[Crowd shouting] [Man shouting]: Hold it; hold it!! [Crowd shouting] [Man shouting]: Hold it!! [Guy Mendes]: Parents were fighting over these dolls in Toys "R " Us. It's this whole rage and it was all.. based on a lie. It all came from this nice woman who had a good idea and got ripped off. [Arcade noise] [🎵Arcade music 🎵] [🎵Soft guitar music🎵] [Jack Wheat]: Martha Nelson Thomas. May she rest in peace. She was an artist; a creator. Probably the most.. genuine, non-pretentious, salt-of-the-earth person I've ever known. [Guy Mendes]: She was one of the sweetest people in the world. [Tucker Thomas]: My wife was a pretty shy person. Her way of communicating with strangers, was through her work. [Jack Wheat]: Everyone knows about the Cabbage Patch craze in the mid-'80's. Well, it's derived from what Martha Nelson had been doing in the 1970's. [🎵Country music🎵] [Guy Mendes]: Martha Nelson was a young woman from far-western Kentucky in the small town of Mayfield. And she made her way up to Louisville to go to art school. But Martha, amid the painters and sculptors and photographers, was working on soft sculptures. She was basically flat-out reinventing the doll. The Doll Babies were really her brood. She shopped for them, and she dressed them; and they were expressions of her. [🎵Country music🎵] [Tucker Thomas]: I first met Martha at the Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen. Martha came to the fair with these fascinating dolls. I had been looking at the dolls for.. a while. They were just so intriguing. I bought Penny right here. 'Cause Penny is my personal favorite. She was always meant to be a movie star. [🎵Soft guitar music🎵] [Jack Wheat]: Martha's Doll Babies were really nifty. See, I still have two in my office. Had them with me for thirty-five years now. It's interesting when people come into my office for the first time, and they would say things to the effect of: "Why do you have Cabbage Patch Dolls in your office? [🎵Music🎵] [Jack Wheat]: Her adoption concept was interesting. You know, there are no two alike. She birthed them. She treated them like children. You adopted them from her. [Tucker Thomas]: There was a little packet that was called "Important Papers". It contained a letter from Martha that said: "These are the various things that the doll likes to do."; and then, it contained a letter from the doll saying: "My name's Penny, and these are things I like to do." [🎵Music🎵] [Jack Wheat]: So, back in the '70's, Martha was birthing the Doll Babies; and adopting them away at arts and crafts shows. [Tucker Thomas]: Xavier Roberts was somebody that came up to one of the Guild fairs and saw Martha's dolls, and purchased a few of 'em. [Jack Wheat]: He actually was adopting them out of this gift shop; in Georgia. [Tucker Thomas]: She went down and she said to me (that) she just did not feel comfortable. [Guy Mendes]: He was overcharging for them, and she took them back. And he wrote her a letter and said: "If I can't sell your dolls, I'll sell some just like 'em." [Jack Wheat]: He said something to the effect of: "Whether obtained from you or not, I will continue selling your style of dolls." [🎵Music🎵] [Pat Prosey]: As far as I know, we have the biggest collection of Cabbage Patch Kids; one of the most iconic toys of the '80's. There are two kinds of Cabbage Patch Kids. You have Originals, which are soft sculptured. Handmade in the U.S., in Georgia. And then, you have the mass-market Kids, sorta like Kevin, that has a vinyl face and a soft body. You can adopt them. They come with birth certificates and adoption papers; which makes them unique. [Guy Mendes]: Martha was heartbroken. This guy appeared on the national scene, claiming to have created this new kind of doll; and making lots of money, making millions. Martha's making nothing. He took her idea and he made a fortune. [Female News Reporter]: How did you come up with this idea, Xavier? [Xavier Roberts]: Well, in the beginning, I was learning soft- was in college, taking different art classes, and I learned soft sculpture. And now, really, the stitching and trying to capture a- a newborn baby's look. [🎵Music🎵] [Tucker Thomas]: Somebody that had Martha's doll down in the Georgia-area, said: "Oh, I saw your dolls in the Atlanta Airport." And she (Martha) said: "I'm not selling my dolls to the Atlanta Airport." At that point, she knew that there was somebody else and that they all (the dolls) were substantially similar to hers. [Jack Wheat]: They were handmade soft sculpture, like the Doll Babies. The eyes on both had the unique, semi-circular shape. Although, the coloring was a little bit different. But, above and beyond all that, the marketing concept was so similar. They were adopted, and each baby had a name; and you were provided papers. And these are children, not dolls. [🎵Music🎵] [Joey Yates]: These are the museum's holdings of Martha Nelson Thomas' Doll Babies. Probably a bit unusual, 'cause it's not really a baby size. This is almost like a Martha Nelson Thomas Adult Doll Baby. Martha's