Doll-A-Day 2023 #182: Baby Gregg

   Today's doll isn't mine. I came across him the other day, and he sparked my interest. I had never heard of him before, and I can't find anything about him online. You know you can find anything online these days, if you look hard enough. But not this doll! He's made by Uneeda, and even the Uneeda page of the Doll Reference site doesn't mention him. He is an obvious clone of a doll I love, that I have never seen a clone of before. Look at this guy!

  Does he look familiar to you? 

You know you've seen this face and receding hairline before!

  His name is Baby Gregg, and, as I said, he was made by Uneeda.

But he's a very obvious clone of Tiny Chatty Brother! 

My childhood Tiny Chatty Brother. 

  At 20 inches tall, Gregg is a full 5 inches taller than Tiny Chatty Brother. He's the same size as Chatty Cathy.

  You may have seen my post on my own Tiny Chatty Brother, one of my favourite childhood dolls. This little guy is so similar, right down to his outfit...

Gregg's outfit is in red and white, instead of blue and white, like Chatty Bro's is. 

His hat actually seems better than Chatty Brother's, whose hat is so tiny that it doesn't stay on his head very well.

HIs outfit appears to be made of a heavier fabric than Chatty Brother's, and Gregg has an applique, as well as his name ribbon.

His outfit fits him much more loosely than Chatty Bro's fits him. His booties appear to be made of non stretchable cotton, unlike Chatty Brother's stretchy booties.

...and his hair...

The same style and colour.

...and my favourite thing about Chatty Brother, the teeth!

  The major difference is that Baby Gregg's teeth are not a separate piece. Tiny Chatty Brother was made by Mattel. Mattel had more money than Uneeda, and the materials their dolls were made of were of higher quality generally. Tiny Chatty Bro was made of a hard plastic, but not the thin, brittle kind. His was heavy duty and thick. His teeth are a separate piece of plastic, just like Chatty Cathy's teeth. That's why you can find dolls who are missing theirs, and you can buy replacement teeth! Baby Gregg appears to be made of a couple of different things. His head and arms seem to be rubber or soft vinyl. His head, including his teeth, is molded all in one piece. So, his teeth are a painted feature, and not a separate piece of something installed in his mouth. 

  Gregg's legs and torso seem to be made of the thin hard plastic a lot of baby dolls from the 60's were made of. Not the very hard stuff that almost seems like celluloid. The tougher stuff that a lot of drink and wet dolls were made of, like Fuzz's baby Sake, who was made by Eugene.

You can see the mold seam. Chatty Brother's legs are seamless.

  Unlike Chatty brother's very straight legs, Baby Gregg's legs are slightly curved, like a lot of baby dolls. 

One of the reasons Chatty Brother had to be made of, shall we say,  sterner stuff, than Gregg, is that Chatty Brother, as his name implies, had a feature that Gregg doesn't: He talked. Gregg isn't a talking doll, so he didn't require the heavy plastic to protect his voice mechanism.

  Gregg has sleep eyes, with lashes. like Chatty Bro, but his eyes are green, not blue.

  You'll also notice from the picture above, that Gregg has pinwheel eyes, and not decal eyes like Chatty B. 

 Gregg even has the same profile as Chatty B.

  You could get away with a lot more back in the 60's, as far as directly stealing someone else's product!

  I would love to see this guy cleaned up, with his outfit laundered, and see how beautiful he looks! He appears to be in nice condition, other than some mildew freckles that might clean off. Think how great he'd look in a Chatty collection! I think he's fascinating, because he's been out there looking Chatty this whole time, and I never knew about him!

    If Gregg has stolen your heart and you want to own him, he is an active auction on Ebay right now. I would love to own him myself, but neither the budget, nor the space are cooperative at the moment. Thanks to the seller, yurraus2014 for allowing me to use their pictures and bring Gregg to you. 

  See you tomorrow for another doll.

Doll-A-Day 52: Singing Chatty Cathy, Plus Special Guest Star, Tiny Chatty Baby

  Today's doll is singing Chatty Cathy.

  As far as I can find, she was produced in 1965.She's a pull string singer. Apparently she sang nursery rhymes. Mine is missing her string.
  I rescued this doll at a yard sale run by a very grouchy lady who didn't seem to want to come out of her house. All the stuff was on tables in the yard, and I think it had been out there for more than a couple of days. A lot of it was wet because it has rained. The doll was pretty grungy, but she seemed to need me. She cleaned up pretty well.

She still needs a little work on her eyes.

  She originally came in a red dress with musical notes printed on it in white, white anklets and red shoes. She also had a red ribbon in the right side of her hair. She came as a blonde, or a brunette. You can see my blonde HERE. She's about 17" tall.

It's hard to see them because they have gone gray (Don't we all?!), but she does have freckles.

