Letters to the Editors
Fall Issue 2010
Michael and David,
About Doll News, I've been meaning to compliment you all year on your FANTASTIC CHANGES. It's a new publication! The magazine's content never grabbed my attention before, but I started reading your first issue as soon as it arrived--sucked in by the interesting articles, better and more impactful photographs, better layouts, etc. Then I found you two were responsible, as I should have guessed. It's really a first-rate publication now--should win some awards. I'm sure you worked yourselves to death but you can be really, really proud. One of the most outstanding and visible makeovers I've seen. And I really enjoy reading it now.
Bettina Eichel
San Francisco, California
Dear Michael and David,
I just wanted to tell you that I am really enjoying Doll News still. I just finished reading the Summer 2010 issue through for the third time. I am anticipating the next issue with much excitement. Needless to say – all of your magazines will be keepers!
Sincerely,
Hazel Coons
Tacoma, Washington
Dear Michael and David,
Finally I have been able to sit down and thoroughly enjoy reading MY Doll News. I am so excited to see you print modern doll articles from the 40s, 50s and 60s. I am the gal who phoned you in June to tell you how much I enjoy reading "A. Glenn Mandeville" and "Virginia Walker" articles. I will always enjoy the articles on antique dolls. Reading the Club Notes allows me to feel as if I am part of the family of UFDC. The UFDC has come to my aid when I have moved from New Orleans, to Dallas, to Ohio, to Nebraska and finally to Birmingham.
Sincerely,
Jo Ann B. Taylor
Dear Michael and David,
After reading the first issue of DOLL NEWS that you were responsible for, I thought you would have a hard time to keep that level of excellence in future issues. I needn’t have worried for each issue has been better than the last. This Fall issue is the best yet. Wonderful, creative articles and such handsome and plentiful advertisements. I didn’t go to convention this last year, so I didn’t know that Denise Buese was taking orders for her wonderful dresses. Her advertisement put me in the know. I have to say that the cover of the Winter issue last year was the prettiest cover I have ever seen on a magazine---pure art. Thank you for all your efforts,
Sincerely,
Beverly Thomson
Dear Michael and David,
What a spectacular issue. You really out did yourselves fellas.
Take care,
Maggi
Dear Michael and David,
Oh my gosh! Love, love, love this issue of DOLL NEWS!! It is so beautiful and so full of great info! It will have a place of honor in my doll reference library too. Thank you for the wonderful placement of my doll ad. It is so pretty and I am so pleased.
Keep up the great and much appreciated work!
billye
Ashley's Dolls
Michael and David,
How fortunate for UFDC members to receive such a glorious volume chock full of rich material to enjoy over and over. Thank you so much for the fine presentation of my clothespin dolls and for mentioning me in your editorial. Also, mentioning Martha Stewart's website, which I had no knowledge of. I have a lot to learn and I am being scolded for not stating the names of the owners of the vintage dolls - the Santa and the fisherman belong to Julie Furman. The one in the pink dress on Page 64 is owned by Mary Ann Hess. Please don't write me off as a lost cause - ignorance on my part. BUT, nothing can diminish the delight we all feel when we receive a Doll News edited by Michael Canadas and David Robinson - truly keepers - congratulations on another success.
Sincerely,
Charlene Larsen
GGGAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
This is exactly why dolls "creep out" some of my friends and family. I realize Halloween is coming, but after jumping away from the pastie-faced, angry clown glaring from the Fall issue, I folded back the cover and squirreled this issue under the stack. Yikes.
Barb Soet
Ada, Mi.
Hello Barb,
Sorry to hear you are displeased with the fall cover. Thankfully, we have received many, many compliments about the cover from mature readers – compliments that help take the sting out of your review. Although, of course, you are welcome to your opinion, it is blatant rudeness like yours that helps explain why people are reluctant to volunteer their valuable time.
