Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Ten Things About Strawberry Shortcake



It's no surprise to moms and collectors, that the Strawberry Shortcake character has certainly made a comeback over the past few years. I personally have never gotten over my love of the character. Although she doesn't rate as high as the Sanrio characters in my world, she's still aces just the same.


Thanks to Target, we own a Strawberry Shortcake pillowcase. I blogged about my obsession with fun 1980s bedding a while back. Sadly hubs made me remove the photo of him fast asleep on the Strawberry Shortcake pillow.


Back in 2000, I picked up some cute Strawberry Shortcake juice glasses on eBay. Like 'em?



Now to help keep you in-the-know about all things Strawberry Shortcake ... I've summed it up in 10 quick points below.

10 Things You Should Know About Strawberry Shortcake

  1. Strawberry Shortcake is licensed and owned by American Greetings.
  2. American Greetings Juvenile artist, Muriel Fahrion is the original designer of Strawberry Shortcake and her cat Custard from back in 1977.
  3. The very first line of dolls were made by Kenner and released in 1979.
  4. The first line of dolls had flat, outstretched hands and came with hair combs. They consisted of five dolls, each sold separately: Strawberry Shortcake, Huckleberry Pie, Blueberry Muffin, Apple Dumplin' and Tea Time Turtle and Purple Pie Man who had curved hands.
  5. The very first Strawberry Shortcake dolls were rag dolls made with plastic doll heads. The heads were too heavy for the stuffed, soft dolls and were later developed to have soft heads.
  6. Strawberry Shortcake dolls were scented to match their name. 
  7. The character Plum Puddin', originally a male character, debuted in 1980, but wasn't made into a doll until 1984 and was released as a female character. 
  8. From 1980-1985, yearly Strawberry Shortcake TV specials aired on TV.
  9. As of June 2008, Hasbro owns and markets the Strawberry Shortcake line of toys. The characters have since been updated and no longer reside in Strawberryland. Today's characters live and work in Berry Bitty City.
  10. Celebrate 30 years of Strawberry Shortcake on July 16 & 17 at Hasbro's Strawberry Shortcake Convention in Rhode Island. I wish I could attend, but it's hub's birthday weekend and we have a party for my grandma's birthday. 
 

If you're a fan of Strawberry Shortcake and want to make yourself sick with jealousy, check out this collector's stuff. If I owned a house and had lots of extra cash, I would so love to have a collection like that.


photo was snagged from LikeTotally80s.com

Check out Heather O'Rourke from Poltergeist and Happy Days fame in this Strawberry Shortcake commercial.  Sadly she passed away at age 12 in 1988. I'll do a post on her tomorrow. 




42 comments:

Bossy Betty said...

Oh man! I am having soooooooo many flashbacks right now. Make it stop!

Babes Mami said...

Either my family was behind or I was always playing with my aunts toys because I remember so many of the things you post about!

Ms. A said...

My daughter had several. I'm sure they are still around here. (I'm going to send you a picture of something that stays on my bathroom counter)

Cal's Canadian Cave of Coolness said...

Like 'Holly Hobble' and 'Polly Pocket', 'Strawberry Shortcake' was the devil. Why do you ask? Because there was an awesome cartoon called 'Dungeons and Dragons' that was on OPPOSITE the 'Strawberry Shortcake Demonic Experience' or whatever they called her show and I had to let my sister watch it and miss D&D every week. D&D even had a baby unicorn and still that wasn't enough to steal her hypnotized gaze away from the kid in the stupid hat. Sorry, I am bitter.

Riot Kitty said...

I *love* Strawberry Shortcake - although I wasn't into dolls; I just wanted them for their pets. I do remember how they came out sans pets, though - then, when the versions with pets arrived, brat that I was, I made my parents go back and buy me the ones with pets.

So Plum Puddin' was a cross dresser?

TS Hendrik said...

Ok #7 really freaks me out. They castrated him. Strawberry short monsters!

Crazy Brunette said...

NO NO!!!

No posts on Poltergeist!!! I was traumatized!!!

"There heeere."

No.no.no.no.no.

Let's do Rainbow Brite instead!!! She was my FAV!!!

Lady Hill said...

okay, I have to say this and please don't be mad... but I HATE the new Strawberry Shortcake.
i feel like they made her a bit of a whore and she just doesn't compare to her former self.

Unknown said...

Wow. That's amazing. I never knew these dolls were scented. My Mom still has one of those rag dolls that she got as a Birthday gift.

Steve G. said...

Wow - I live and work as a reporter in Rhode Island, and I had no idea that such a thing existed as a Strawberry Shortcake convention. I'll have to see if I can con my paper into letting me cover it...

Jerry said...

I love strawberries and just about anything that smell like them so as a kid I would go to the toy isle and smell Strawberry Shortcake. LOL

ScoMan said...

It's interesting that they changed Plum Puddin from a male character to a female character.

I don't know why I find that interesting.. I guess it's just quite a big change to make.

baygirl32 said...

As a kid I had the strawberry blow kisses doll! In fact she is still at my parents house, she looks a little tired (I loved cutting my dolls hair) BUT believe it or not, she still blows scented kisses...

Maggi said...

