The Arvada enterprise., 1923-12-20

with her famous "Tak-a-Me' dolls,
and in reproduced below in full:
TOYMAkERS BY CHANCE
A woman who did not wait for op-
portunity's second knock, and
husband who has been we'll repaid
for following his wifs's lead.
To find herself transferred from
a ceaseless whirl Of social activities
to the head of a doll factory in al
most the twinkling of an eye, and
without bit Of warning, is the uni
que and rather thrilling experience
of Mrs. Nettie Chinn, designer and
originator of the Tak-a-me dolls.
Mrs. Chinn is the wife of a man
who was a successful dentist in Den
yer, and in consequence thereof en-
joyed social position of Importance.
The strain of keeping up the duties
incumbent upon one in her station
became too great, and she lost weight
at such an alarming date that her
physician ordered her and her four
year-old daughter to California,
where her husband soon joined her
in San Francisco.
The lure Of the vineyardist's life
fascinated DR.. Chinn to the point
where re va. IN the verge Of pur-
chasing q beautiful vineyard and set
Ting his family there to dream their
way back to health, and to enjoy the
complete and obsolute relaxation that
his twenty years Of hard work as q
dentist had earned for them.
While the doctor was ION location"
for 4 final session with the real es-
tator, however, fate took a peek at
his hand and marked the cards very
differently.
Mrs. Chinn, by way of keeping her
little girl quiet while travelling, made
her small rag doll, using q ribbed
top stocking for the purpose. The
dolls trousers were formed Of the
ribbed portion Of the stocking; a cut
Away was outlined with yarn; but
tons down the front of the waist
section were made of French knots;
u yarn rosette formed tie, while
Others served as shoe buckles and
adorned the top Of the stocking cap
with rolled brim; and face, wear
ing q particularly roguish expression
was drawn with ink. 1t was cum
ming little creature, to be sure, but
there was not great deal to distin-
guish 1t from other rag dolls, aside
from the fact that its wrists were of
an extremely patrician selnderness.
Evadene, Mrs. Chinn's little girl,
adored her new baby, and. after the
manner Of all children, insisted upon
taking her forth on each shopping
and pleasure expedition. But, also
after the manner Of childhood in
general, she would soon weary of
carrying her tiny burden and make
the usual plea. "You take it for me,
Muvver." With her own child,
handbag. and perhaps a wrap to look
after, Muvver didn't always have u
free hand to devote to Evadene's
baby. She cou h,dlveewo mGbrim
baby. She could. however. usually
manage to spare one finger.
Right here is where Mrs. Chinn's
genius came to the forefront, illus
trating very plainly the old adage
attributing Inventions maternal par
ent to necessity. She devised the
scheme of placing the dolls arms
akimbo. in the fashion Of a small boy
with hands in his pockets, and fasten-
ing the tiny wrists to its sides by
means Of yarn rosettes similar to the
ones already decorating the doll in
other places. This not only served
the purpose Of making it convenient
to take dolly along on all excursions,
but It added to the little figure a
very attractive and distinguishing
feature. suggesting for it the almost
inevitable name Of Tak-a.Me.
One day, in the lobby Of the Pal
ace Hotel. salesman for a baby
goods house was attracted by the
sight Of Evadene playing with her
doll. Upon learning that Mrs. Chinn
had herself designed and made it, he
became very enthusiastic over the
possibility of placing the doll on the
market. He succeeded in interesting
her to the extent that she went that
very day to call on large firm Of
toy jobbcrs on Market street to talk
over the matter with them. The re-
suit Of her visit was an order for 4
thousand dozen dolls.
When DR.. Chinn returned from
Gait. instead of finding = wife all
packed up and ready to 20 with him
to the vineyard which he had finally
decided TO buy. he found one bubbl-
ing over with enthusiastic plans for
getting those thousand dozen dolls
made at the earliest possible moment.
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