Best wishes,
Michael and David
Editors, UFDC Doll News
Dearest Michael and David,
The magazine is just amazing…tres chic…and Janet Gula, what a treasure. I have spent hours looking and reading...it's just been transformed…fabulous. Thanks so much for all the work you are doing to make the collection and study of dolls just what it should be.
Lillian Peeler
Michael and David,
Well, you've outdone yourselves again. The latest issue is amazing. I thank you with all my heart.
And although this is 100% about you, and not me, I feel compelled to add this: I received your first issue on Christmas Eve,
I think, if memory serves. It was quite late when I finished it, and I was so thrilled and enchanted I clicked the link and emailed
you stating it was my best Christmas gift , etc., thanking you and wishing you a Merry Christmas. I felt it was the most eloquent,
truthful, and heartfelt thing I'd ever written. As I sent it, it didn't recognize my email address, got confused, and went into
cyberspace, never to be heard again. I have never been able to recreate that honest, heartfelt (sorry for the redundancy) note I
sent on that special night. I think I finally have the courage to try again, thanks to your latest issue.
Fond Regards,
Joyce Christensen
Hello Michael & David,
The newest issue of Doll News continues your run of spectacular issues! The design and layout are superb, but best of all are the generous in-depth articles profusely illustrated with marvelous photographs.
Simply put, this is head-over-heels the finest publication in the industry.
All the best,
R. John Wright
Michael and David,
Well, just when I thought that Doll News couldn't possibly get any better, it did. My mailman delivered my much awaited copy early this afternoon and six hours later I'm still mesmerized.
Thank you so much for a simply superb issue.
Laurie Wagoner
Arcadia, California
P.S. I love the "pasty-faced clown" on the cover, and I don't detect a bit of anger.
Dear Doll Friends,
Your issue of Doll News is a beautiful issue. I am enjoying reading it, and love the quality of it. You do such wonderful work. I just wanted to share a "Thank You". Love to the boys (Max and Moritz)!
I loved seeing you again in Denver and especially having a picture with you two and the rascals. The Conference was just the best!
Love,
Jan Bryant
Michael & David,
I just received the Fall issue of DOLL NEWS which is absolutely FANTASTIC! I love the clown on the cover with the caption: UFDC The Greatest Show on Earth. This is so very appropriate for this issue which covers the UFDC Convention. You continuously surpass your own level of excellence. Congratulations!!
Rita Johnston
UFDC past-president
Michael and David,
This issue of Doll News is so wonderful, I immediately had to call and order another. One for looking, one for cutting up! What a joy to have the patterns for the convention souvenir doll, Marie Terese. I could not go to convention, but bless the person who did not want the doll so I could then buy her!
You are doing one fabulous job and I appreciate it!
Billie Aye,
Tonganoxie, Kansas
Michael and David,
Huge congrats on Doll News. I am very impressed with the issues since you guys took over. This latest issue was so fantastic I thought it needed acknowledgement. It was quite the buzz at our doll club meeting yesterday. Keep up the great work.
Jackie Fullerton,
Ft. Myers, Florida
Michael and David,
I have been meaning to write to you about the last two Doll News – about how great they are (but so dolling busy I haven't got around to it). Well, I got my fall 2010 today and I don't know how you topped them, but you did. First time I have got a magazine so thick, I did not have enought time to read all of it at one time (later tonight). Ya'll are doing a wonderful job as editors....thank you and all of the others that help you! The cover is great, I love Mel Odom/Gene, the informative articles, the patterns. The pages/pictures are so good too. Keep it up.
raggedy Susan Burcham
Corinth, MS
Southland Doll Club
Michael and David,
Wow! What a magazine! Thanks a million for all that you do to make Doll News so special!
Sally Griffin
Shaker Doll Club
Michael and David,
Just wanted to take a minute to thank you both for the terrific job you have done with Doll News. Really enjoy and look forward to every issue! I am a UFDC member since l982 and volunteered my time with UFDC functions in the past, so know it is nice when someone takes the time to say thank you.
