Barbara's Dollhouse

After Barbara Whiteman bought one African-American doll at an antique show, she was hooked. In fact, she admits to keeping new acquisitions in the car before slipping them in among the others, in an effort to hide her passion from her husband ("I didn't want you to know how deep I was into this hobby!"). She calls her "dollhouse"--also her residence--the Philadelphia Doll Museum, and it contains items from 19th and 20th century Europe, Africa and America. Unfortunately, while both Barbara and her husband Sinclair are charming and the dolls quite interesting, the video is very poorly made: the ambient lighting is frequently too dim, the camerawork amateurish, and the editing choppy (the video actually begins in the middle of one of Mrs. Whiteman's sentences). While these flaws might be somewhat overlooked in an inexpensive tape, they cannot be for $169.95. I found myself wishing that Sirocco Productions (makers of excellent, inexpensive doll and collector tapes) would do a feature on Mrs. Whiteman and give her dolls the attention they deserve. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: P. (R. Reagan)