ø¤ MY PEE-WEES ¤ø

One is my doll group friends, Donna Hilson, last year, fulfilled her dream and opened a toy shop; "Donna's Childhood Memories", in her home town of Canvey Island, Essex.

While looking at the photo's she posted of her shop as she was setting it up getting it ready for it's grand opening, I noticed the huge Pee-Wee Herman on the rocking horse, I also noticed that he has a smaller version of himself in front of him.

I asked her the price and if she'd post them to me - she was more than happy to do so. A few days later they arrived at my home in a huge box - 3 foot square... It seems I had underestimated just how big they both were!

To give you an idea of their sizes - the smaller Pee-Wee is 26 inches (2 foot 2 inches) tall. While the larger Peewee is 40 inches ( 3 foot 4 inches) tall. Go on, go and get a tape measure!

I couldn't find the photo's I took prior to my move so I had to get the pair of them out of storage and shoot off a few more... 

Roxy wouldn't allow me to take any without her in them... in fact she sneaked into the shot just after I'd set up the 40" Pee-Wee!

No matter how many I took and how much I tried to shoo her she always ended up in shot and under each Pee-Wee's arm, I decided to let her have her way, so behold - Roxy and My Pee-Wees!

The 40" Pee-Wee was produced in 1989 as a J.C. Penney Exclusive Limited Edition Doll. He has a soft body with thick wires partway down his arms and legs, has a moulded head, hands and shoes and is wearing his trademark suit complete with pocket handkerchief and bow tie..

www.hakes.com

His box was plain apart from the sticker below on one side and an image of a Carousal Horse  on the other.

www.hakes.com

The back of his neck bears the legend ©1989 Herman Toys Inc. with the name Pee-Wee Herman engraved into the plastic besides it. There is a lighter square in the left of his neck which is numbered out of 2000, in what looks to be pen.

As you can see from the above photograph mine is number 309/2000. While there was supposed to be a run of 2000 of these dolls produced, from my research I've come across information which places the run at only 400 produced, which would make mine one of the last ones produced.

Each one came with a Certificate of Authenticity, numbered and signed, according to Hake Americana & Collectables this certificate is 8 x 10 inches and hand numbered.

I made myself a replica for my doll which is shown in the photograph above, I can't help finding it ironic that while my doll is authentic his Certificate of  Authenticity is not, still I am not planning on selling him, so what does that matter?!.

I found a listing for one of these dolls on Hakes Americana & Collectables the doll was sold in 2013 for $230.00 (£117.73) and have included a screenshot of the listing below...

The 26 inch Ventriloquist doll version was made by Matchbox Toys, also in 1989 and sold under the title "Pee-wee's Playhouse" as it was official merchandise from the show.

As  you can see Roxy wanted in on him too and gave me one of her most pathetic faces when I tried to move her!

He has a drawstring at the back of his neck which allows you to open and close his mouth and so make Pee-wee "talk", a soft body, moulded hands, head, shoes and a sleeping Roxy on his lap.

He is identical in every way to the 40 inch doll and Pee-wee himself, apart from the drawstring and moving mouth that is!

I found a listing for a boxed Ventriloquist Pee-wee on Toyzonkers.com as you can see they have him up for sale at $134.99 (£104.38), of course being boxed, he also comes with his booklet which gives instructions on ventriloquism, which sadly I do not have. 

I decided it would be silly to post about both these dolls and not take a photo' of them both together, that way the size difference between the two would be obvious, of course my furry delinquent got in on that photo too, so here they are 3 best friends! 

While playing with my Pee-wees, I mean photographing them, I was pretty impressed by how little of their original paint has chipped, the only places this has happened is in the black areas on the larger doll, a small amount of his hair and the bottom of his shoes, given that these dolls are now 27 years old and have been out of their boxes for gawd knows how long.

Hugs,