Stuffee retires at museum

Kris Hill

Saturday, Nov. 4, 2000 | 10:20 a.m.

After 10 years of service, Stuffee is retiring from the Lied Discovery Children's Museum.

That may not seem like a long time in most professions, but for a 300-pound, 9-foot anatomy doll that has become a friend of children throughout Las Vegas, it's a lifetime.

Emily Newberry, Lied's public affairs coordinator, said Stuffee would be 80 in human years.

The doll, now known as Stuffee Sr., retired on Thursday. He was used by staff to teach youngsters about the human body and safety around the pool. He is being replaced by Stuffee Jr.

Stuffee Sr. suffered much abuse at the hands of curious children. He has a rip running down his chest and stomach. His ears have been torn off and innards have been carted off.

Sometimes his plush pancreas was mistaken for a carrot. On other occasions, smaller children unzipped him, removed his organs and left them on the floor so they can crawl inside him.

Junior is already in use. He hangs out on a beach chair under an umbrella in the museum's demonstration area.

"We do an awful lot with Stuffee," Newberry said.

Stuffee Jr. is bouncier and perkier, Newberry said. He's got a bigger smile, too. But she doesn't think he's quite gotten used to his beach chair because he still looks stiff.

Stuffee Sr.'s fate has yet to be determined. Children and museum staff are attached to him and don't want him to be thrown away. Newberry hopes to have the older doll refurbished -- again -- and sent to a school somewhere.

The doll was developed by the Pittsburgh Children's Museum in 1983. It marketed him to other museums around the country, which is how the Lied museum got him.

It's kind of nice to be able to replace the old doll, Newberry said, because he's a good way to teach kids about the body without upsetting them.