It took some convincing, plenty of talent, and a whole lot of laughs, but Baby Donny is finally here.

By Kathryn Peck

“Babies are just the cutest, they really are,” says Marie. “And Donny was a cute baby. It’s too bad he grew up.”

Marie Osmond is speaking, of course, about the October debut of Baby Donny, a limited-edition porcelain doll sculpted by artist and friend Karen Scott, in the likeness of Marie’s own brother Donny as a child.

“I even hate to admit it, but it is the cutest thing we’ve ever done,” she says. “Honestly, I have really cute kids, but he was a beautiful baby, almost pretty.”

This is a doll that’s been in the making for years, with the goal of its introduction to commemorate Marie’s 15th year of doll making. But reaching this goal was no easy task. 

In Marie’s opinion, sculpting male dolls in general is a difficult undertaking. “Boy dolls … don’t sell as well, because I don’t think they really look like boys,” she explains. “They look more like cute, feminine faces that they put boy hair on and clothes. So to do a really good boy doll you have to really sculpt it right.” This particular sculpt for the Baby Donny doll took more than a year to complete, and most will agree, it was sculpted right.
 
Another obstacle they faced early on was to convince Donny to agree to even do the doll. Initially he had some hesitations and asked, “Why another doll?” He seemed content with the 1979 Mattel® Donny and Marie dolls and Marie’s porcelain Donny and Marie dolls released in 1998 to commemorate their reunion on the new “Donny and Marie” television show. “It took me a while to educate him to doll collectors, to understand that the people who buy dolls, it’s not just a doll, it’s a whole emotional experience,” says Marie. Donny soon agreed to the Baby Donny venture, and when the news spread, fans of both siblings were thrilled. Marie and her team set the wheels in motion for what would be an extensive and unique project.

The outfit Baby Donny wears is an exact duplicate from an old family photo, an outfit that was made for him by his mother. The fabric was created to match it perfectly, and many will undoubtedly recognize his purple socks.

But throughout the design of this doll, between approvals and pure excitement, secrecy was difficult. “Donny wasn’t even allowed to see it,” says Marie.

Donny, a noted perfectionist, quickly went from uncertainty about the concept to wanting the doll to be just right. This caused some nervousness for Marie’s team. Friend and coworker Lisa Hatch adds, “It was really kind of pins and needles to see if he liked this doll, because he did have final approval of it. When he saw it for the first time, he looked at it, started smiling, and said, ‘It’s cute.’” 

Baby Donny is not the first sculpt of Marie’s to bear a close resemblance to family members or friends. In 1991, Marie released Jessica, a doll that was created and named after her own daughter, and later she released Rachel after her second daughter.
 
“One of the first lines we came out with was ‘Dear to My Heart,’ and I named them all after very dear friends of mine, like Lisa—we’ve known each other for over 20 years now—and Patty, who was my girlfriend at age 10. They are just very special people in my life,” says Marie. 

One of the most memorable moments was the release of her first personally sculpted doll, Olive May, in 1996.
 
“Every now and then it’s fun to put a little family into what you do,” says Marie. Growing up as a prominent member of the show business family the Osmonds, with eight brothers and now with eight children of her own, it’s easy to see how family has become of utmost importance to Marie. And this we see in the dolls she designs and the dolls she collects. 
 
“But I think everybody does that with their own personal collections,” says Marie. “There’s not one signing I don’t go to where someone will have me sign one of their dolls and then pull out a picture of either their child or grandchild and they say, ‘Doesn’t this doll look like my grandbaby?’ And that’s what collecting does, it recalls memories.”

Marie continues, “When you look at dolls, they bring back memories or moments in your life, and it kind of fills voids and helps nourish the soul.”

The long-awaited debut of Baby Donny has both collectors and non-collectors talking. But does it really look like him?

“When [Donny] walked into the photo session last week, his assistant was with him and she hadn’t seen the doll, she looked at the doll and she just started laughing and said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s Donny!’” says Lisa. “I mean it really, really looks like Donny, because we didn’t want the wrath of all his fans saying, ‘Oh no, it doesn’t look like him.’”

“Even my little Abby, she’s 3½, she walked over to the doll and said, ‘Uncle Donny, baby Uncle Donny!’” adds Marie.

You be the judge. One thing’s for sure: We all know what Donny’s kids are getting for Christmas this year.

Buy this Issue: November 2006