The Uncanny Valley
Doll Curiosities
Oil Patch Kids Alberta
A Canadian Cabbage Patch Kid was created called the “Oil Patch Kid.” He was packaged in a plastic oil barrel, wore yellow coveralls and a hardhat, and had an official well license. He came with a “Patch Pal”, a small plush oil droplet.
Frozen Charlottes
Frozen Charlotte dolls were popular during the late 1800s and early 1900s. They were small china dolls, usually made in Germany. They acquired their unusual name from a poem by American Seba Smith, titled “A Corpse Going to a Ball,” about a young girl named Charlotte who wouldn’t cover her pretty dress on the way to a party in a sled. By the time she arrived, she had frozen to death. To read the poem, click here.
A Frozen Charlotte Doll. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
Spy Doll
An NPR (National Public Radio) report from 2017 said that Germany banned a doll named “My Friend Cayla.” According to German authorities, Cayla collects and transmits everything she hears, and the data is collected by a voice recognition company in the United States. Some of the companies clients, it is alleged, include intelligence agencies. The company, Nuance, stated that it does not share voice data collected from or on behalf of any of our customers with any of our other customers."
Hilda Ege Dolls
Hilda Ege, in the early to mid 1900s, was one of Norway’s most famous doll makers. The Finnish doll, shown on the Souvenir doll page, is a Hilda Ege doll. During World War II, Hilda is said to have sheltered resistance fighters in her doll factory. During a diplomatic visit to Norway, Eleanor Roosevelt was given three Hilda Ege dolls.
Eleanor Roosevelt (left) with Martha and Olav of Norway, 1950. Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
A Hilda Ege Venetian gondolier doll.
Like the Lenci and Eros dolls, he also looks sideways.
Germany’s Toy Route
Germany’s long history of doll making, and other toys, has led to the creation of a tourist attraction called The German Toy Road. The route is around 300 kilometres long, and runs between Nuremburg and the Thuringian capital of Erfurt. Along the route are numerous sites that illustrate the doll making history in this area of Germany.
Victorian Mourning Dolls
During the Victorian Era, with its relatively high mortality rate, mourning was a familiar part of life. Some people created effigies of their deceased children to place on graves, or in glass cases in their homes. These were known as mourning, or grave dolls. They usually had wax heads and shoulders, and cloth bodies filled with sand to give a realistic weight and feel to them. Their backs were usually flattened, allowing them to lie flat. They were a sort of coping mechanism to deal with the prevalence of death.