Holly Hobbie and her Gazebo

One morning a few weeks ago, I woke up with the immediate thought, ‘where’s my Holly Hobbie Gazebo?’ Which is weird, because it was never a favourite toy, and I hadn’t seen it or thought about it in years.  But I had to get up and start searching, and luckily, it was where I thought it was, in storage.

I can’t say I was a particular fan of Holly Hobbie, but in the 70s you couldn’t turn around without seeing the aesthetic – either genuine Holly Hobbie, or a knock off version – everywhere, so of course lots of branded and clone items made their way into my possession (and a quick rootle in a cupboard or two revealed that I still have some of them). I also remember having a couple of long peasant-style patchwork dresses that I loved, and which were the height of fashion at the time.  As a budding artist Holly Hobbie also impacted my artwork, making me realise that figures could be drawn without complicated facial features, or indeed, without faces at all, a lot of the Holly Hobbie et al figures have their faces hidden under big hats, drawn side on or even from the back.  And when I started researching my gazebo I was really surprised to find that Holly Hobbie was a real person, the artist after whom the character was named.

I bought the gazebo at a church fete at a time when I was getting too old for dolls, but I just loved the idea of it. It was in excellent condition, especially considering it is largely cardboard, and it came with a Holly Hobbie doll.  One pin that holds one of the sides closed is broken and Holly is missing one shoe and her picnic accessories, but these problems were happily overlooked. I can’t remember how much it was, but it can’t have been very cheap as I remember umming and ahhing for a while, and mum asking me if I really needed it, before deciding that I did.  It was a slight disappointment that it was out of scale for Barbie, and even a little small for dolls such as Charlie’s Angels, but I found it fascinating nonetheless, even though I didn’t really play with it very much. I vaguely remember having a small Holly Hobbie or clone rag doll at the time, but I don’t really know why I didn’t have any of the other vinyl Holly Hobbie dolls.  I remember seeing them when I was a kid, but I have an inkling they were quite expensive.  They were also not really fashion dolls and smaller than the other dolls I owned, so there were probably other things I wanted more. 

I still love the gazebo, and I still wish it were Barbie sized.  The Holly Hobbie dolls were made by the Knickerbocker Toy Company around 1976, so the gazebo must have been a couple of years old by the time I got it.  The main body of it is made from hard plastic, with six heavy, printed cardboard panels that extend the play area and then fold up to enclose the structure.  One panel has a hard plastic swing attached to it, and another has an orange polka dot fabric hammock suspended between hard plastic supports.  The others are printed with a vegie patch, stone path, picnic rug and barrel of apples.  The outside of the panels is printed with pictures of the Holly Hobbie characters and the gazebo.

The Holly Hobbie doll is six inches tall.  Her outfit of printed patchwork dress, blue floral bonnet and matching bloomers, white socks and blue shoes, is really well made and quite a good replica of the artwork fashion.  I only wish she had little brown boots instead of the blue shoes.  The doll itself is quite cute, the facial features are quite stylised – big round cheeks, a small mound for a nose and tiny printed eyes and mouth – and long strawberry blonde hair. I have a feeling I wasn’t a fan of the face as a child, but now I can appreciate its simplicity.   

I was just thinking I must find a friend for Holly, now that I’d rediscovered the gazebo, when a visit to a friend saw me presented with a gift of Carrie and her cute wee cat (thanks heaps Jason).  Carrie has short reddish hair and wears a little brown polka dot dress with attached calico apron, huge floral bonnet, white tights and brown shoes.  Better still, her wee grey cat is pictured on the gazebo, so fits in perfectly.  She also has her table, but is missing the stool, bowl, cup, spoon and ladle. There is a third doll in the series, Amy, with long blonde plaits, so perhaps she may cross my path at some time.  Of course, these dolls were just the tip of the Holly Hobbie marketing iceberg, there were twelve inch dolls, rag dolls, dolls houses, doll’s clothes as well as all sorts of other toys, cards, gifts and homewares.  And now, I’ll have to pull the place apart until I find my wee rag doll.  I know she must be here somewhere, and although she doesn’t really work with the gazebo, I’d like all my Holly Hobbie toys together. 

Don’t forget, I’m now on Instagram – @jenjoysworld(and a non-doll photo art account @jenniferbs_world). There’ll be some unique content and behind the scenes stuff, so head over and follow.

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