and replaced it with similar colored cotton thread.  I've been doing this with old dolls with disintegrating rubber bands for years now.  Just thread a needle with thread to match the hair and go around and round the ponytail with the needle then tie it off.  You'll love the effect.

I took these photos for both myself for my archives and also so you could see what a doll like this in pristine condition should look like.  I'm not bragging.  I'm actually just amazed that she kept so well.  The vinyl isn't even marred or sticky.

She's just a really nice doll.

And here's the back of her red flame dress.  This fabric is sort of weird.  I don't know what to call it.  It's like a paper fabric.  Some kind of synthetic property.  The back panel is a stretch material.  I might also note that I made the new, black witch hat, roughly the same size as this red one.  In the animated cartoon image, it looks even smaller.  If only I had a nighttime back drop like the one with the city buildings and stars to pose my doll in front of!

Below are some examples of other Samantha dolls made over the years.  I'd considered getting a Barbie one, but they didn't make the cape correctly.  And while the Madame Alexander doll has the correct cape, Cissette does not look like Samantha, and she has a V neck dress instead of a square neck.  Details, details.  Picky, picky, picky.  LOL 

If you're a fan of Bewitched, you'll love the blog link I shared.  If you love Samantha dolls, these are but a few to browse sometime.  This has been a really fun project and journey for me.  And I actually got to really play with my childhood doll instead of flying her all over the living room on her broomstick.  

October is just a day away and Halloween month is going to be spectacular!

Sending you magical Halloween wishes, Melissa

Samantha Paper Doll

Tabitha Paper Doll

Tonner's Samantha

Tonner's Endora

Mattel 2001

Mattel 2001

Mattel 2010

Madame Alexander 2005

Santa's old friend, Samantha

 

September 18, Happy Birthday to Me!

I'd considered writing a birthday blog, then stopped myself thinking, how very self-indulgent that would be!  Well, honestly, is there ever a better time for self-indulgence than on one's own birthday?!  And Virgos may just be the best at this when it comes to their birthday.  I counted at least seven women over sixty posting a selfie on Facebook telling us how old they turned today.  I guess it's really no big secret, and I suppose I should be proud to have lasted this long, but I'm sixty-seven today.  The Big 6-7.  Or little in my case so small of stature, the little 67.

Last night I woke up at 11:57pm and stayed awake to wish myself a happy birthday.  Remember when I said I'd come up with a "Rabbit Rabbit" for luck?  Well it came to me in an instant just before the clock turned midnight.  "Robert Robert, magic wishes, Robert Robert."  Why Robert?  Sounds a bit like Rabbit and Robert Tonner is one of my favorite doll artists.  I think he'd be tickled if he knew what a wizard we all thought he was.  He's made more magic for me than any other doll artist to date.

It's funny, but at that very late hour while I was waiting for the clock turn to 12:00am, it felt like Christmas Eve.  It's that kind of excitement that promises a day of surprises.  I was telling Betsy today that if you make your own fun, celebrate your own way by yourself, you'll never be disappointed.

Everyone knows my husband is a stinker, and he's the worst on my birthday.  Won't acknowledge it if it hits him over the head.  I took myself out to lunch today.  I'm not supposed to be eating sugar or fats, watching my blood sugar and high cholesterol (how boring!), but I indulged like mad today.  I bought myself a cut of German Chocolate cake from Raley's this morning and ate half of it for breakfast.  It's my favorite birthday cake and always has been.  Then I took myself out to lunch at the Twin Dragon Chinese restaurant.  

I told David I was going out to lunch, while he was head to 

toe deep in irrigation work.  Feeling a little guilty, I said he could come with me, but this is what I was doing, and he said he'd figure something out later.  I enjoyed myself, and brought home 70% of the meal since I really can't eat that much, and he scarfed down the rest while it was still warm.

Then a big pink box from Crumbl arrived with still warm from the oven gourmet cookies!  From Betsy, I told him.  "Oh.  Is it the 18th?  Uh.  happy birthday."  And that was his part in this.  Stinker.  Still, he got one of the big cookies for his dessert.  You can't change the stripes of a tiger, so why try?  An hour later, as gorgeous cake made entirely of gorgeous flowers with candles inserted and a helium balloon floating above it, arrived from my lovely friend, Heather.  If he didn't get the message with the cookie delivery, he couldn't miss the floral cake!  So, I'm feeling very loved and spoiled rotten right now.  And thank you so much to all my Facebook friends who sent me a little birthday wish!  

