1. "Bizzie Lizzie Doll"
Posted by Susan on Jun-10th-03 at 11:08 PM

I don't know how many of you recall this post I made awhile ago:

NEW, from the toymakers at PSY-CO its....

The Bizzie Lizzie doll gift set!

Now you too can own your own Bizzie Lizzie Borden doll for hours of 'bizzie' fun!  Each doll comes with a full head of curly rooted hair the color of which never looks the same, sometimes chesnut, sometimes brown, sometimes it will even look red!  Real light grayish-blue glass eyes give Bizzie Lizzie that faraway look or that see-through-you gaze!  A fully jointed body that you can pose Bizzie Lizzie in any position you would like and hands that grip, so that Bizzie Lizzie can hold all her 'Bizzie' accessories!

  The Bizzie Lizzie doll gift set comes with 3 outfits-a light blue Bedford Cord dress stained with 'paint', a pink and white striped wrapper, and a navy blue Bengaline 2 piece dress.  Plenty of dresses for a 'bizzie' day at the Borden home.  Each Bizzie Lizzie doll comes pre-dressed in a chemise, drawers, black cotton stockings, 2 petticoats (1 long, 1 short), black ankle-tie shoes, why, she even has a teeny-tiny corset of her own!  All other outfits sold seperately.

  Other accessories included in the Bizzie Lizzie gift set include:  Lizzie's own coffee cup and a cookie for her 'bizzie' breakfast, a slop pail filled with 'bizzie' bloody cloths (just tell 'em you have fleas!), 2 recalcitrant flat irons that will never get hot no matter how hard you try, 8 to 10 hankies you can pretend to 'iron' on the Bizzie Lizzie sized ironing board included, a hatchet (you never know when Bizzie Lizzie might need to chop something!), and a hat (because you never know when Bizzie Lizzie might need to go to the 'Bizzie' barn *not included* or leave the 'Bizzie' Borden house *not included* for some reason!).

Collect all the Bizzie Lizzie family and friend dolls!  Angular Andy, Adipose Abby, Ennui Emma, Justified John, Befuddled Bridget, Suspicious Seabury, Alienated Alice, and Administering Addie!

Collect all the Bizzie Lizzie play sets!  Theres the 'Bizzie' Barn play set, complete with carriage and sleigh *horse not included*, work benchs full of odds and ends including fishing weights *fishing lines not included*, a hay loft for 'Bizzie' pear eatin', a working privy in the back and even a working water faucet!  Included are pigeons with magic on-again, off-again twist off heads!  Imagine the hours of fun your Bizzie Lizzie doll could have in there!

The 'Bizzie' Borden Kitchen play set, with kitchen table and chairs, ice box that never fully gets cold, mini-magazines for Bizzie Lizzie to read, mini-mutton for the whole 'Bizzie' Borden family to eat, even a real working stove so you can heat your recalcitrant 'Bizzie' flat irons on, cook your mini-mutton in, or dispose of things you don't want others to see!  Sink room sold extra.

The 'Bizzie' Borden Sitting room play set, with easy chairs, what-not tables, mini-kerosene lamps, and mock horsehair lounge.  Imagine all the 'Bizzie' fun you can have with the whole 'Bizzie' Borden family dolls seated in here having heated family discussions or hatching 'Bizzie' plans!  Put the Angular Andy doll down for a nap on the mock horsehair sofa, lookout!  Don't put his feet up on the furniture, what would Adipose Abby say?  Sitting room comes with magic 'Bizzie' bloodstains, with a swipe of warm water the bloodstains appear!  With a swipe of cold, they disappear!  Hours of fun!

The 'Bizzie' Borden Guest Room play set, with 'Bizzie' sewing machine that really works (make some new dresses for Bizzie Lizzie, Ennui Emma and Adipose Abby), camp chair *not shown*, 'Bizzie' bed and 'Bizzie' bureau with chotckes.  Have Bizzie Lizzie and Ennui Emma use this as their sitting room and invite Alienated Alice to come and play!  Put Justified John to bed in this room and make more work for Adipose Abby. Don't just lie there on the floor Adipose Abby!  Theres work to be done!  Guest room comes with magic 'Bizzie' bloodstains same as the Sitting Room play set.  Swipe with warm water and bloodstains appear like magic!  Swipe with cold water and they disappear!

Coming soon....The Bizzie Lizzie bedroom play set, Ennui Emma's room included!

And remember, if its by PSY-CO, its fun, you know?

Anyhoo, Bizzie Lizzie might become a reality!  I found this site where this woman had customized all these Barbie sized dolls and she had a link for the Japanese site from whence they came.  You can choose different eye colors, I think they are glass.  Different haircolors pre-attached or wigs or seperate hair that you can put into the dolls head yourself.  You can also get seperate hands in different positions.  I thought it was pretty cool and thought I would share with you all.

