 | Calvin Black was a doll maker and backyard folk artist, who lived with his wife Ruby in the Mojave Desert in California. They moved near to Yermo, south of Death Valley in 1953, to open a rock and minerals shop. While Ruby managed the shop, Calvin chose to build dolls, as a way of attracting customers to their shop in the middle of nowhere. The place was called Possum Trot, a southern expression for the shortest distance between two points. |
The shop and the land they owned was a desert ghost town, where in the largest building Calvin built his Fantasy Doll Theater, which was powered by a windmill he had built. Along with a clever contraption of strings, pulleys, hidden tape recorders and animatronics, trained ventriloquist Calvin would put on shows. He carved the heads and made the bodies of over 8 dolls, which Ruby clothed. Most were female, and often based on friends, family and celebrities. The couple were childless, and Calvin often referred to his dolls as his children. The collection spread out for hundreds of yards along the roadside, either side of the shop. Each doll named, and carrying a sign around its neck.
| After Calvin's death in 1972, the dolls were abandoned to the harsh desert weather. Calvin wanted the dolls destroyed after his death, but Ruby refused. Ruby died in 1980, and what remained of the dolls were sold off, some making it to museums across the United States. However it was in their original desert context that the dolls were best experienced. Possum Trot the documentary gives viewers an insight into the weird world of the Blacks. | |
