Nekkid Doll Upsets UP Pool Patrons

The offending doll

There’s skinny dipping. And there are plastic-y babes unafraid to show some skin. But what about a buck naked, plastic baby? Allan Peck, a KSCS deejay who’s lived in University Park all of three weeks, says his wife had an odd encounter Friday when she brought the couple’s 2-year-old daughter and her naked baby doll, at left, to the Holmes Aquatic Center.

“The lifeguard had apparently gotten the doll out of the pool and set it in the chair next to her,” said Peck, who admits the doll —  a parting gift to his daughter from a friend in Garland – “creeps me out.” A few minutes later, it was gone — positioned, at that point, atop the water slide. “So now this baby doll is peering down and staring at the entire University Park public pool,” he continued, chuckling.

When his wife (whose name I’ve omitted from this post at Peck’s request) inquired as to its whereabouts, said Peck, the lifeguard “copped an attitude, and said, ‘Yeah, is that your doll?’ ”

It was creeping her out, the girl supposedly explained. Other swimmers had complained. Final verdict?

‘This doll needs to have a swimsuit.”

All told, Peck finds the story “hilarious,” albeit an uneasy welcome to the neighborhood. “I don’t really think this is what life is like in the Park Cities,” he told me yesterday afternoon, breaking a moment later to go on air. As I sat on hold, I heard the twang of country music give way to a live caller — someone advising Peck to “have 1,000 people show up with naked dolls” next time. He’s not so inclined.

“Absurd as this is,” he said, “I don’t want to make anybody feel uncomfortable.”

UPDATE: Says UP parks director Gerry Bradley, after taking in “at least 20 versions” of this story:

“We feel like [the lifeguard, who's 16] handled it well. As for whether [the doll] was wearing clothes or not, I don’t know if that was the total issue.” Bradley’s heard talk of the nakedness issue too, he said, “but the major concern is that it was very lifelike.”

To that, he added, “Even though you are in a public atmosphere, I think people should watch their children and what they’re doing — and what they’re leaving at the pool.”

By Georgia Fisher Jul. 28, 2011 | 8:03 am | 17 Comments | Comments RSS
17 comments to "Nekkid Doll Upsets UP Pool Patrons"
  1. Avid Reader @ July 28, 2011 at 9:29 am
    This is silly. Silly enough to make it onto Drudge.

  2. Sally-Page Stuck @ July 28, 2011 at 9:39 am
    The doll itself is fine. However, because it looks so lifelike and because the incident was at a pool, I can see how people might think it was a child drowning. Maybe that’s what people found upsetting.

  3. Mainzer @ July 28, 2011 at 9:55 am
    Silly is right! When my kids were younger, they liked to put diaper rash cream on their naked dolls, then carpet fuzz and dog hair would stick to it… now that is disturbing to run into when you wake up. A clean naked doll should be treated like any other pool toy.

  4. Georgia Fisher @ July 28, 2011 at 10:55 am
    @Sally-Page Stuck: You may be onto something; According to the CBS story linked below, the lifeguard’s saying people worried the doll looked “too real.”

    http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/07/27/realistic-doll-making-waves-at-university-park-pool/

    But wouldn’t dressing it in a swimsuit make it look even more realistic?

  5. kmom @ July 28, 2011 at 12:43 pm
    The trivial, idiotic things that are passing as “news” these days is the most ridiculous thing. Last night on the local TV news they were covering the Cowboys showing up in San Antonio for training camp. There was really not even a tidbit of actual news to report other than, “they showed up today”. But they showed endless clips of players arriving by chauffered SUV’s, minivans, etc. to the hotel they stay at there. Most had cell phones planted on the sides of their heads and just abstractly nodded at the TV cameras, not stopping to speak or anything. Then came the big interview! Someone actually spoke to the reporter on camera! It was the woman who worked behind the counter in the hotel gift shop. “sometimes a players wife will come in and by a newspaper, or toothpaste or something”. Seriously? Now they’ve done a report on the fact that a 16 year old lifeguard at the public pool was “creeped out” by a baby doll. I expect them to interview someone about watching their grass grow any minute now.

    And by the way, it’s hot. I know this because there are endless stories on the news, in the paper, etc. It’s been really hot. It’s hot today. Will be hot tomorrow. Stay tuned……….

  6. Georgia Fisher @ July 28, 2011 at 1:42 pm
    @kmom: Guilty as I am, I have to fuel your fire, here; The doll story has now hit a British tabloid:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019814/Lifeguard-tells-parents-creepy-doll-wear-swimming-suit-pool.html?ITO=1490

  7. A. B. @ July 28, 2011 at 2:46 pm
    kmom is right. We were out of the country for a month a while back and when we came back we were up on the big news stories because they had been covered overseas, but all the filler was (blessedly) not on our radars. It is amazing how much stuff you don’t need to know.

    Oh, and newsflash–it’s hot.

  8. george gobel @ July 28, 2011 at 4:46 pm
    Weird story. Weird because it comes across as so trivial, yet it may have a serious core.

    Give or take, allowing for personal taste, it would appear that the doll clearly falls into the so-called http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley, a concept becoming increasingly relevant as technology gets closer and closer to being able to replicate the appearance of “real” people. To wit: “[W]hen human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it causes a response of revulsion among human observers.”

    The point is, anyone might very well be creeped out by such a realistic doll. It looks sort of “undead.” As such, I would think someone on the lookout for drowning humans, or humans in other states of trauma, might indeed be even more highly “creeped out” by the doll in question under the circumstances.

  9. george gobel @ July 28, 2011 at 4:48 pm
    Whoops. Wouldn’t take my link to “Uncanny Valley” (or I mistyped it).

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley

  10. Georgia Fisher @ July 28, 2011 at 7:16 pm
    @george gobel: Interesting! Meanwhile, I can’t resist the chance – thread derailing as it may be – to brag on my sweet cousin David Hanson (an HP grad, for the record), who’s in that Wikipedia article.

    OK. Back to undead naked baby dolls.

  11. moola @ July 28, 2011 at 8:42 pm
    why is this dude going on a publicity tour? needs a ratings boost?

  12. ld @ July 28, 2011 at 9:02 pm
    Anything that would distract a lifeguard from his or her job is not a joke. One of our lifeguards saved a child from drowning earlier this summer.

  13. Neal @ July 28, 2011 at 10:25 pm
    You want creepy? Here’s your creepy. This hit the bottom of the uncanny valley and started digging.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bht96voReEo

  14. Neal @ July 28, 2011 at 10:27 pm
    And another:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dD_NdnYrDzY

  15. Cigar Daddy @ July 28, 2011 at 10:43 pm
    I’d swear this was a story from TheOnion.com.

  16. Jen @ July 29, 2011 at 7:31 am
    Riculous story. I’m in complete support of the lifeguard and UP pool management and think they made the right call and have handled this ridiculous situation with class.

  17. kmom @ July 29, 2011 at 1:37 pm
    AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Blech. THAT’S creepy @Neal.

    If we get a 4 minute rain in the next two days I bet the TV stations devote no less than 3 full hours to reporting on it.

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