I had Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin figures when I was a kid. My first bike was a Strawberry Shortcake bike. :) Ah, memories!

Joe Cap said...

Purple Pie Man?
Who wudda thunk it?

sara said...

Holt crap...Tea Time Turtle! I seriously think I can smell those dolls right now. I had coloring books and games and dolls and underoos...must get some of these for Pie!

Kmama said...

I had the Lemon Meringue one. Love the strawberry shortcake dolls. One year we even did a Strawberry Shortcake themed dance for my dance class. We had SS outfits even.

Anonymous said...

I still have my dolls somewhere! I don't like the updated SS at all though.

Mimi said...

YAY!!! I have been waiting for a SSC post from you. When these dolls came out, I was just a wee bit too old for them. (missed it by only a couple years), but the little girl down the street had ALL OF THEM. I was so jealous, but was afraid it would make me look weird if I got a set for myself. I soooo wish I had them now! I can still remember the smell!

Copyboy said...

Never knew there were all those interesting facts on S. Shortcake. What ya got on Holly Hobbie?

My Mercurial Nature said...

She's just not the same anymore...she used to be MUCH cuter, now Miss SS is all "hip"!

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

She is cute, but greatly overshadowed by the sanrio products. I liked her myself, until there were suggestions of a scandalous history with Blueberry Pie. :)
Love the details of this post.
xoRobyn

liz said...

I had the dolls, and my mom actually kept mine. But didn't store them properly. She dug them out about 6 months ago, and they were pretty nasty, so she pitched them.

I remember having a glass or two, though.

Anonymous said...

Ohh I had that baby doll that blows kisses! She smelled so sweet--I loved her so. Love your blog- I am a child of the 80s..now I am going to have to check out your monchichi post!

Salt said...

I remember when Heather O'Rourke died and I was so sad. Didn't she have a parasite or some other intestinal issue? (I guess I should tune in tomorrow for that.)

Again, this brought back so many memories! I had quite a few of those dolls and their cute little pets! :)

Unknown said...

Okay, you're my newest follower & I come back here to return the favor and what do I see? My favorite dolls ever. In fact, I recreated my collection from EBay a few years ago. I should post about it sometime. I sold my original dolls at a family garage sale to make $$ to buy my first two wheeler. In retrospect that was dumb. Anyway, I love this post, thank you for coming to my place, and I'm about to become YOUR newest follower!

Mom Mayhem says: said...

Yay -Strawberry Shortcake! I still love it-and I was so excited when they started bringing it back to share with my daughter! I will have to check that link-I'm sure it will make me jealous ;)

Kitty Moore said...

Very informative Ally!

Anonymous said...

My daughters love Strawberry Shortcake. Thye play on the website all the time.

I gave you an award!

Beth said...

Oh my gosh. I forgot all about scented toys. Didn't they allkind of smell like ribber though?

Joann Mannix said...

Those dolls were such pretty things.

I hope you blog about the Poltergeist Curse. That is some freaky stuff. It still freaks me out any time I think about it.

Maria said...

I just bought the movie from the 80's the other day with the Peculiar Purple Pie Man of Porcupine Peak... a-ra-tat-tat-tat-ta-ta-ta-ahhh!

California Keys said...

I remember them smelling like strawberries!

Every year at the Orange County fair, they have a Strawberry Shortcake stage show! I make sure I see it every year.... lol

Dan Alexander said...

Strawberry Shortcake's voice in the original TV specials was provided by Russi Taylor, who is the voice of Minnie Mouse. She's also the voice of Martin Prince on The Simpsons, Baby Gonzo on the Muppet Babies TV show and Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby on Ducktales.

Marlene said...

I remember Strawberry Shortcake well. Didn't have one - but I remember her! :)

Jennifer Chronicles (jenx67.com) said...

Her creator is from Oklahoma and one of my Facebook friends - Muriel Fuhrion. I'll send her this link!

Macey said...

I had Blueberry Muffin! My sister had Strawberry Shortcake, and frankly, I was a little jealous.
They DID smell good!
This makes me hungry for some dessert now.

Sadako said...

Loved this! I just can't believe how they updated her...I did a post on my own blog about how they've updated all these wholesome icons. It's insane.

The Cupcake Cauldron said...

I LOVED Strawberry Shortcake. My friend had the Strawberry mansion, it was so cool. Collectively we had all the dolls. Peculiar Purple Pie Man was one of my favorite dolls!

One of my nicknames is Apple Dumplin'! HAHA, Kris calls me that when I have my shower cap on.

Not a huge fan of the new Strawberry Shortcake. I think she is a tween.

Remember Big Apple City????

Unknown said...

i had strawberry shortcake but some reason really wanted blueberry muffin but wasn't allowed to get it. my friend had blueberry muffin and i was so jealous.

~ Noelle said...

i had a strawberry shortcake party.. loved it.
also, i had the SS doll, when you squeezed her, her breath smelled like strawberries lol

Sabrina Steyling said...

I still have most of my collection of Strawberry Shortcake miniatures, although they've lost their scents and have become sticky with age. I had a couple of playsets too but they eventually broke so I got rid of them. But I truly wish that I could have had space to keep all of my childhood toys...just because. :)

SHARE THIS!

Share |