Rose Petal Place
Encyclopedia
Rose Petal Place was an American-produced animated film
from 1984, with a corresponding line of toy
dolls made by Kenner
. The concept for Rose Petal Place was created by David Kirschner and the film was written by Mal Marmorstein.
According to the introduction to the movie: "Rose Petal Place began a long time ago when a girl was moving away from her lovely home and garden. She cried for her beloved garden because no one would be there to take care of her flowers. She didn't want them to perish so she made a secret wish that the flowers would live forever..."
Out of this magical wish, combined with her tears of love, brought Rose Petal and all of her friends (Lily Fair, Daffodil, Orchid, Sunny Sunflower, and Iris) to life. They still reside in this garden tending the little girl's flowers. Rose Petal made her home out of a watering pail that was left there and turned it into "palace." And so begins the tale...."
Rose Petal dolls were markedly similar to the fruit and dessert-themed Strawberry Shortcake
and color
-themed Rainbow Brite
dolls. As in those lines, the characters' pastoral
lives are interrupted only by the nefarious plots of a bumbling adult villain
or two.
The primary characters of Rose Petal Place (introduced in the first movie) were:
David Kirschner Productions created a second movie in 1985 called "Rose Petal Place: Real Friends". This second movie introduced six new characters, which Kenner scheduled to be released as dolls shortly after. Unfortunately, although prototypes and marketing samples were made, the entire line was discontinued before the dolls could hit the shelves; today only designers at Kenner are likely to see these dolls in person.
The second series of dolls included:
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
from 1984, with a corresponding line of toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
dolls made by Kenner
Kenner
Kenner Products was a toy company founded in 1947 by three brothers, Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, which is just north of Cincinnati's Union Terminal.Kenner introduced its...
. The concept for Rose Petal Place was created by David Kirschner and the film was written by Mal Marmorstein.
According to the introduction to the movie: "Rose Petal Place began a long time ago when a girl was moving away from her lovely home and garden. She cried for her beloved garden because no one would be there to take care of her flowers. She didn't want them to perish so she made a secret wish that the flowers would live forever..."
Out of this magical wish, combined with her tears of love, brought Rose Petal and all of her friends (Lily Fair, Daffodil, Orchid, Sunny Sunflower, and Iris) to life. They still reside in this garden tending the little girl's flowers. Rose Petal made her home out of a watering pail that was left there and turned it into "palace." And so begins the tale...."
Rose Petal dolls were markedly similar to the fruit and dessert-themed Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake
Strawberry Shortcake is a licensed character owned by American Greetings, originally used in greeting cards and expanded to include dolls, posters, and other products...
and color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
-themed Rainbow Brite
Rainbow Brite
Rainbow Brite was a character franchise introduced by Hallmark Cards in 1983, with the animated television series starting the following year....
dolls. As in those lines, the characters' pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
lives are interrupted only by the nefarious plots of a bumbling adult villain
Villain
A villain is an "evil" character in a story, whether a historical narrative or, especially, a work of fiction. The villain usually is the antagonist, the character who tends to have a negative effect on other characters...
or two.
The primary characters of Rose Petal Place (introduced in the first movie) were:
- RoseRoseA rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
Petal, a pinkPinkPink is a mixture of red and white. Commonly used for Valentine's Day and Easter, pink is sometimes referred to as "the color of love." The use of the word for the color known today as pink was first recorded in the late 17th century....
-haired, pink-clad doll whose singingSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
keeps the other flowers alive. In the cartoon, Rose Petal was voiced by Marie OsmondMarie OsmondOlive Marie Osmond is an American singer, actress, doll designer, and a member of the show business family The Osmonds. Although she was never part of her family's singing group, she gained success as a solo country music artist in the 1970s and 1980s...
. - Sunny SunflowerSunflowerSunflower is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence . The sunflower got its name from its huge, fiery blooms, whose shape and image is often used to depict the sun. The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads...
