She left home because she was different, and she believes he can sympathize. Coby admits to him that she has a telekinetic gift that she has kept secret. Eustace stuns her with a cattle prod and hoists her out the door and into the well. Coby loses major points, including a water glass knocked over in haste, but Faye's setting is ultimately the most mistaken. Aurelia's setting is perfect, while Harlene's is flawed. They have one minute to set the table properly, with the most mistaken doll eliminated. Van Wirt hastily describes a menu, for which the dolls must set a formal place. The alarm rings out again, signaling a test. Will the winner become Van Wirt's wife? Aurelia doesn't care, and wants only to survive. Coby counters that Aurelia should consider instead what it means to win the contest. Later in their quarters, Aurelia is furious that Coby produced the magic trick and demands an explanation. He demands that she do so again, and she reluctantly repeats the strange trick. While dubious of magic tricks, Otis is fascinated when Coby appears to push a toy truck across the floor with no visible means. Otis believes that adults wrongly believe children like clowns, and a desperate Coby offers to show him a magic trick before he arranges for Eustace to dispose of her. Otis is unamused by the new addition, "Coby the Clown". While officially a boating accident, the "dolls" know the cover story to be false.Īn alarm bell sounds and the dolls hurry to choose and dress in costumes, posed frozen for Otis and Van Wirt's entertainment. Harlene explains that Van Wirt ordered his adulterous wife (Otis' mother) and her lover thrown naked into a deep well two years prior when he caught them together. Coby spots a young boy, Otis, in the window of the main house. Some of them have been kidnapped from roadsides or their homes over recent weeks, but none have escaped. Harlene and Bonnie show Coby to the room that they share. They explain that the contest is to decide which "perfect doll" shall be the mother to his children the eliminated will be gruesomely dealt with. Aurelia, dressed as the French maid, objects to her entering late into the contest without passing the three tests the other "dolls" endured. She comes to realize she is not alone, and several masked women begin moving and speaking. Her path is blocked by his mute (tongueless) assistant, and he leaves her locked in to get settled. She tries to politely decline, but her participation is not open to debate. He says she is to be in a pageant for the next seven days. She awakes in his "private dollhouse", an eclectic design he designed full of seeming mannequins (dressed as a diner waitress, a shepherdess, a bride and a French maid). Van Wirt's assistant, Eustace grabs and gags her from behind and drags her away. He considers her "not right" for the position, regardless of her overqualifications. He considers dolls without sin, and she questions the wisdom of whether God would prefer humans as dolls. ![]() ![]() Inside, plastic is molded and sculpted into dolls and packaged under the watchful eye of Mr. ![]() Miss Coby Dellum applies lipstick in her car, preparing for a job interview within. The Van Wirt Toy Company is in full swing in Natchez, Mississippi (1961).
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