dolls are very similar to the Cabbage Patch doll; in the fact that they are supposed to look like a baby, um.. with appendages that look like a baby's, so that the owner can feel as though they have a real baby. She calls them "Doll Babies". And Cabbage Patch then borrowed pretty much the same construction; as well as the same concept, with the idea that you're adopting it. [Tucker Thomas]: From where on, the doll, Xavier signed 'em; and Martha did not sign her work. Most of the time, she saw this with children in mind. Children who were taking this doll in as a member of their family, and becoming the Mom for the doll. And to find somebody's name stamped on it totally took away from that feel. [Guy Mendes]: As Martha said, "There's no place to sign a baby." [Jack Wheat]: Martha was never concerned about money. She did not want the Doll Babies to be mass-produced. I think she felt like her her babies had become toys. [Pat Prosey]: The most we've ever paid for a Kid would be, I think, the Grand Edition. They were a thousand dollars apiece. She's got a mink coat, and diamond earrings; and he's got diamond studs. [Tucker Thomas]: Part of what she lost was her dolls' identity. I think that I have bought into the whole idea of these becoming members of your family. It is like me calling you by a different last name than what your last name really is. [Jack Wheat]:When the little people evolved into the Cabbage Patch craze; it was frustrating. I felt Martha's pain. [Crowd shouting] [Man behind counter]: Hold it!! [Pat Prosey]: Nobody, including Xavier, had any idea what was gonna happen. But, they put these Kids out and people were actually fighting for them. Somebody broke her arm trying to get to these Kids; and, it was just like a mob scene! [Woman]: [Chanting]🎵I got my doll! 🎵 🎵I got my doll! 🎵 🎵Music🎵 Joe Prosey: The story for the Cabbage Patch Kids goes that Xavier, when he was a little boy, was walking in the woods one day; and he saw a Bunnybee flying over a magical cabbage patch, where Bunnybees were sprinkling magic crystals. A Cabbage Patch Kid would be born. [Pat Prosey]: There was a lot of memorabilia put out wth the Cabbage Patch Kids. They were lining up to try to get a deal with Xavier to produce products. Glasses, Thermoses, lunchboxes, hair dryers. [Joe Prosey]: Comforters, blankets - [Pat Prosey]: Yeah! [Joe Prosey]: Pillows. [Pat Prosey]: Everything you could think of imaginable; they were putting their name on. [🎵Music🎵] [Joe Prosey]: Oh, Boo-Boo Guy. He's got a boo-boo. He ain't feelin' too good. He's got a boo-boo. [Joe Prosey]: Friends? [Man offscreen]: They don't hang or to often, or...? [Joe Prosey]: Mm.. yeah. We do. [Joe Prosey]: His big sister, Carrot Top. [🎵Music🎵] [Jack Wheat]: Martha was a creator. She did not want the Doll Babies to be mass-produced; sold in the millions as a- a commodity. [Male News Reporter]: This new one, [Chuckles] with the ears, costs $165; and will look great in designer jeans with Xavier Roberts' name on the pocket, or an $8 jumpsuit; both on sale in the back of the store. [Guy Mendes]: I flicked on the TV, and there was Xavier Roberts! I think he even had a cowboy hat on. He said, "I'm just a good ol' Southern boy that had a good idea." [🎵Music🎵] [Guy Mendes]: I wanted to throw my TV out the window. I wanted to strangle him. He ripped her off! [Xavier Roberts]: Well, I never really considered myself a dollmaker; I considered myself a sculptor. And, when I sat down to do these, I really considered it (as) "making art". [Jack Wheat]: I think I read somewhere (that) he has a really nice house. Up on a mountain; [To himself] Is it?; and, a lot of property. [Joe Prosey]: I think (that) it was twenty-five rooms; or something like that? [Pat Prosey]: I don't know; [Joe Prosey]: It was huge. [Pat Prosey]: it's a big- it's a huge house. [Joe Prosey]: Yeah, he had a swimming pool; but, (with) a slide coming from the bedroom up on the third floor. You could get out of the bed, and slide.. down the thing into your (the) pool. [Male News Reporter]: Roberts already is a millionaire a couple of times over. He has a 30-room home, a chauffered limousine, and 200 employees. [Tucker Thomas]: I was working as a surgical tech. Martha, of course, was an independent artist. We were, you know, making.. ends meet; but, that's pretty much where we were. And then, you see the scale that Cabbage Patch was going. [Guy Mendes]: A couple of years later, when it turns out (that) the "Cabbage Trash" are making the scene, all of her friends and family were just amazed. [Laughs] [Guy Mendes]: Why do I call the "Cabbage Trash", "Cabbage Trash"? I don't want to dignify the "Cabbage Trash" dolls. To me, they're an example of the worst of capitalism. [Tucker Thomas]: She thought, and I think (that) this probably on the advice of friends, that she ought to seek some legal help. So, she went the legal way; because that's all (that) she could afford. [Jack Wheat]: The theme of his defense was: "Yes, I was inspired by Martha; but, I changed the design and came up with my own design." [🎵Guitar Music🎵] [Jack Wheat]: It's not the law right now; but, in those days, before you could copyright a product, you had to actually put a copyright notice on it. 