Where is Little Archie?

My Grampa Debreuil had a great sense of humour and so did his five sons. I'm not sure who gave it to him, but at some point someone gave Grandpa the Joey Stivic Doll.

Grandma, in her heavy Belgian accent, would call one of us kids to open the door to the cellar, reach across the stairs to the small gap that housed game, the guillotine that could chop cigarettes, but not your finger (back in the day when ciggies were cheap enough to chop up as part of a joke), puzzles with one piece missing and hidden in Grampa's pocket and of course the Archie Bunker doll.

I don't even know if my Grandparents were fans of the Archie Bunker show (better known as All In The Family) but they did have a big arse black and white TV in an even larger wooden housing that had pride of place in the living room and was host to several lace doilies, a few African violets and some family photos. So I have a feeling they must have seen the show at least once.

Well, anyway, this show became a huge hit in the 70's when I was growing up. They were one of the most famous families of the time.  Gloria, the only daughter of the main couple, Edith and Archie, got married to a guy who's name I can't remember but his nickname was Meathead and apparently his last name was Stivic. He later turned out to be Rob Reiner who did one of my fave all time mockumentaries, Spinal Tap. Anyway Gloria and Rob or Meathead had a baby and it was called Joey.

Somehow a toy company got involved and that's how baby Joey/Archie ended up in the cupboard above the cellar stairs at Grampa and Gramma's house. I don't know why it was considered Grampa's doll, but everytime he looked at that teeny tiny penis, he would laugh until tears were running down his cheeks. Everyone else would be pissing themselves too, possibly over jokes made at the expensive of the little twig and berries or maybe just cos watching Grampa so amused was infectious.

Grampa and Gramma have both passed away. I moved to Australia and I don't really have anything material to remind me of them. I have an old winter jacket of Grampa's and I had a little gold cross of Gramma's that got stolen along with my bag.

But gosh, I'd love the little boy doll with the even smaller willy. I wonder where he went or if he's still sitting above the cellar door waiting for someone to laugh at his small endowment again....