  As for today's 'special guest star', I came across her while getting Singing Chatty out. I knew where she was, but I forgot I had put Tiny Chatty Baby in the armoir too. So, she should have been in the post with my Tiny Chatty Brother, but better late than never. (Seems to be becoming my slogan...) Anyway, here is Tiny Chatty Baby'

  She's 15" tall, like Tiny Chatty Brother. She has a matching outfit to his, and this one also has the same blonde hair.They were introduced (to the public, not to each other.) in 1962.

This girl seems to have fared better than my Chatty Brother. She must not have been loved as much, poor girl.She is missing her booties. Her hair is silky and she still has all her eye lashes.Unfortunately, she doesn't talk anymore either.

I found her in a junk shop, in this original outfit. She was a whole quarter.

 

She was fairly dirty, but she cleaned up nicely.Her outfit needed laundered too. It could do with a pressing, but I tend to be remiss in that area alot of the time. I don't even iron my own clothes any more.

You know, I like this doll, but looking at these pictures I'm starting to get a Marty Allen thing from her.

Old comedian Marty Allen in the 60's. Apparently he's 91, and still working.

Tiny C. Baby.: "Did you hear what she said about me?!"

Tiny C. Brother: "I may be grungy, but she never said I look like Marty Allen."

Tiny C. Baby: "I can't believe she said that!"

I also promised a size comparison between all the Chatty dolls.

Left to right: Charmin Chatty, Chatty Cathy, Chatty Baby, Singing Chatty Cathy, Tiny Chatty Baby

I kind of expected Singing Chatty to be more the size of regular Chatty Cathy.

And while we're here, another comparison: the difference between soft face and hard face Chatty Cathys.

Soft face Chatty in the middle.

The soft face girl seems to have a bigger head, with chubbier cheeks.

She has held her colour better too.

Let's face it. She's just prettier.

(Shhh. Don't tell the other girls. We're liable to end up with another Marty Allen situation.)
  That concludes Chatty Week. See you tomorrow for another Skipper Saturday.

Doll-A-Day 49: Tiny Chatty Brother

  Due to family goings on I'm a bit late in posting 'today's' doll. But better late than never, and here he is. I'm sharing a favourite of mine with you. This is my Tiny Chatty Brother.

He's a bit worse for wear, but he does have all his original clothes.

He's wearing his original one piece play suit, hat, and booties made to look like shoes and socks.I have been afraid to clean his clothes in case they shrink or fall apart! I'm a lot less cautious with vintage dolls that weren't mine as a kid. If they fall apart, the worst thing is that I've ruined an antique. If anything happened to my childhood dolls I'd be heart broken.

He still has such a cute face.

He's around 15" tall,so he's even smaller than Chatty Baby.He also had a twin,Tiny Chatty Baby. I only seem to ever see Chatty Brother as a blonde, but I think Tiny Chatty Baby was also available as a brunette .

He's lost his top button and most of the lashes on one eye, but that's nothing to what's (not) under his hat!

I got him for my birthday when I was very small.In researching I see that he was supposed to have been introduced in 1962 or 63. I was born in 1962, but I must have gotten him when I was at least a year old. The thing is, I remember the day I got him. We lived out in the country. WAAAYYY out in the country. So we did a lot of catalog shopping, usually Spiegal or Fingerhut or Fosterhouse. Fosterhouse was cheap stuff like Santa Claus Soaps and plastic cup sets. Fingerhut is still around. I'm thinking he was from Spiegal though. That was the big catalog that, as kids, we did most of our Christmas, (and I guess birthday too), wishing with. I don't remember if I picked him out. I do know I was REALLY happy to get him. I think I must have asked for him. The day he came my mom hid his box around the side of the stove. I can remember her grin as I looked around the stove and saw him. I also remember that I was so happy that I grabbed him out of his box and rolled all around the kitchen floor with him in my arms. 

I never had any other clothes that fit him except a white flannel nightgown. It tied in the back, as a lot of doll clothes did back then. It made me think of a hospital gown though. Since it was the only other thing I had for him, he consequently spent a lot of time in 'the hospital'. (The hospital consisted of  the doll cradle with  the toy piano's stool next to it as a bedside table. I doctored him myself.)

I keep seeing this poor guy's brothers wearing dresses because people can't tell the difference between Tiny Chatty Brother and Tiny Chatty Baby.The big way you can tell the difference is, Tiny Chatty Brother has a part in his hair. This guy has more part than hair now.

He was one of my favourite dolls. I loved him to pieces, as you can see from his hair!It's the kind of doll hair that got sort of crispy and breaks off easily.He's missing eye lashes too.That actually started happening after I was grown up.

He has decal eyes, which actually look alot more matching than they appear in this picture! He is missing more of the lashes on his right eye every day.He still has his teeth though, which as a kid I loved to brush!

He did talk at one time, of course. Like Cathy and Chatty Baby he is a pull string talker.I still remember the moment he stopped talking. My cousin dropped him when we were playing and he hasn't spoken since. (Chatty brother that is. Not my cousin.) Maybe someday I'll get him repaired.
  Tomorrow we'll see the big kid of the bunch, Charmin' Chatty.