Now we began to work out the scenarios for the various packages. And I did dozens in full color and cut them out for Peter to mount in packages. He hired a great gal to do wonderful backgrounds for them as well.
All my colored drawings are lost. All I have left to show you are some black and white copies of the line drawings that represent some of the poses and situations that we planned for the first dolls in the series. Most of them involve a child relating to a pet.
(Click on any picture to see a larger one. This page has many pictures so please be patient for the load.)
There is one color sketch of a so called "Soft Action Figure" [Ha-Ha!] on a horse, that was a little too small so it had to be done again, and another with a horse (shown at the end of this page), as well as a black and white drawing for a combination Stable and Playhouse. I understand that the "Big Item" in this years Fisher Price doll house line is some sort of "combination Stable and Doll house".
Now the project was taken out of Peter's hands. And it went "Inside", from which It Never Emerged, Alive! By the end, the figures had become shrunken little things, with heads that had been thoughtlessly reproduced so many times that they had shrunk, until the dolls were proportioned more like teen agers than tots. The hair had become sculpted, instead of real, and bendable wires were now inserted in the bodies.
While all this was going on, Two Years Passed.
The project Never had anyone "On the Inside" to believe in it, or champion it's
cause. In fact, several "Important Players" never cared for it from the start. A few
items were produced and sold through the Avon catalogue, without a package, I am
told, but I never saw them. And Fisher Price, reluctantly, gave us the extra advance
money, as promised, in compensation for their killing our Best Friends.
Along the way Peter had grabbed my original three dolls and quietly sent them back to me. He knew I am a Collector and would want to have them. He is such a great guy!