, a yellowYellowYellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...
haired and clad tomboyTomboyA tomboy is a girl who exhibits characteristics or behaviors considered typical of the gender role of a boy, including the wearing of typically masculine-oriented clothes and engaging in games and activities that are often physical in nature, and which are considered in many cultures to be the...
who tells jokes to make the other flowers laugh. She is Rose Petal's closest companion. - Iris, a purplePurplePurple is a range of hues of color occurring between red and blue, and is classified as a secondary color as the colors are required to create the shade....
and whiteWhiteWhite is a color, the perception of which is evoked by light that stimulates all three types of color sensitive cone cells in the human eye in nearly equal amounts and with high brightness compared to the surroundings. A white visual stimulation will be void of hue and grayness.White light can be...
clad painter. In similarity with other doll lines of the time, Iris is a tokenTokenismIn the arts, employment, and politics, tokenism is a policy or practice of limited inclusion or artistic and/or political representation of members of a traditionally marginalized group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices rather than discrimination, intentional or not...
character of African ethnicity. - Orchid, a purple clad shopaholicShopaholicShopaholic is a series of novels written by the UK author Sophie Kinsella, who also writes under her real name Madeleine Wickham. The books follow protagonist Becky Bloomwood through her adventures in shopping and life. As of September 2010, there are six books in the series. The entire series has...
with white hair. - Lily Fair, a blueBlueBlue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...
haired and clad balletBalletBallet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
dancer. - Daffodil, another yellow haired and clad doll, this one obsessed with financeFinance"Finance" is often defined simply as the management of money or “funds” management Modern finance, however, is a family of business activity that includes the origination, marketing, and management of cash and money surrogates through a variety of capital accounts, instruments, and markets created...
. - Nastina, a widow spiderSpiderSpiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...
who attempts to thwart the flowers' happiness, and even to kill Rose Petal on one occasion. As is the case for most villains from 1980's doll lines, no concrete reason is given for Nastina's aggression other than her general sense of jealousyJealousyJealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...
. Nastina is assisted by a horse-flyHorse-flyInsects in the order Diptera, family Tabanidae, are commonly called horse flies. Often considered pests for the bites that many inflict, they are among the world's largest true flies. They are known to be extremely noisy during flight. They are also important pollinators of flowers, especially in...
, Horace. (Horace was NOT a doll).
David Kirschner Productions created a second movie in 1985 called "Rose Petal Place: Real Friends". This second movie introduced six new characters, which Kenner scheduled to be released as dolls shortly after. Unfortunately, although prototypes and marketing samples were made, the entire line was discontinued before the dolls could hit the shelves; today only designers at Kenner are likely to see these dolls in person.
The second series of dolls included:
- Cherry Blossom, a token Asian character wearing a costume similar to a cherry pink kimonoKimonoThe is a Japanese traditional garment worn by men, women and children. The word "kimono", which literally means a "thing to wear" , has come to denote these full-length robes...
- Sweet VioletViolet (name)Violet is a given name for girls.The name comes from the Violet flower. As with other such names its popularity has varied dramatically over time. Flower names were very commonly used from about 1880 through about 1910 in the United States, with usage dropping throughout the next 80 years or so...
, a light blue haired and clad actress - FuchsiaFuchsiaFuchsia is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in 1703 by the French Minim monk and botanist, Charles Plumier...
, a dark purple haired doll with fuchsia clothing and a taste for clothing designDesignDesign as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan... - Gladiola, a blonde doll with light pink clothes and a taste for tap dancing
- MarigoldTagetesTagetes is a genus of 56 species of annual and perennial mostly herbaceous plants in the sunflower family . The genus is native to North and South America, but some species have become naturalized around the world. One species, T...
, an orangeOrange (colour)The colour orange occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum at a wavelength of about 585–620 nm, and has a hue of 30° in HSV colour space. It is numerically halfway between red and yellow in a gamma-compressed RGB colour space, the expression of which is the RGB colour wheel. The...
haired and clad organizer of events - CanterburyCanterburyCanterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
Belle, a pink haired and clad bakerBakerA baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...