Covent Garden

Released in 1998, Covent Garden was one of the last Ashton Drake dolls that I purchased. Designed by Tim Kennedy, this 1948 outfit is one that had me on the fence. Although I did eventually get it, I also eventually sold it...both the doll and the outfit. They were very pretty, but Champagne Supper was so similar that I couldn't see the point in keeping the doll. As for the outfit, it is gorgeous, but just not the type that I would keep and re-photograph as much as the ones I am holding onto.

Today, Champagne Supper is ably standing-in for the original Covent Garden doll.



From the story card:

Two snow-white horses drew the elegant carriage up to the marble steps of London's Covent Garden Opera House as the crowd of onlookers craned their necks to see who was arriving in such vintage splendor. The coachman opened the door and Gene Marshall appeared…and a sigh of adoration swept through the crowd at the magical, storybook vision she made in her breathtaking gown. Gene gracefully descended from the carriage on the hand of her escort in a luminous, trailing cloud of white. She floated up the marble stairs to the soaring white columns of the Opera House entrance as flashbulbs popped like stars.



The opera was one of Gene's favorites: Rossini's La Cenerentola, the story of Cinderella. After the final curtain Gene was on cloud nine, the rapturous glory of the romantic music still echoing in her heart. She was so entranced that she didn't even notice her laced velvet shoe had loosened until it slipped right off her foot on the marble steps upon leaving the opera house! Her escort—a dear friend and occasional leading man—gallantly retrieved the dainty shoe and laced it back on as Gene steadied herself with a hand on his shoulder. Neither of them thought any more about the incident until the morning newspapers blazoned their photograph with the headline "Cinderella at the Opera!" The article gushed over Gene's beauty, comparing her own "rags-to-riches" story to the classic fairytale—and even suggested that England's new two-week-old prince would fall madly in love with her at first sight!













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