Heres the link for the basic doll, sorry, its in Japanese!

http://www.volks.co.jp/c_goods/dollfie/index.html

And heres the link for the main site:

http://www.volks.co.jp/topframeset.html

There is only one U.S. distributor of these dolls in Florida, once I find out more info I will let you know.  The prices didn't look too bad, about $35.00 to get your own custom doll. 





(Message last edited Jun-10th-03  11:12 PM.)

That's hilarious, Susan!

Thanks, Tina-Kate.  We have so many creative people on the forum, I thought there might be some out there who might enjoy making their own Lizzie doll instead of one of those Living Dead Doll Lizzies. 

I think there actually was a doll called "Bizzy Lizzy" a few years back.  It isn't an antique, and it certainly doesn't represent "our" Lizzie, though.  Let me see if I can research it.  (Yours sounds like a lot more fun.)  The Japanese are apparently cashing in on the "OOAK" craze in a big way.  Clever of them.

Aha!  That was easy!  Actually, the doll's name was spelled "Bizzie Lizzie," and it bore little resemblance to your idea, except that it did come with an ironing board and an iron.  It wasn't made by "Psy-Co," but by the Ideal Doll Corp. (makers of the Shirley Temple doll).  Lizzie was made in 1971-72 and was a cute little toddler doll with blond pigtails and sleep eyes.  She used two D-cell batteries and performed such household chores as ironing (not necessarily hankies, though), dusting (leave that to Abby!) and vacuuming.  Her vacuum looks more like a carpet sweeper to me.  She was sculpted by Neil Estern and caused quite a brouhaha when she first came out.  Apparently she was made in both black and white versions, but the black ones were ready before the white ones and hit the market sooner.  The NAACP immediately began picketing a Korvette store in New York that advertised the doll, because the civil-rights organization perceived the doll to represent a black maid.  When they learned there was a white version too, they discontinued the picketing.  It sounds kinda sexist to me anyway.

(Message last edited Jun-11th-03  2:39 PM.)

Susan -- I was delighted to see that brilliant comedic post again! 

Me too Susan. It is really very well done and funny! I think even Lizzie would have gotten  a few chuckles out of it.

Thanks for reprising it.

Thanks all, it was fun re-reading it for me too. 

I don't think I ever heard of Bizzie Lizzie, but, may have inadvertently heard the name?  I had to go check it out to see pics of her, don't recognize the doll.  I was amazed at how much Bizzie Lizzie stuff came up, including a Bizzie Lizzie Barn!!!  Thanks for the info, Edisto.  Here is Ideal's version of Bizzie Lizzie:


So, are you up for it, Edisto?  Want to make your own Lizzie doll the way you would like to have her? 

I definitely plan on making one once I get all the info on this customizable doll. 

Nope.  The only kind of Lizzie doll I would like is one that would actually be a portrait of Lizzie, and the Japanese one doesn't qualify.  I often tell clients that one can find a stock (off the shelf) doll that resembles almost anyone, but Lizzie seems to be an exception.  She has a look that's hard to capture, I guess.  One company (Hertel & Schwab) made dolls with wonderful glass eyes in a very pale grayish/greenish shade that would be great for Lizzie, but they don't have any doll faces that resemble her.  (These are dolls that were made in the early 20th Century.)  I have two friends who sculpt original dolls, but the cost would be prohibitive unless I was going to make multiple copies and sell them at a profit.  Speaking of glass eyes, virtually no modern production dolls have them.  Acrylics look very much like glass and are far less breakable.  Those old glass eyes were as thin as eggshell and far more fragile.

Susan you are too much! Thats hysterical!

I;ve often wondered if such organizations take a pay-off to create publicity for the product? Sounds too good to be true?

Yes, I see what you mean about the doll face/heads, finding one that is Lizzie's head shape is not easy!  This distributor in Florida offers 9 different heads, but, you must paint on the eyes and details yourself, no holes for the "real eyes" and you must root the doll hair yourself.  I saw a picture of the eyes and this woman was refering to them as "glastic" and they look like an eyeball, the whole thing, kinda scary actually, so, you are right on with the plastic.  They do offer a grey set and a greenish/grey set also.  Outside of taking a ceramics class and sculpting my own Lizzie, I guess this may be the closest I get.  I don't care for the Living Dead Lizzie. 

Thanks, Kash.

