It was Christmas in 1972 when I got my Mrs. Beasley doll. I was ten years old and probably way to old to be playing dolls. But I didn't care, I wanted her so bad. I was ecstatic when I unwrapped her. I'll bet I drove my parents crazy with the number of times I pulled her talking string. I really loved her.
Over the years, I still kept her in my room, on my bed and pretty much still played with her. Eventually I joined the military and she went into a box my parents kept for me until I got my own place. She'd had surgery a few times for her voice box and at one point lost all her stuffing, apron and collar but I had her right up to 1996, when I was posted to Comox, BC. Busy with two kids, a husband and a military career, I'd realized I just wasn't going to fix her so I'd might as well get rid of her. I believe I've always kind of regretted throwing her out.
Then, in 2022, it all came back to me. I had watched a YouTuber's channel "Curiosity Incorporated." and I was so emotionally moved when he found a brand new Mrs. Beasley still in her box when he was clearing out a hoarder house. His channel https://www.youtube.com/@CuriosityIncorporated is about his life in Edmonton, Canada, and his work where he sells antiques and other items at auctions. I followed the entire auction and was so excited when Mrs. Beasley sold for $450 CAD. I certainly wasn't going to pay that much for nostalgia, but it really got me talking about how much I would love to have a Mrs. Beasley again.
My husband, bless his heart, started scouring the EBay sites and found a Mrs. Beasley for $25 USD, plus shipping. Since we're in the USA for the winter, it was only $10 to ship her to me. The FedEx delivery guy was laughing at how excited I was when she showed up.
Once he photographed dropping the box off, I quickly set to freeing her from the confines of her box.
The tape was a lot harder to cut through than anticipated, but I persevered!
She was missing her glasses, was a bit dirty and her collar was gone. But I was so happy to get her and decided she could be fixed!
I was concerned about the feet because it seemed like these were not salvageable. I figured I'd have to find some mustard coloured flannel to make her new shoes. She had several opened seams under her arms and was missing a bit of stuffing.
But before I could get her even cleaned up, my husband had her butt opened and had pulled out her voice box. He'd ordered a new o-ring online and was itching to see if he could get her talking again.
While he did this, I set about making her a new pair of glasses. I decided to try using floral wire and glue. I wasn't quite sure how big they should be but I used the photo I saw on line to get the shape and size I needed. I tried them on her as I made them and when I was happy, I painted them black.
These will probably be replaced, but for now, I was pretty happy with how they looked.
Once I could get her from my husband long enough, I scrubbed her up and tried to set her hair. Unfortunately her hair was too short for the curlers I had, so I just kind of fluffed up her hair into a nice hairdo. I was surprised by how much more golden yellow her hair was. I guess, after 50 years, one's hair definitely needs a washing.
I stuffed her arms and chest a bit more and sewed her up as best I could. The material is so worn in some spots that, like her feet, she really needs a new outfit.
As it turned out, my husband was not able to quite fix her talking box. I was okay with that, but he was persistent that we should get one who's talking box could be fixed. So, back on Ebay, he found one that seemed to be in better shape, but for $50 USD. She has her glasses and her clothing. She only had a tiny rip under her arm and her stuffing was really good. With taxes and shipping costs, he was into it for around $70. He ordered another $2.90 USD o-ring and set to work on this new doll. Not only did he get her working as well as she ever did 50 years ago, but he was able to get the first one's voice box to work as well. So now I have two Mrs. Beasleys and they both talk! Both are made in Hong Kong and are the 1967 versions. I really didn't want the Ashton Drake version that used Cheryl Ladd for the voice.
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| The Newest and prettiest Mrs. Beasley |
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| The first Mrs. Beasley with the worn foot, homemade glasses and missing collar. |
I'm going to try to do something with their hair to make it look nicer. I may even try to resew clothing for the worn out Mrs. Beasley.
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