Cinderella Blues
Let the birds and the mice dress you up nice.
When Mawmaw would tell me about her childhood in the Appalachian mountains during the depression, she always said she didn’t know they were poor because they felt rich. They had food from their garden, honey from the bee hives, and their dad made enough in the mines so that they eventually even had a car. They were never hungry and they had soap. They had the first electric lightbulb on the mountain which scandalized and worried some neighbors – that dangerous newfangled electricity! Their kitchen light was powered by a wind charger (like a windmill) which Pawpaw Avery installed on a scaffold in the yard. I wrote a song about all of this called “Polishing Stars” and I made a watercolor painting based on a photo I found of Mawmaw’s sister Edith standing in front of the wind charger with her cousins Ran and Jack.
A few years ago while I was visiting Mawmaw, I dug some clay out of the side of the hill to make a resist for indigo dye. My resist didn’t work that well, but I heard a fine story. I’d heard the story before, but I always loved hearing it.
Mawmaw’s face filled with complete joy when she said, “We used to dig clay out of the hillside and fashion it into fairy furniture. And Mama even let us bake the clay chairs and tables right in the oven. Then we’d set them up in the woods and use moss and leaves for little carpets and chair covers.” She still marveled at the fact that their mother let them put hill clay in the oven.
The last time she told me this story, I asked her. “What kind of dolls did you put on your fairy furniture?”
“What do you mean?” she said.
“You know, what dolls did you sit on your little chairs at the table?”
“Imaginary ones, honey. We didn’t have any dolls.”
This lead me to ask her if she’d had any dolls at all and she didn’t. Nary a one, as they would say back home.
This showed me why, when I was a child, Mawmaw bought dolls for me at every opportunity. I had dresser dolls like my beloved Babette who stood with untouchable grace on my dresser for my whole childhood. And I had Barbie dolls who patiently sat through every hairstyle and costume change, sometimes many in a single day of play. I had Raggedy Ann whose face is now so lined with childhood adventures that she could be none other than my own.
Mawmaw wanted me to have the toys and the easy childhood that she never had. She wasn’t complaining. She loved her childhood even though the cow always kicked and her sister Princess got out of chores on the strength of her very name! But Mawmaw saw a chance to lavish gifts as well as love on my sister and me and she did.
I was of a generation where plastic was becoming cheaper and more chemically stable. Stuffed animals went from being produced by companies like The Rushton Company in Georgia and Dollcraft Industries in New York to being offshored to the far east, especially China and Korea. But the materials for creating plush animals and dolls in the 20th century had already shifted to plastic in the forties and fifties from earlier biodegradable materials like wool, wood, cotton, clay, mohair, kapok, glass, metal, and cardboard.
After World War II, many safety standards for children’s toys were introduced in Western countries and dolls with bisque or china (ceramic) heads and composition (glue, wood, plaster) or wood bodies were deemed unsafe.
Plastic never looked back.
As plastic became cheaper and cheaper to produce, many families could afford to buy lots of dolls, spaceships, action figures, and plush toys.
I often talk with people who are now in their seventies, eighties, and nineties who had one single doll or bear when they were growing up, if any toys at all.
If they had a doll, she was furnished with a wardrobe usually made by hand. At Christmas or birthdays, each year dolly would receive a ball gown and cape or a school outfit with a knitted sweater. Many people I’ve met learned to sew by first sewing for their dolls. I wrote about just this kind of doll’s trousseau in my article about the Fryes of Buffalo. I’m now the caretaker of a doll named Maggie who was furnished with such a wardrobe piece by piece by Evelyn and her three sisters more than 80 years ago.
We live in a different world from Mawmaw and Evelyn and her sisters. Alongside my songwriting and writing, I’m working to make a difference in how toys make their way through our new world.
For several years now, I’ve been pulling teddy bears (and other fluffy species) out of the (literal) trash, washing them, mending them, and finding new homes for them. If you follow me here or on socials, you’ll have noticed this. It’s a thing I can’t help doing. I just cannot pass a stuffed animal or doll in a dumpster and not take them home. It just seems wrong and depressing. For one thing, it’s one more grain of sand in an environmental disaster. As I’ve said above, most plush animals and dolls are now made of petroleum derivatives – fantastic plastic. And because they are cheap to buy, people throw perfectly good ones (and very loved ones, too) away.
