The way things used to be

If we step into the Wayback machine…the year is 1983 and America is losing its collective mind.

 

Why? Only a few years before, Xavier Roberts, a hillbilly artist and marketing genius, had created the first Little People. He had been making quilts and pottery to sell before rediscovering the old German folk art known as soft sculpture. Each Kid would be handmade and unique, that was his first insight. The second was that instead of buying the Kids, people would adopt them.

 

An agent would administer this oath to new adoptive parents: 

• “After meeting this special Little Person Baby and learning his/her needs, I want to make the major commitment of becoming a good parent to him/her. I solemnly promise to be a good parent to my best ability, to provide for his/her needs; handle with care; love and nourish with most of my affections; train him/her up in the way he/she should go; and cherish my role as an adoptive parent of the only Little Person Baby of his/her kind in the world.”

 

The local popularity of the Kids grew as Xavier and a few friends took carloads to arts and crafts shows in Georgia and Florida. In 1978 they founded Original Appalachian Artworks and set down roots in an abandoned clinic that they rechristened Babyland General Hospital.

 

National attention began in 1981 with the first appearance of the Kids on the cover of Newsweek magazine. 

 

The limited production runs—the Kids were still being made by hand at this point with clothes sourced from area garage sales—combined with their popularity led to a frothy secondary market.

 

The international frenzy erupts in 1983 when Roberts and toy giant Coleco strike a deal to begin mass production. As the official history notes, “By the end of the year almost 3 million of the Cabbage Patch Kids Toys have been adopted but demand has not been met.” The following year another 20 million are adopted and another 70 million find homes from 1985 to 1987.

 

During the 1983 Christmas season frustration at being unable to find the Kids boils over. (When a Wikipedia site exists for “1983 Cabbage Patch Riots” you know things have gotten out of hand.)

• “In November 1983, America went bonkers for Cabbage PatchKids. The dolls were so scarce and demand was so high that riots broke out in stores, parents were ready to drive hundreds of miles to buy them, and desperate gift-givers were willing to pay big bucks for a rare doll. At a Zayre department store in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, a riot broke out, with a store manager grabbing a baseball bat to protect himself.” Video of the event showed pandemonium at the store, with boxes containing Cabbage Patch Kids being flung about.

 

In the decades since, many of those Kids got lost in attics or dragged through the dirt or smothered in cigarette smoke or worse. That’s where Cabbage Patch Rehab comes in. We hope you’ll enjoy following along with us on this adventure.

For a virtual tour of Babyland General Hospital, click here.

For a timeline on the Cabbage Patch craze, click here.