Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Dolls Review – That’s a Whole Lot of Cabbage
- Details
- Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film
- Published on Tuesday, 21 November 2023 10:44
- Written by Janet Walker
Billion Dollar Babies, from Abramorama, brings to the screen the story of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, the toy craze that initiated the Back Friday madness, and the mystery behind the true parent of these adoptable cuddly babies.
Let’s all settle in to the DeLoren time machine for a trip back to the 1980s, when a new “baby” was multiplying faster than the manufacturers could produce.
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The Cabbage Patch Dolls, with their soft bodies and round plastic heads, all unique characteristics, and an equally unique story become a global phenomenon thanks to the marketing genius of former Coleco marketing executive Al Khan. So, what? It’s not uncommon for a toy or a doll to be the next big thing. So, what is special about the Cabbage Patch dolls and their story?
For the first hour of the documentary, we are introduced to what looks like the American Dream, a young entrepreneur who sees himself like a Walt Disney, develops a doll attraction in rural Georgia. Xavier Roberts, who during the early days of the Cabbage Patch dolls, refurbished a hospital, created, many of these soft-sculpture dolls, and soon the families in Cleveland, Georgia, are allowing their sons and daughters to “adopt” these “babies,” with the blessing of Roberts.
Roberts, with Walt Disney’s success as his mind mentor, thinks big. He sees beyond the boundaries of his small town, and his current limitations. So, he begins to search for representation and hires Roger Schlaifer, to act on his behalf as a licensing agent. Schlaifer is shut down everywhere. No self-respecting toy manufacturer wants to take on these “ugly” dolls. This became a concern for everyone until Schlaifer meets Coleco executive Al Khan, who looks at the doll decides to pitch the executive team, they are heading into the electronic game sector, but give him the greenlight to see if these dolls would ever walk on their own.
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Well, as history explains through our time travel trip, the 1980s were all about consumption, buy more, spend more, the economy was good. There was no better time to launch the Cabbage Patch Dolls than now, except as we understand it was June. June? Who is going to buy a doll in June?
So Schlaifer heads to Macy’s in New York City and sees a promising window display and heads to the fifth floor to find a full display of the newest dolls and a salesperson who explained no one would buy such an ugly doll. He leaves, disheartened, and decides to return after the weekend, and much to his surprise the entire display of dolls had been sold. It was June and a phenomenon had begun.
By Black Friday, store managers were threatening the overly zealous and dangerous crowds with baseball bats. The craze of the dolls drove people crazy. Before the Cabbage Patch Kids, no one could have imagined a world where police would need to break up fights between rampaging adults in toy stores. But after the Cabbage Patch Kids, every manufacturer in the world was desperate for their own “riot-worthy” toy.
Of course, no rags to riches story would be complete without intrigue. By the second half of the documentary, we understand the Cabbage Patch Dolls have theirs also.
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Xavier Roberts admits if it weren’t for the interaction with Martha Nelson Thomas, a folk artist from Kentucky, Cabbage Patch Dolls would not have become the billion-dollar toy it did. Say what?
This is where the time machine takes us back to a small town in Georgia, and a toy store manager, who’s job it was to visit country fairs, and out of the wayside stores for unique items. During one trip he meets Thomas, a folk artist who introduces her small world of Doll Babies, a soft sculpture doll, each with unique features, a loveable, squeezable, baby complete with adoption papers.
Roberts decides these dolls are perfect for his store and her dolls become part of the toy store as a consignment item. She is making a small bit for her doll babies. Martha, as we see in the documentary, is gentle, a soft-spoken southerner, with a dedication to her artistic creation, either she had no desire to mass produce the dolls or didn’t see the mass market appeal, and to her credit she was attached to them, in the way in which, they were eventually marketed, as a family member. Would you really want to sell your family member?
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Her southern gentile didn’t preclude her from understanding in a few years, into the partnership with Roberts, that she was getting ripped off. He was stalling on payment for the product she sold, and for someone depending on the money to feed the “real” babies, her dander arose, and she decided to stop supplying him product. Fair enough or so one would think.
She decides to sue Roberts, which sets off a four-year contentious legal battle, and true to her nature, when she received an offer of equal or greater value than the amount listed in the original complaint, she took it and moved on. Her lawyer, Jack Wheat, who is featured, explains she was done it the matter and didn’t want to fight for a larger share.
Billion Dollar Babies: The True Story of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, an American, rags to riches story, complete with conspiracy, opens on Black Friday. See it.
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Country: U.S.
Runtime: 94minutes.
Language: English.
Director: Andrew Jenks.
Producer: Dan Goodman, Brian Hunt.
Narrator: Neil Patrick Harris.
Cast: Connie Chung, AXavier Roberts, Al Khan, Roger Schlaifer, Jonathan Alexandratos, Gary Cross, Guy Mendes, Joe Prosey, Pat Prosey, Alan Stout, Mara Thomas, Seth Thomas, Della Tolhurst, Jack Wheat, Dr. Lisa Williams and of course 1000s of Cabbage Patch Dolls.