This careless shedding of possessions makes me crazy! Everyone who knows me, knows I’m a softy. I mean I LOVE stuffed animals, dolls, and cute things. So, yes. I save these things because I LOVE them and I am a collector and a magnet for stuff. But also I can’t bear to see things ushered out of use way before their sell-by date. The newness of some of these toys that get tossed out is shocking.
Other toys have been deeply loved and are deeply dirty and damaged. I still think they can be saved.
I cannot save them all. There are WAY too many of them. But I can do something. (We all can and I have an ever-evolving guide at the end of my letter).
Toys are just the tip of the teddy bear’s nose in terms of the Legos we’re placing each day on top of the giant Lego mountain of discarded non-recyclable materials. You know this. I know this. It makes me not want to get out of bed in the morning, but because I refuse to give up, I’m washing bears.
This summer I decided to take some bears (and a sock monkey) I had rescued in the UK to Nashville. I sat them beside my CDs and tote bags at NashYarnFest where I was giving a concert. I made stories and adoption certificates for every bear. And they all found homes.
So, this summer I decided to create a moveable toy hospital and rescue while in Nashville.
Luckily, a very old friend of mine, Bryce McCloud (printmaker and community arts activist) had established the world’s first experimental retail store in Franklin, Tennessee, earlier this year. He’d been invited to take part in a local artist’s festival and he had his very own creative shop. He understood and encouraged my project and this summer I became Experimart’s first artist in residence!
You can read a really wonderful article about Experimart and a little interview of me here. It was incredibly hot on my doll doctor day, so I’m absolutely disheveled and sweaty, but happy in every photo!
Last weekend, I held my final event of the summer at Experimart. I put on my doll doctor hat and mended six toys for five different children and adults! I re-homed secondhand dolls, a doll high-chair, unicorns (in the world’s first Unicorner), teddy bears, and plush dogs and cats. I was also able to offer advice to people who needed doll repairs and I met many people with their very own toy stories.
If I can clean up our house – our big house, planet Earth – even the tiniest bit while also bringing joy to a bunch of people, then I’m going to do that.
To get out the word about my doll doctor day, I made a bunch of little movies (aka reels) and I often chose this song of the month for the soundtrack. Below, you can watch one of my movies and you can read about the song. It’s a fairytale kind of song and I hope I’m giving these dolls and bears a fairytale ending.
Thank you to every one of you for shifting the balance toward the good for our planet every day. I’m so lucky that you are my friends and that you understand.
Good luck and God speed in all of your missions to create a better home for us all.
Your friend, always,
Jeni
Adopt a Secondhand Doll from the Jeniland Doll & Bear Hospital
Not all of my dolls and bears found homes this summer, so they’ll be available for adoption for the next few weeks before I head back to the UK. I hope you’ll consider surprising a child or grown-up with a secondhand toy. This week I have dolls for adoption. I’ll hope to add plush friends in a week or two. USA shipping ONLY, I’m afraid.
Find them HERE.
The Cinderella Blues
The lead singer of King Courgette in York, England, is Alfred Hickling and every year he writes a song for his niece Summer’s birthday. In 2015 (I think), he wrote a fairytale song for Summer and played it for me – I’d met him some years before in the course of touring the UK. After I went back to the USA, I couldn’t stop singing that song and I even learned to play it.
One day, I thought up an additional final verse to his song. This is a bit awkward in songwriting and not usually something a songwriter loves to receive – their song with additional lyrics by someone else. So, I sent my verse to Alfred with trepidation and apologies. But luckily, he loved it!
After I moved to the UK, Alfred and I performed this version of what we call the “The Cinderella Blues” just once at Bromborough Folk Club on the Wirral near Liverpool. Luckily, Dave Burrows recorded it and here it is!
Cinderella Blues
When the world don’t care ‘bout your heartache
and you think there’s no prince and no ball –
when everyone’s left for the party
and you’re at home sweeping the floor.
I’ll turn to you, my love sweet and true –
for you the sun always shines.
All will be right when I’m dancing tonight
with my darlin’ in three quarter time.
When the clocks in the hall have tolled midnight
and it’s time you were already gone,
there won’t be no carriage or footmen,
and no one to take you back home.
Who’s gonna kiss those red ruby lips
and make you his princess at last?
And who’s gonna wear the shoe if it fits
and will you be walking on glass?
What can you do with the Cinderella blues –
when your fairy godmother has flown?
Let birds and the mice dress you up nice.
Little darlin’, it’s time you left home.
Let birds and the mice dress you up nice.