Janet Mehrbrodt
Hi Guys!
I have picked myself up off the floor after looking at the new issue of Doll News. It has become my absolute favorite magazine, although, I am still keeping subscriptions to Poultry Life and Soldier of Fortune. Doll News is like a 10 course dinner that I read cover to cover. It’s like reading Proust, but with pictures!
Thank you for the great magazine.
Damon Powell
New York City
Hello,
I just wanted to write and let you know what a fabulous job you are doing with the Federation doll magazine. You are both true artists and your dolls are beautiful. It is nice to see the respect for old dolls that you both have. I look forward to meeting you someday.
Kindest regards,
Annette Drolet
Dear Editors: Michael and David
I want to express my happiness and gratitude with your “new” UFDC Doll News magazine. This Fall issue is even more scrumptious than the last three fabulous issues. You both have taken the Doll News to a new level! I found the articles on Mimi, that fabulous French Fashion Huret with the most marvelous wardrobe ever, and the sewing patterns by Denise Buese to be especially interesting and educational.
The Doll news has now become a reference magazine to keep and cherish! “Thanks” does not truly express the gratitude, joy, and enlightenment your magazine has brought me and our entire doll world!
But, "thank you again" anyway,
Sharon Lindsay
Region 2N
Dear Michael and David,
We have met before, so I felt I could use your first names. I've just finished working through the Fall issue of DollNews—it took a week! I am so impressed with the contents that I felt I
must tell you. I am a collector of fine chinas, and since they are so old, they usually arrive without any clothes; I have been sewing for them for years. And quite often I do a pretty bang up job with
my creations. I am always interested in seeing what other people are sewing, and loved the section about Marie Terese's wardrobe. For you to have given that much space to a sewing subject is pretty
much unheard of. I thank you for that.
AND! In the last couple of years I have finally obtained a Huret, which I had wanted for years. In fact, I have collected fabric with the intention of using it "when" I get the Huret. So, I'm ready, but there's a problem. I reached the age of 82 this year, and my fingers don't work like they used to, my sewing has stopped—darn, just when I had the doll and the fabric at my finger tips. So, I really enjoyed your article on the Huret named Mimi. What a delight! I loved it. And again, a page for each outfit. Thanks.
Then back to the convension—you did a nice job on showing the chinas in the first part of the coverage. Doll Collector skipped the chinas for some reason, and I was most disappointed. I always
like to see who the "new" china lovers are and what ribbons they win. I really appreciate your work. You are doing a great job with Doll News, and just wanted you to know how much I appreciate your efforts.
Thanks again for all your good works, they do not go unnoticed,
Mona Borger
Hi Michael and David,
I’m just reading the latest issue of Doll News and wanted to thank you for such a beautiful magazine. The last several issues are wonderful...so informative and fun to read.
Thank you again,
Trudy LaFlamme
Region 2N
Bay View Doll Club of No. Calif. &
Independent Spirits
Michael and David,
I want to say thanks ever so much again for the fabulous 'Doll News' FALL issue. The photography is superb and the articles well written and informative.
A publication well done is a team effort and you've got the 'Dream Team' at work putting this together.
THANKS!!!!!
Darlene Lane
Tucson, Arizona
Dear Michael and David,
Well, you've done it! The fall issue is so wonderful that it has easily surpassed any other doll publication "out there." I was thrilled with it from cover to cover and gratified that it took more than an hour to read. I met you both at UFDC in Chicago (the lady whose club made your lovely Eugenie box) and want you to know that we all truly appreciate the great job that you and the staff are doing. WONDERFUL!!!
Joan Kufskie
Southern Illinois Doll Club
Belleville, Illinois
Dear Editors:
Like most of the other people who have commented about the Doll News since you have taken over I have enjoyed it very much and found it very educational. Reading it I have learned things I never would have learned elsewhere. The photos are great. I especially enjoyed the supplement in the fall issue on Gutta Percha dolls by Leverd and Cie.