Stuffed on sugar, fats and carbs, I thought I'd crawl up into my favorite reading chair and while the rest of the day away reading.  But I just couldn't sit still.  I needed to write my birthday blog and continue the self-indulgence just a little bit more.

I thought about the dolls I've made to celebrate my birthday over the years and decided to post the ones "I remember".  There could be others but they don't come to mind.  I've bought myself birthday dolls, but these are the ones I dressed as birthday fun.

There was Peggy Sue.  Adding to her wardrobe, she got a pretty pink birthday dress and a new pair of roller skates.

There was the 16" Maggie Iacono I dressed as Virgo after one of my favorite Virgo illustrations (artist unknown).

Gracie in Year of the Rooster.  In Chinese astrology, I'm a rooster, so I made a Tonner Gracie doll a costume and rooster kite to illustrate Year of the Rooster.

Not my best flower outfit for tiny Esme, but she got an Aster dress.  There are other flowers associated with Virgo, the Morning Glory for one, but I couldn't figure out how to make a blended color in the petals for a Morning Glory, so Aster, it was.

I was thinking about what theme I would have for this year.  Route 66 was last year, and the road was pretty disastrous.  How does "sixty-seven, year of heaven" sound?  What else rhymes with "seven"?  Well, until I come up with something better, this is what it will be.  I could use a good year.  

Yes, there are two new years for everyone.  Your birthday year, and the calendar year.  I like marking time.  It's important to me.  This birthday was special to me since I was born on a Wednesday.  It also fell on the day of the Harvest Moon!  The full moon right before the autumn equinox.  Of course it's been silly, uncooperative weather the last two days, with a sky full of rain clouds that never gave us a drop

of rain.  Looking out my window right now, I see a little blue!  Maybe we'll get lucky.  The full moon is always best to see the night before, and if I want to try and see it tonight, it will be out in my pajamas on the driveway.  Its visible much later than the day prior.  

I love this illustration because it has my rooster and my moon!  Below are some of my favorite birthday illustrations.  It's been a good day. (David just walked in and complained that a cake is something you eat, not one made of flowers.  Stinker! But, he's my stinker.)

But, yes, it's been a wonderful day and I'm going to pick the TV show I want to watch tonight.  

This is the start of a new journey.  It's the 'bers, my favorite time of year, and I'm still all about Halloween right now.  I'm working on a project that has me feeling wonderfully creative and there are holiday dolls to buy and goody boxes coming from the VDC and what more could I ask? 

Betsy always reminds me each year of her favorite birthday poem by Rose Fyleman, called The Birthday Child.  It goes, "Everything's been different, all the day long.  Nothing has gone wrong, Nobody has scolded me.  Everyone has smiled.  Isn't it delicious to be the birthday child?"  Yes.

And now we're off to Autumn and Halloween!  Let's make some magic!

 

Musings on September and...

The alarm went off at 6:30am and I automatically hit the snooze button.  At 3am I was awake, trying to get back to sleep knowing full well the alarm was set, and reading a book I wasn't enjoying.  Why am I reading this book?  Because there'll be a treasure hunt in New Orleans for a witch spoon somewhere down the road.  At least that's what the book's back cover told me.  And why did I have the alarm set at 6:30am?  Because its HOT here.  

September is supposed to be the month when cool breezes begin to blow.  Campuses are covered with overburdened students and trees shedding their cheerful colors as if scattering rose petals before hurrying feet with promises of the future.  

September is the month of change and transition.  More than a quadrant of months ending in 'ber, that will end with a new year. It's the month that signals the end of summer and a 

return to business.  The pace picks up as the holidays approach.  Shops filled with the promise and promotion of the next coming holiday.  

There's a scent to the air that is earthy and old.  The dark of night creeps in earlier each day. Autumn falls upon us on the 22nd, and pumpkins dot the porches with bright, warm color.  And I love it all.  Fall.  

Why on earth was I shaken awake by the shrill of an alarm clock at 6:30am?  Because its hot and I needed to hike my dog, Brighton, this morning. The goal is to slog down a fast cup of strong tea and be out of the house by 7.  It doesn't happen.  No way.  There's a force in me that refuses to rush a morning no matter my good intentions.  Brighton gets his hike, and I accept that I will sweat.  What will the rest of day bring?  My desperate need for a few minutes of patio time in the shade while I gather my thoughts and plan my day.

However, like the ginger cat in the window, I simply watch with little bother and interest.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  It's called being uninspired.  It happens.  When inspired, I'll work constantly and consistently.  It's something that I've learned to live with.  The wave will come again, and I'll ride it like a pro.  I hope.

