Olympia, Eat your Eyes Out!

[steepholm]

To look at them you would never have known they were anything but the best of friends.

But that's how it is with dolls.

I do not know much about doll stories, but I know that one of my favourites is Rumer Godden's Tottie (1946) - and another is Sylvia Waugh's (to rhyme with "toff") The Mennyms (1993), either of which I would recommend to anybody.

What I didn't know until today was that Tottie had been made into an animated series by the incomparable Oliver Postgate! (When it was serialized in 1984 I was living the life of a postgrad, and it passed me by.)

Heartwarming and chilling, familiar and alien, funny and tragic, stop and motion. Just what you'd expect from the creator of Noggin the Nog, in fact. And the way he handles the humans (though perhaps lovers of Bagpuss would expect it) is, in this context, brilliant.

Comments

speaking of dolls,

[colorwheel]

I grew up on this, from sesame. to this day i still watch it for microbreaks and comfort. i think (for me) the comfort lies in the girls' reactions to what happens, which i was initially (when little) scared would be upsetness but totally isn't. </uninvited psychoanalysis>

Re: speaking of dolls,

[steepholm]

I'd not seen that before - thank you! It reminds me in an odd way of Beatrix Potter's Two Bad Mice. I found the dolls in that quite frightening - perhaps indeed the first of the many frightening dolls that were to scar my childhood...

[kalypso]

Ah, that story! I didn't know it had been dramatised, either, but I can see they'd be the perfect team to do it. Interesting that the line when Marchpane arrives sounds like "In the box was much pain." Also that when I looked online for more about the book, to make quite sure it was the one I remembered, a lot of the reader reviews muddle The Doll's House with A Doll's House, which is making me think that Postgate and Firmin should have tackled Nora's story as a follow-up.

[steepholm]

I think it was the obvious aptness of the Godden/Postgate pairing that got me so excited about it. According to Wiki, Godden was enthusiastic about the production, too, although having had Jean Renoir adapt The River she was a little sniffy at first.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Oh, lovely! Producer Kaye Webb, eh?

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much producing she actually did? (As a matter of fact, I've no idea what a producer does at the best of times.) But yes, more stellarness.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

I was 8 when this was first broadcast, so it was part of my experience of childhood TV, although I never liked it as I found dolls creepy and fusty. I was already rather too old for it anyway, and only really watching it because it had been put on for my little sister.

However, I've just watched the clip you've embedded, and the second the character with the blond hair and red skirt appeared I had a vivid image of her on fire. Sure enough, Wikipedia tells me that that is exactly what eventually happened to her. So I guess that stayed with me.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I've only seen this one clip of the series, so far, but it's certainly one of the more memorable scenes from the book.

Of course, the creepiness of dolls is part of their uncanny attraction, but only if you like that sort of thing.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Oh, thanks so much for linking this. So beautifully done. I was nine in 1984, but I don't remember watching this, although the dolls themselves are very familiar to me - I think they must have been on the cover of my copy of the book. Marchpane still makes my blood run absolutely cold... poor, poor Mr Plantagenet! :(

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I know - so uncomprehending and vulnerable!

Spoilers

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I know this as The Dolls House, and it was the first Rumer Godden that I ever read (at age 7). I reread it recently (at 44). I had remembered it chiefly, from a previous reread, for its very crafty details of refurbishing the Victorian doll house and furniture. This time, I was struck by the psychological tensions in the book, the gaslighting and subtle mindscrew. I also realized, for the first time, that Birdie is very much a martyr figure, sacrificing herself without hesitation for the sake of her child. The repeated references to Birdie's "brightness", her shining face (reflection of glory?), the brightness of the candle which is both her destruction and her apotheosis...wow.

I love Tottie. So *Tottie*, pure good sense and down to earth understanding. I saw Mr Plantagent (the only one without a given name, hmmm) much more as an adult survivor of abuse this time around. I wonder if Godden had known men like this.

The story also gained much more depth for me when I realized the significance of 1946 for a British audience. I didn't know anything about the austerity period when I was seven. No wonder "the shortage of doll houses was acute".

Re: Spoilers

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

It's a lovely book. And I admire what Postgate has done with Mr Plantaganet's voice (I don't think he was Welsh in the book!) - that febrile combination of hopefulness and suppressed hysteria/despair.

And yes, I'd not taken in the date until I made this post.

Re: Spoilers

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

Welsh, is it? I didn't realize that. I remembered, on hearing the voice, that Mr Plantagenet started off life as a Scots doll, and assumed that was the accent used.

Re: Spoilers

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Well, when I listened to it again, he did sound Scottish - at times. A kind of refained Edinborough, especially with those trilled 'r's. But at the beginning and the end of the clip he sounds more Welsh to me. Possibly Postgate wasn't very good at holding an accent, or (equally likely) I'm just superimposing his Ivor the Engine voices onto Mr P.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I love that book! But I didn't know about the show either (I was also a postgrad). Thank you!