Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.
With all the bells and whistles of today's dolls, clever action figures and dancing bears, a simple rag doll with yarn hair, knit stockings and a prairie outfit seems almost fictional, an embodiment of any maudlin country song referencing "the good-ol' days."
Rag dolls don't sing, dance, talk or walk.
They're not as elaborately outfitted as the "American Girl" series, nor are they as expensive. They lack toy cell phones, head phones and BlackBerries and they are years (years!) away from the sexy single Barbie and her nemesis Bratz Dolls.
Essentially, the rag doll begins and ends with your imagination. And that can be quite a responsibility.
But in talking with Kathy and Janet Lennon of the famed Lennon Sisters, embracing this generational throwback to rag dolls isn't as difficult as it seems.
In fact, they believe it's quite natural.
A year ago, the two sisters, who came to prominence at ages 3 and 6 on "The Lawrence Welk Show," launched a line of rag dolls called Best Pals. The soft, pliable 16-inch dolls are replicas of their own childhood dolls made by their mother and grandmother.
Why did they return to an earlier era of dolls? "We felt there was a hole in the toy industry for a simpler time, a need to nurture a doll, to hug and love it," Kathy Lennon says.
The dolls' embroidered faces, patterned dresses and 1950s simplicity may turn quizzical eyes among today's youth who demand battery-operated interactive play, but with the help of the Lennon sisters, here is some advice:
Step 1
Just hug her: The arms are not animatronic, but she will hug you back in her own limp, rag doll way. The rag doll "just falls into your arms," Kathy Lennon says.
Step 2
Take her outdoors: Run down the street and through the park - and let her soar in the open air. Forget tenderness for the moment. "You can hold her by the braid. You can hold her hand or her dress," Janet says. "That's how we carried her."
Step 3
Take her wherever you go. Roll her up and fold her into a backpack, Kathy Lennon says. "We would take our dolls in our little doll trunks."
Step 4
Be thoughtful. "We also took little nighties with them," Janet says. "They'd sleep in our hotel beds with us."
Step 5
Nurture them: "We used to sit in our little rockers and sing to them," Janet says, adding, "It's such a self explanatory doll. The child transforms."
For further instructions, ask the sisters directly. In town for the ABC Kids Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, Kathy and Janet Lennon will be at FAO Scwhar z in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday to launch a new line of multicultural dolls and sing a few songs from their "Best Pals" CD.
They'll also have their original dolls. No bells, no whistles.
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