Christmas, 1962. Walnut Creek, CA
my parents ordered two matty mattel dolls for christmas in 1962 – one for my
brother mike and one for me. they received one matty mattel doll and one sister
belle doll by mistake. there wasn’t enough time to send the sister belle doll back,
and they figured i was young enough that i’d be fine with it, so they gave it to me.
sister belle talks when you pull her string. these are some of the things she says:
it’s time to eat
let’s play house
i love you
sing me a song
please take me with you
do you like me?
i’m glad we’re friends
my mom says i really liked her. i don’t remember playing with her, but years later i
do remember my parent’s having a friend over, and their daughter was playing with
her and she stuck her gum in the dolls hair. i got pretty upset about it, so i must
have still had some attachment to it.