After reading the fall issue I sat down to make clothing for the Convention Doll. After looking at the patterns in Doll News carefully I found there was no back to the pattern for the Summer Dress. When I decided to make a back to go with the front I realized I did not know if seam allowances were included in the pattern or would have to be added. This is one of the main problems in following patterns. If seam allowances are shown this solves the problem. I know you were probably rushing to get these patterns in since no one could make patterns for the doll until after convention. I have always been told that if you complain about something you should be ready to do something about it. I know when you are close to a project you may not see all the problems with directions you are giving someone else to do it. I would be willing to read over patterns before publication to see if directions or patterns are complete. I feel I have some experience in this area as I have presented patterns in Doll Reader, Patsy Newsletter and Doll Castle News.
Jeannie Sieg,
Jackson, New Hampshire
Dear Jeanne,
Thank you so much for your message. You are correct in your assumption that we were a bit rushed to come up with something pattern-wise for the fall issue. On top of that, our Supplement Editor Janet Hollingsworth was recovering from surgery near our deadline and was unable to contribute. We then leaned on our very talented friend, Denise Buese, who graciously filled in with her creations for Marie Terese.
The omission of the seam allowance is an issue that has been brought to our attention, so we will be providing that at dollnews.org. We have been in touch with Denise and soon she will be sending us the pattern for the back of the summer dress, which will also be made available at dollnews.org. In addition, we have forwarded your message to Denise, so she will be contacting you directly about the seam allowance issue.
Thank you also for your offer to check patterns for us, we may just take you up on that, as we have learned that two pairs of eyes are definitely better than one.
With kindest regards,
Michael Canadas and David Robinson
Editors, UFDC Doll News
Dear Michael and David,
We just got our Doll News and just when we thought you had taken it to a new level with the first issue, you really outdid yourselves with this issue! What a feast for our eyes! I had to read the article on Scott Smith and Vergie Lightfoot right away. Thank you so much for including my picture along with "Alice's Tea Party" for ODACA Day. It's an honor to be included with such talented artists – ODACA and NIADA. I've been an ODACA member since 1978 and have seen the appreciation for our work grow with UFDC's continuing support. It is much appreciated. Thank you so much for all the hard work you and your staff are putting into Doll News.
Sincerely,
Betsey Baker
Michael and David,
You and your staff are doing a FANTASTIC job and have made Doll News the best doll magazine on earth. As usual, you both always do a super job at every activity you're involved with. Thanks for your thoughts and the many hours you put into Doll News and we look forward to receiving the next issue, and to seeing you in Anaheim.
Sincerely,
Ray Baker
PS Thanks for the nice words and pictures of the Banana Crew!
Hi Michael and David;
This is just another note to tell you how wonderful our Doll News magazine is. It's like receiving a special gift when it arrives. Each and every article is just fantastic.
David, you asked me if it would be nice to have a pattern for Marie Terese in Doll News and, of course, I said it would be absolutely great. Not only did we receive a pattern, we received a whole wardrobe! And gorgeous pictures and presentations! I was overwhelmed when I saw them. I would have been overjoyed just with that, however, there’s the just exquisite article on Mademoiselle Mimi, a grand farewell to Gene along with a paper doll, gorgeous pictures of UFDC competition and did I say “I love clowns?” You two amazing gentlemen have made a very good magazine into a collector’s dream.
Thank you so much for your sharing, caring and hard work, it is truly appreciated.
Warmest regards,
Carol Dzomba
Hi Michael and David,
You've done it again! Another outstanding issue of Doll News. Thanks from the Maine-ly Dolls Club for including our junior collector birthday tea. Happy Thanksgiving and a wonderful winter to you both.
Anne
Previous Letters to the Editors
from the Summer Issue
can still be found here.