Marie is a rarity in the mass-market collectables marketplace - a celebrity with three distinct fan bases that are blended into her doll line.
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Marie Osmond Signing - Hugs and Smiles and Chat and Dolls
I’m not a doll collector, and growing up I wasn’t an Osmond Brothers fan - but I am a Marie Osmond fan. I watched her greet and cajole and hug and pose and touch and communicate with her fans during her signing event on Saturday and found that there is an art to moving a line of hundreds of fans and collectors in less than four hours - and spending hundreds of personal moments with each of them. The Adora Belle “it’s a small world�? Pin Trader doll was very cute and at $120 with an edition of 1,000 was quite collectable. But, I’m not a doll collector.

The doll herself was very well done - in her little replica “it’s a small world�? Cast Member gondolier costume, complete with red jacket, red and white striped shirt, blue pleated skirt, white socks and straw hat, she was the picture of doll-perfection. She’s also a pin trader with a miniature pin trading lanyard with two mini pins permanently affixed to it and two tradable pins - one of which is the “it’s a small world�? logo. Okay, so I could be a doll collector. It was fun watching Marie do some trading and looking of her own if a lanyard wandered by. “It’s fun.�? she joked, “But it’s a sickness. I just love Disney pins.�?

This event - from all I’ve gathered from friends who are doll collectors - went very smoothly - kudos to Martha Blanding and Michelle Harker for their attention to detail. From the pre-sale to the color coded timed voucher “fast-pass�? system used to control the line to the use of the underground - and comfortably air-conditioned former Rocket Rods tunnel to keep the guests out of the sun - the event seemed to run very smoothly - even with Marie running about 30-minutes late - each of the collectors I spoke to seemed to be very pleased with both the merchandise and with their “personal time�? with Marie. She makes you matter to her. It’s a gift very few designers/marketers/merchandisers in the mass-market collectables marketplace share.

As she signed and her collectors shared bits of their lives with her, she spent lots of time laughing and caring and smiling and understanding. “I love these events.�? she noted, “It always energizes me.�? Her energy level is one of the first things you notice - that and that she makes direct eye contact with every single person in the line - she makes a personal connection in a rather impersonal arena. Those who collect her dolls are as much her fans as they are doll collectors. As I learned that she was working on a line of baby villains dolls and that she was designing the next doll in the Adora Belle Pin Trader line - in the green full-length Haunted Mansion hostess costume - to be signed at an event at Disneyland on December 2, 2002 - I found myself thinking - Okay, so, I could be a doll collector.