Yeah, I know what "glastic" is.  That's a very nice-quality eye and extremely realistic-looking.  I think it's acrylic or something similar.  IMHO, Lizzie's face is rather masculine-looking, and that's why it's hard to find a doll that looks like her.  Very few dolls are actually sculpted to be male, unless they're action figures.  I don't think Lizzie looks much like G. I. Joe, either!  I took a couple of sculpting classes years ago, and I actually did try my hand at sculpting a Lizzie head, soon after I visited the B&B.  I've still got it somewhere around here.  The face didn't look too bad, but I got the (molded) hair all wrong in the back.  At that time I didn't have a picture that showed the back of her head, and I made it a bun.  She actually wore a French roll type of arrangement.  The frizzy bangs looked okay, though.

Thanks, Kat.    I got the email too.  If she'd do my housework, I'd be set!


This is the Lizzie that I want the doll to look like, Edisto:


I think with a bit of work, I might be able to capture the look.  Oh, and found something else out with the doll bodies; for the females you can get them all the way from "A" cup size to the obscene "L" cup size.  Which of course made me wonder what cup size our Lizzie was?  Hard to tell with the photos of her, she looks to be about a "C" to "D" size to me? 

ROFL.  Rebello's "Illustrations" contents on page xxi has "Lizzie's Cup" listed for page 12!

(Of course, this is the TO LIZZIE FROM ABBIE mug).

The picture you show is in the forematter of Rebello, & it's more of a "bust".

Honestly, she looks like a B to me.  @ that stage of life, anyway.

Yes, that would make a great-looking Lizzie doll.  Don't even think about rooting any hair, though.  A glued-on wig could look just as good, if not better.  Rooting doll hair is an incredibly nasty job, usually involving poking lots of big holes in your fingers.  (I know; I've tried it.)  Rooted hair is a fairly new innovation in dolls.  All of the antique ones had glued-on wigs, and they can look smashing.  The "rooting" for production dolls is done with a special sewing machine, and it's hard to duplicate its action by hand.  There are lots of retailers on the Internet that sell doll wigs.  I've been looking for a couple lately.  Some of them even have a "skin" part that would duplicate Lizzie's obvious strip of scalp.

Lizzie's lingerie might not have had cups in it.  With my Civil-War-era attire, I wear something called a "bust improver."  It just has a kind of "shelf" to display them on.  No cups.  This company's "standard corset" is similar, but it has something called a "demi-cup."

http://www.waistandstays.com/

I see they have a corset for guys too.  They say you can add a bra for a more feminine look.



(Message last edited Jun-13th-03  10:47 PM.)

I'm with you on the wig thing, Edisto!  On this woman's site who customizes these dolls she shows how to make your own rooting tool; a sewing needle with part of the eye cut away, looks dangerous to me!  I haven't seen any wigs from this company that have curly bangs and am not sure if they are styleable.  With Barbies, at least the old ones, you can set the hair in the smallest perm rods and put the hair in boiling hot water and let cool and dry, and it takes a set, it works really well for recurling her bangs.

Yes, I don't think Lizzie's chemise or corset had cups too, I was thinking of the doll's breast size, I don't want her to be too big.  Thats why I was trying to figure about what size Lizzie would be.  I guess it would be safer to err on the smaller side?  Wasn't there actually a time period when men who were fashionable did wear corsets too?  Cut different than a woman's, but, a corset none-the-less.  That one on that site looks like its for men who want to dress up like women.

I will have to brush-up on my sewing skills if I'm going to be making mini clothing for her too.  I do have a sewing machine, but, its old and cantankerous and doesn't always work so well.  I have some great patterns for 1890s women's fashions which would look great on her.  The corset will probably be the toughest thing to create so that it fits right. 

(Message last edited Jun-14th-03  3:36 PM.)

I have actually done that very same thing -- made a rooting tool out of a large-eye needle and used some snippers to cut the tip off.  I finally found a latch-hook sort of thing that was used for making hooked rugs, and that worked somewhat better, although bigger holes were needed (and bigger plugs of hair).  I've also set synthetic hair by the boiling-water method, and it still works.  If anything, it tends to make the hair too frizzy, but that would work for Lizzie's bangs. I'm always cutting bangs in wigs that don't have any.  You just need to make sure you have lots of hair, and most of the wigs I find have too much in the first place.

Well, I found out that the head that you can put the "glastic" eyes into is hard plastic, like the body, so, you must use a wig with this head.  I'm trying to decide what color to get, their brown color is quite red looking, but, I don't think that our Lizzie was a true redhead, so, that might work.  I've used fabric softener with success to get rid of the frizzies from the boil perm.  Is there anything that you use as a sort of setting lotion to get curls to stay in shape nicely?  This is becoming a fun project for me, believe it or not, I've never done an OOAK type of doll before outside of pirating limbs and such from one doll to another.