As the holidays approach, I realize that there are gifts to make, and I don't wish to be caught up in the frenzy of meeting deadlines.  Yet, until that knock on the head arrives, you cannot push creativity.  

I was thinking the other day of a creative writing class I once took where the teacher would ask us to write a poem, a story, something abstract.   The only way I was able to produce something worthy of being read, was the pressure being put on me to perform.  At present, there is no pressure.  Just pleasure.  The pleasure of watching the shadows lengthen and stick around longer as the sun begins to sit ever lower in the sky as the season

changes.

September is birthday month.  I promised myself that I would not celebrate it this year.  But of course, I will.  I always do, but this time, more quietly than normal.  It's a marker of time.  A marker that tells me I'm one year beyond what I was last year in hopefully the most positive of ways.  It's a time of reflection.  It's a time of planning.  It's a day that reminds me I am still here, and there's no time to lose, so get busy and enjoy your life!

Yesterday I was visiting with my wonderful friend, Betsy, and we once again talked about the little hats she'd sent to me a few of weeks back.  One was damaged, one she wasn't pleased with, and the other needed embellishments since those that were previously on it, didn't suit her tastes.  These were not doll hats that I made, but I was tasked with making them nice for her.  IF I could.  NO biggie, if not.  

And that was the challenge.  I was still uninspired.  But then she mentioned that in two weeks' time, it would be my birthday, and she never forgets my birthday.  I would wish a friend like Betsy to everyone.  She's generous to a fault, but more importantly, she simply wants to make sure that I know I'm loved and treasured.  And boy, if that isn't a kick in the butt motivator!  Well, it was for me.  I was going to get these hats presentable no matter what.

This little pink hat, her favorite color, is a Hitty hat.  She wasn't pleased with its sloppy construction on the inside.  The bias tape was glued on carelessly creating bumps.  I thought I might add something inside to cover them.  

The second Hitty hat had fallen apart when she tried to put in on one of her dolls.  Good grief.  And it came without ribbons to tie under the chin of the doll.  These hats were purchased just this summer for her while I was at convention, but I wasn't inspecting them as she would have.  

The third one was for an Izannah Walker doll, and the embellishments had been ripped off, but the silk covered hat was still good.

I started working on them after they arrived, and immediately repaired blonde straw hat.  Then they sat as I tried without success to figure out what to do with the pink one.  If it had been yellow or blue, it would have gotten tossed.  But pink!  Her favorite color.  I'd figure something out.  In the midst of that, I'd pinned the ribbons to the top of the hat so I could work on the interior.  Big mistake.  Once a pin is in this kind of silk ribbon, a big hole happens.  Lucky me, that I found, after a few hours of serious looking in my stash, the exact pink ribbon to replace them.  

The question of what to do with the interior had been dogging me for weeks.  I considered and tried pleated silk.  I considered and tried pink gathered edging.  I tried a few other things, and finally in a fit of giving up, gathered some pretty lace and glued it into the crown of the hat.  Not bad.  I then replaced the decorative ribbons and will hope for the best.  She asked me to toss it, but I just could not do that.

The straw hat is actually a stained or dyed buckram and I restarched it, after fixing it sewn by hand, then added the ribbon ties. 

The green silk bonnet received silk-satin ribbon and vintage forget-me-nots in pink.  One of the things I picked up a couple of years ago, was this clever way I saw someone make beaded patches.  She sewed the beads to a piece of buckram, which would then get applied by hand to the garment.  So that's what I did with the forget-me-nots.  I colored the buckram piece black first so that it wouldn't show on the black ribbon.  The effect was nice.

So yes, this is something else I do besides agonize over making doll clothing, and needle felting.  I fix things.  And there is very little I wouldn't do for Betsy if she ever asked.  Back that up.  I never say no.  I might grumble, but I'm good a grumbling.  The finished hats are below in photos along with some favorite images of autumn and what September visually means to me. Virgo with her sheaf of wheat, apple orchards ripe for picking, fall leaves and pumpkins, the advent of Halloween, and harvest moons.

And I just found out that there'll be a full moon on the 18th!  Now that is something to anticipate and get excited about.  There ought to be a wake up saying on one's birthday, like saying "Rabbit Rabbit" on the first of each month, for good luck.  I'll contemplate this and let you know what I come up with.  "Happy Birthday" just doesn't cut it when it should be something a bit more magical, mystical.  Speaking of which, I just had to include the cover of my childhood ghost story book.  I still have it.  The stories still stand the test of time, as a good ghost story should.

And now onto the other project I've been dragging my feet on.  I think I'm ready.  I just needed a good kick in the seat.

Until next time!  Melissa