WHITE HALL, W.Va. (AP) - “This one book kind of started the whole thing,” said Debbie Johnson. “There was one book that she got. She always liked Cinderella and she always liked the story and living happily ever after.”
Johnson is speaking about her daughter, Marci Cochran, who started her unique collection with nothing more than a love of Cinderella. Eventually, this turned into an extensive collection of all things related to the girl with the glass slipper.
“It was always the ’rags to riches’ sort of thing that I liked and that any girl could be a princess,” she said. “When Kate Middleton married the prince I was obsessed with the royals and that whole wedding. I was glued to the TV.”
This collection started with books and has grown into a compilation of everything from dolls to snow globes to Pez dispensers and pens.
Cochran, who is now a wedding photographer, said to put her collection out was overwhelming because she didn’t realize she owned so many items. She said years after she told herself it was time to stop collecting, she would still see something and want to add it to her collection.
The books are Cochran’s favorite part of her collection. She said she has books ranging from Cinderella from around the world to antique books.
“I have always loved turning pages of the story,” she said. “I remember being very young, maybe 10, and gathering all of the Cinderellas in my house. As I grew older, I would get so excited to find a different book of the Disney cartoon story, or better yet, a new version altogether. Anytime I was in a book store or at a yard sale, I would check for one. All of them are titled ’Cinderella,’ yet the stories vary so much.”
After her passion for finding Cinderella books grew, she started a doll collection. Cochran said this began as a tradition between her sister and her mother.
“I was always a wedding Barbie collector,” she said. “Every year for Christmas, our mom would get us a special Barbie doll. For my sister it was Holiday Barbie, and for me it was always a bride.”
In 1995, Cochran explained, her love of weddings, Cinderella and Barbie collided - that year her mom got her the Barbie Cinderella.
“It was the neatest tradition to get one,” she said. “From then on I asked for a Cinderella every year.”
This tradition of receiving a Barbie from her mother stopped once she turned 18, but the process of collecting Cinderellas at Christmas did not. She said she collected a few more and thought it would stop, but she kept adding to her collection every year.
Cochran particularly loves her porcelain doll collection. She said she thinks they are elegant and the most detailed part of her collection.
But she adores the snow globes she has bought over the years.
“Those are some of my favorite pieces, especially the elaborate ones that light up and play music or have a clock to say it’s midnight,” she said.
All of her precious items, which has continued to grow and grow, are stored in her childhood bedroom in her mother’s house.
Cochran said one of her favorite parts of being a collector is that her friends and family make it special. She said anytime they see a Cinderella item, they think of her and buy it.
Getting her mother to stop buying Cinderella items for her was hard, but Johnson said she no longer buys her daughter more to add to her collection.
“I’m always tempted. Every time I go somewhere and I see something, I just want to get it for her,” Johnson said.
Even though she loves every item in her collection, Cochran does not keep it out for everyone to see. She said most of the items are packed away in storage for safe keeping, and most of the collection will soon be out of her mother’s house and stored somewhere safe.
While she does not know how many pieces of Cinderella memorabilia she has, Cochran is confident that the value is not high, at least not to others.
“I don’t think any of them are worth a lot to anybody else except to me,” she said.
But Cochran’s love of Cinderella has extended past the collection and onto the stage and screen.
“I’ve seen the Rodgers & Hammerstein version about six times,” she said. “Different high schools will do it, and it’s weird because I know all the words and no one else does.”
The premiere of the live-action “Cinderella” movie, which debuted Friday, is something her mother said she has not stopped talking about.
“I think about it every day,” she explained. “I have an event on Facebook. My friends are coming. We’re going to have dinner and then go to the movie together and all wear tiaras and try and not be embarrassed.”
This film intrigues Cochran because of the Cinderella tale it is based on.
“The live-action film has changed everything,” she explained. “I ordered the novel based on the screenplay and read it as soon as I could. It is fantastic.
“Being so familiar with the story and having seen the trailers for the movie, I couldn’t wait to find out how they handled each part. This version of the story builds a strong connection to her family, and even to the fairy godmother, and shows the reason why she stays so kind throughout all of the abuse she endures.”
In addition to seeing the movie with her friends, Cochran plans to bring her daughter Kennleigh. It will be the girl’s first movie she will see in a theater.
“I talk to her about it every day,” she said. “She’ll honestly be more excited to have popcorn and see the 7-minute ’Frozen’ short right before the movie, but I’m very excited to take her.”
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Information from: Times West Virginian, https://www.timeswv.com
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