'C' with a circle, or the word "Copyright". She thought that took away from the Doll Babies being children. Therefore, could not copyright her design. [Guy Mendes]: I have pictures of Martha from 1975 that show clearly that she was the author of this intellectual property. This was her art form. [Jack Wheat]: Martha's not a Fortune 500 company. Martha's a meek, humble, gentle, salt-of-the-earth person. She's not litigious. It's not something she wanted to do. But, she did want to protect the integrity of her idea. [Guy Mendes]: It would have been contrary to her nature to become an attack dog and rightfully defend her intellectual property rights. [Jack Wheat]: The lawsuit was filed, if I recall correct(ly), about 1979; and I believe it ultimately went to trial in 1985. It was about six years of pre-trial wrangling. Which wasn't uncommon; in those days. At some point, in the middle of the trial, Xavier Roberts' council approached me and said "Let's discuss settlement." And, that day, the case settled. [🎵Music🎵] [Tucker Thomas]: By the time we got to that final court case, she just wanted it to be over. She wanted to get on with the rest of her life. Her concerns were.. resolved. Well-resolved is the wrong word. She was satisfied; glad to get it behind her. [Tucker Thomas]: The one thing that was emotionally important for Martha, was that something was said about her having some sort of influence on the doll; and, we got that as part of the- as part of the settlement. It ended up being a closed decision; so.. most of the other stuff is not really anything I can talk about, sorry! [Chuckles] [Guy Mendes]: She couldn't tell us what the settlement was; but, she said that her children would go to college, and um.. she seemed.. relieved. It wasn't long after that, that he sold out for $30 million; or something. One of the things while this was going on (was that) Martha was approached by several different people to testify, or do whatever, because they had legal cases with Xavier. [Male News Reporter]: And Xavier Roberts, a young man from rural Georgia who created the Cabbage Patch dolls, is crying foul play. He's filed a copyright violation suit against the children doll company... [Guy Mendes]: That's the heighth of our enemy; having ripped off someone and then he's getting ripped off. Hahahahahaha! [Xavier Roberts]: My point is, is not to take my product, my creation, and tarnish it. [Tucker Thomas]: We didn't want to continue the conflict forever. You know; it's- that's not a good way to live. [Jack Wheat]: Martha's whole life; it was never about money. She slugged in the life of an artist. Her concern was to survive. Y- you had to like her! And, you wanted to do whatever you could to help her. [Guy Mendes]: We all were delighted for her that it came to some.. good end; and that she had these wonderful children of her own. [Tucker Thomas]: [Laughs] She continued to do stuff through craft shops She made Christmas angels; later on, got into doing sock dolls again. She'd always painted family members. She did things utilizing buttons on bags, and stuff like that. When our children were little, they would do drawings. Martha took those drawings, and she turned them into toys. This was really valuable to Martha that she was presenting a work, of her hands, to somebody else. That's the way (that) she connected with people. [🎵Soft country music🎵] [Tucker Thomas] My wife passed away. Martha passed away in May of 2013. She had a battle with ovarian cancer. She wasn't around to tell me that I couldn't um.. brag on her. [Holding back tears] So, that's what we did. Both my family and her family came up, and they, uh.. [Struggling to hold back tears] [Crying] As you can see, I miss her. She's a very important part of my life. Um.. They- we all got together; and we basically did a celebration of her life. And, we showed our- not just the dolls, but everything (that) she had done over the years. One of the things was, at the service, we invited anybody who had a doll to bring 'em and we reserved them a pew on the front. They put all of the dolls in the pew, so (that) they were all at the service. [🎵Soft country music🎵] [Guy Mendes]: She had a lot of love; and the Doll Babies were one main way that she expressed that love. There are a lot of them still out there in the world, you know. [Soft, hearty laugh] [Crying] [Tucker Thomas]: My feeling on Xavier Roberts pretty much is that, he marketed a product very well. I.. really don't begrudge him. [Guy Mendes]: I'm sure (that) he's in a villa somewhere, kicked back; spending the money he made on Martha Nelson Thomas. [Tucker Thomas]: Martha and I had a wonderful life together. It wasn't elaborate; but, it was wonderful. [🎵Music🎵] [Tucker Thomas]: I'm not gonna trade in a life for a few dollars. [🎵Upbeat guitar music🎵]
