RUTH STOUT

It was quite a party! Everybody - but everybody was there! The guest list read like a roll-call of the rich and famous!

Rhett Butler, with that quizzical lift to one eyebrow that set female hearts aflutter, shocked everyone with, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Scarlett O'Hara made history with, "Tomorrow is another day." John Wayne stood apart, thumbs hooked in his back pockets, surveying the "pilgrims." Judy Garland danced down "The Yellow Brick Road" at the same time Shirley Temple entertained with "The Good Ship Lollipop." Also present were Elvis Presley (in his Blue Suede Shoes), Dolly Parton, Marilyn Monroe, Groucho Marx, and Sachmo!

Was it a dream? No. An old movie? Wrong again. The party took place at the resident of Fay and Ruth Stout, 403 S. Skinner, and the guests were real . . . real dolls.

Ruth never really intended to start collecting dolls, but she has always "just liked dolls" and kept all her own dolls; then when her daughter moved away, Ruth kept her daughter's dolls. People just kept giving her dolls until the collection, like Topsy, "just grew." Ruth became more serious in her collecting about six years ago; just about the time husband Fay became superintendent of Drumright Schools. The Stouts moved to Drumright and Ruth displayed the dolls in a guest bedroom but soon realized there was no room for a bed; the dolls overflowed into Ruth's sewing room, and eventually Fay goodnaturedly purchased a two-bedroom moblie home which he moved onto the back of their lot so they would have room for their children and grandchildren when they came to visit. He thought! Today one bedroom of the "guest" house has been invaded already by dolls, dolls, and more dolls!

Probably the most prized in dollar value are the Princess Di and Charles; they were sketched by a lady from Williamsburg, Virginia, who sent the drawings to Princess Di for her approval which was promptly granted. Obviously, then there had to be a Prince William, so Ruth, who is an expert seamstress, fashioned the body, while Leona Alsip of Mannford prepared the head. The two also combined their talents on a doll entitled, "Mother's Love" depicting a young mother cradling a newborn baby. An additional doll of value, and most assuredly the oldest, is an Armond Marcelle doll made in Germany. The doll, which dates from about 1900, has hand-painted features and a kidskin body.

There are storybook dolls: Huckelberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher revolves to the tune of "Oh, You Great Big Beautiful Doll." History unfolds with the Kewpie doll, the Gerber Baby, the Campbell Soup Kid, and Betty Boop. The most recent addition is a Norman Rockwell character, a birthday gift from Fay, straight from a Saturday Evening Post illustration featuring a little girl tearfully showing her broken doll to the family doctor.

Stout's doll collection has a distinct international flavor; she has dolls made in Germany, England, Italy, Japan, China, Spain, and of course, those she has made herself, including her own "Dollie Dingle."

Certain dolls Ruth treasures most for sentimental reasons. One is the first doll she herself owned which has its original hair and clothes; it is a male doll of celluloid, rare in that it is fifteen inches tall, an unusual size for celluloid dolls and is thus a collector's item. Another she values highly is from the "Damn Things" collection, a large troll which once belonged to Ruth's mother. Trolls of such size are no longer in production and Ruth's is another collector's item along with the Sasha doll, originally made in England, but no longer available.

Ruth's dolls transcend ethnic boundaries with Oriental dolls, Indian dolls, East Indian dolls, Negroid dolls, Dutch dolls, French dolls, and a Polish doll which was quickly taken off the market when its "stuffing" was ruled "unsafe for children."

The collection includes dolls of every conceivable material: celluloid, plaster, rubber, magicskin, kidskin, porcelain, vinyl, China, cloth, composition, carnival chalk, and metal. When her granddaughter had her first haircut, Ruth retrieved the hair to make a wig for a doll she herself designed.

Then there is the English walking doll who turns her head as she walks, dolls that talk, that flirt, that sleep, that wet their diapers, take a bottle, eat baby food, cry, dance! And who could forget the controversial dolls that were "anatomically correct."

This list goes on. Ruth points out the Vogue dolls which were popular in the '40s, the original Cabbage Patch Doll made by Xavier Roberts and a doll created by Jan Hagara, Sand Springs native, today a famed artist with a talent for capturing the beauty and sweet simplicity of children.

The collector rattles off brand names easily: Madam Alexander, EFFANBEE (the initials of its two originators), the Hummel dolls made in Germany, and "Precious Moments" figurines.

Social distinction means nothing at the Stout doll party: Eleanor Roosevelt and President Roosevelt share equal seating arrangements with Baby Ruth and with Wanda Byram's original Applehead Dolls. An oversized blonde Barbie doll was not accepted by the little-girl market and removed from the Barbie line thus making collector's items of those few in existence. One gives his age away when he recognizes the Bye-lo Baby, circa 1918. The guest list continues with the Toni dolls of the '50s, Chatty Cathy and her little brother, Mary Poppins, Ronald McDonald, Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, small dolls, large dolls, baby dolls, "mature" dolls, cute ones, homely ones, and so on.

Dolls! Dolls! Dolls! Ruth and Fay Stout's home is a fairyland for little girls and a sentimental journey for the young at heart. Each character prompts a recollection of a certain era, a time, a place. And Ruth generously and graciously shares her hobby, whether with an individual or an entire class of schoolchildren, with the enthusiasm of a little girl who has received her first doll. She still "just likes dolls," and our lives are enriched by one who has the patience and the vision to preserve a bit of the past for the rest of us to enjoy today and tomorrow.

The Drumright Chamber of Commerce recognizes Ruth Stout for providing us the opportunity for a stroll down memory lane with her interesting, unusual, and rare collection of dolls.

(Note: Jimmie Cook, an Ambassador for Drumright, is an instructor of English at Oklahoma State University. The above article is one of a series about interesting and unusual People, Places and Things in and around Drumright. The Drumright Ambassadors welcome suggestions for future articles.)