8/21/10

"Drop-through" neck



The figure you see here is an "Archie" Knee Pal. I'd estimate his date of manufacture as the mid '70's due to the "living mouth" and "Drop-through" neck style..

Hundreds of the Knee Pal figures were made in this manner before Lovik switched to the "ball socket" design which is pretty much standard on today's figures from all figuremakers.

On the "drop-through" models, the base of the neck did just that - it dropped through the neck opening into the body. The head was supported at its proper height when the end of the headpost reached, and rested upon, the inner base of the body.

Archie was always one of my favorite characters from that series of figures. The figure shown here was for sale by its owner but has now been sold.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous8/22/2010

    Clinton
    The picture on the right looks like an Archie..the one on the left looks like a Hank. Are they both pictures of the same figure?
    Ken

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  2. Yes, same figure. Figures are no different than humans in that you can change the pose for photgraphs and achieve a variation of character.

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  3. "Living mouth" and "drop-through" must be words that came from Maher, or Lovick. I never heard them. W.S. Berger, Great Lester, and Frank Marshall called that type of mouth "kid leather" because made from goat skin. As for the flat necked figures like Len Insull figures they called Davenport probably because sold through Davenport Magic Shop, and when ball and socket figures not yet in use or that popular, Frank Marshall simply called them "ready to fit into body" as in his 1931 catalog under the section Ventriloquial Heads. LeeDean

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  4. All names and descriptive words and terms have to start with someone sometime somewhere ...

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  5. That is an interesting Figure, I wish things were better for my kids and I, I am sure my son would want to try to use one of these Figures,
    Good Luck to the buyer, I hope you really enjoy it and will make him one of your valued pieces for your collection. Who knows maybe even a STAR. Thanks for the infor on the words and thertew origin, Leeann and Clinton.

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