Friend for Life

Dolldom remembers the late 1960s when the Sasha dolls by Sasha Morgenthaler, made their appearance at the posh González Padín department store in Plaza Las Américas in Puerto Rico. The display was breathtaking - a veritable It's A Small World that required no catchy song to communicate its message clearly - children and childhood, regardless of despair and disparity, will always convey hope.

Our anecdote of the famed department store's Sasha display comes with one more event: the saleswoman explained to many a mother who inquired about the "dark" color of the dolls' skins that these new dolls were educational. Dolldom is sure that to the children of those mothers, the dolls were simply magical and invited them to be friends. But perhaps, their educational label and groundbreaking look deterred those friendships from realizing. For a while, at least, as this entry proves.

Much has changed since the days of 1969, yet Sasha dolls remain magnificent examples of doll art. For this story, Dolldom focuses on Caleb, produced by Trendon in England. With his short Afro and fisherman's sweater in soft yellow, Caleb exemplifies classic doll - untouched by the vagaries of fashion, this little guy will look authentically good even in 2069. Thank you, Sasha Morgenthaler!