Boy-O-Boy!
Denny & Charlie...

These four happy guys are
Denny & Charlie reproductions!

About the Original Dolls
So Daring Denny and So Cheerful Charlie were prototype dolls that were never mass produced. To find out more about the prototype dolls, and to see some of the wax heads that the molds were created from, you can visit the other Baby Face sites on my links page. These Baby Face sites show photos of the original prototypes. Two Denny dolls were sold by Kiscom to unidentified buyers in 1997. Apparently no one knows what became of the Charlie prototype although someone suggested that Kiscom still has it, because they kept one of every doll and every prototype.

Challenging
It has been a challenge to reproduce these two Baby Face boy dolls. It took six months to find the fabrics, notions, shoes, socks and props that were necessary. It has also taken considerable time to design the custom patterns: pants, shorts, tops, sailor hat and baseball hat. And, testing the patterns. I threw many outfits in the trash can before each one finally fit right, looked right. As for expense... I have several BF projects in the works and I decided I had better stop tracking expenses and simply consider the entertainment value.

The BF Boy Logo
A closeup of the logo on Denny's shirt shows that it may have been a handmade prototype and it appears to be finished with fabric paint applied around the edges. I doubt the final product would have looked like this. I think it would have resembled the plastic emblems that are on many of the girls dresses: Cynthia, Sheila, Penny, etc. I am a graphic designer and desktop publisher, so it finally seemed sensible to do it my way: on the computer. This, too, took time, materials and experimentation. I am pleased with the finished applique because it has a plastic finish, just like the appliques on the girls outfits, and I think it is more like the finished product would have been.

Copyright Concerns

I also needed to be careful of copyright infringement, so I altered the logo and colors of the applique while being careful to retain the original style and color scheme. Instead of "BF Boy" my applique says "Boy-O-Boy" which I think is a cheerful adaptation. This adaptation is also intended to prevent fraud. My dolls should not be passed on as the real thing, because they aren't. But, they are very close!!

Footwear
In one prototype photo (above,) Denny is shown wearing wearing white plastic boots that are probably from the first issue of Suzie dolls, before Galoob added the embossed heart emblem. His socks are white. In the second photo at left, he is wearing high top vinyl tennis shoes and his socks are blue instead of white. My Denny wears white vinyl tennis shoes and blue socks.

Charlie wears white plastic boots with the BF heart emblem on them, such as Suzie and Sarah wear. I have scrounged as many white boots as I could, but this is not easy to do because the only way to get them is to steal the boots off the feet of orphan dolls. The original Charlie wears red & white striped socks, but my socks are a solid red because this is what I could find, and they look really great on him.  

The Dolls
I used #8 DeeDee for the Denny doll of course. The real Denny has blue eyes that look off to the side like Cynthia and his hair has a side part that is rooted differently than DeeDee's. I have seen DeeDee's come with any of three eye colors: violet, light blue and medium blue. The medium blue is most appropriate for Denny. I have not given the dolls a haircut: DeeDee's ponytail tucks nicely under the hat.

I used #10 Penny for the Charlie doll. The Charlie prototype had dark skin tone but was not as dark as the black Penny. I used black Penny for my own Charlie in the top photo. Black Penny's original pigtails are held up with bobbie pins and the sailor hat hides them just fine.

DeeDee works well as a boy doll, but Penny is absolutely terrific as Cheerful Charlie. I think Penny is the homely one of the BF girls, and so she makes a completely charming and believeable boy!!

Charlie's Hat
The prototype Charlie had a stocking cap. Right from the start I saw problems with it and never seriously tried to duplicate the cap. I thought the fabric would be hard to find, hard to work with, and I thought the stripes on the original looked crooked (possibly just painted on with fabric paint.) Instead, I created a very traditional sailor hat made of white canvas. The brim of my hat is lined with the same star fabric that is on the right sleeve of the shirt. And, with the sailor hat I can hide Penny's pigtails which was also a concern.

Denny
and
Charlie!