Cinderella, it’s time you left home.
©Alfred Hickling and Jeni Hankins (Jeni/BMI).
World premier recorded LIVE at Bromborough Folk Club, The Wirral, UK
by Dave Burrows
February 19, 2020
Jeni Hankins – Vocals
Alfred Hickling – Vocals and Guitar
Your Own Toy Story
I know that children grow up and many people don’t keep their childhood toys.
Finding a way to pass them on responsibly is good for planet Earth. Here are some organizations doing just that. This is as of July 26, 2026.
Many charities, hospitals, etc, only take new toys. I want to help us all find places for pre-loved toys.
In the UK:
The Toy Project accepts toys of all kinds and children’s books. You can mail them or drop them off at their Archway location in north London. They do exceptional work providing DAILY programs in their community for children and adults. They also partner with international organizations where they actually know the recipients of toys and education materials.
Loved Before accepts donations of plush/stuffed toys and they re-home them beautifully through their online shop, local shops, and big retailers like Selfridges. They partner with charities, hold repair days, and make the world’s cutest videos.
In the USA:
Second Snuggles Vermont accepts donations of soft toys. They are a small family business. They also have secondhand toys for adoption.
If you’d like to donate dolls like Our Generation, Barbie, MyLife, American Girl and other plastic dolls, I’ve recently learned about an organization that has a great system of providing dolls to children in impoverished communities. If you can’t refurbish the doll or provide the doll with clothes, they have volunteers who are doll doctors who can refurbish them and sew for them. They are very active and they are Dolls for Appalachia and Beyond.
Mountain Heirlooms is a disaster relief organization which started out providing dolls to children in Appalachia, but has grown in their mission. They’ve helped children as far away as Alaska and Hawaii. They only accept American Girl dolls because those dolls are particularly durable, but also generally outside the budget of many children especially in dire circumstances, so receiving one is like magic! They have a facebook sewing group where you can provide outfits for the dolls if you can’t provide a doll. Each doll comes with a book, a carrier which is essential for children in vulnerable housing circumstances, extra clothes, a brush, and sometimes other extras like a plush pet. Special Dollivery has been running a similar program in Utah for 14 years and focusses on foster children. Their work is vital and entirely volunteer lead.
Stuffed Animals for Emergencies works with many state level organizations to get pre-loved stuffed animals to children who need them. They also work with Gleaning for the World who send donations to disaster relief. I know Gleaning because they began their work in my home state of Virginia.
Buying Secondhand? Here’s one of the best secondhand online American Girl doll, Barbie, toy, and bear shops I’ve found on the internet. Everything is reasonably priced (especially compared to the American Doll store) and you can even buy a complete kit for a child with a doll, extra clothes and shoes, carrying case, and activity pack!
Antique Dolls or Teddy Bears?
If you think your toy might be collectible, you can learn a lot by going to eBay, typing in a search term like “Terri Lee Doll,” finding the filter section on the lefthand side, going all the way to the bottom, and tapping “more filters.” This will bring up a pop-up window, scroll all the way to the bottom of that list to “show only” and check the box for “sold items.” “For sale” prices will be all over the map and typically inflated. “Sold items” tells you the real information about actual things which have sold and the date when they sold.
If you’re not sure what kind of toy you have, use Google Image Search. Still stumped? Consider contacting the United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC). They can direct you to your regional director and that director can send out your appeal to doll clubs in your region. In the UK, you can contact the Doll Club of Great Britain or a local doll club.
It’s also worth looking on social media, particularly Facebook, where a lot of special interest and hobby groups still exist. Those groups may not be able to give you a value for your toy, but they might be able to identify your treasures and point you in the right direction.
Or ask me for help. I will hope to put you in touch with helpful people where you are!
Please don’t give up. As my friend Diana says, “The best thing we can do for the environment is to wear, mend, and alter the clothes we already own.” That goes for toys, too.
I’ll address doll and bear repair resources in a future letter.
That’s all for now! Thank you for taking the time to read my letter!
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brilliant. clp, et n me, all enjoyed the song immensely! you rascal jeni, finishing somebody’s work! cheers! hugs from the gang
What a very sweet song! I listened to it as I perused your newest Jenniland foster children. They are all exquisite & will make every adopter smile. I'm intrigued with the fanciful outfits you've paired with each doll. You can see personality shine through, I am partial to Twyla😉 my love to the Gentleman and Kenneth Bear❤️🐾🥰