When I heard how “Rag Doll” came to be, I just had to tell the story in an Instagram vid set to the music of that ‘60s hit. Songwriter Bob Gaudio was driving to his Manhattan recording studio when he paused at a stoplight and a waifish girl began washing his windshield. When he reached for his wallet to tip her, he discovered that his smallest bill was a $20. In that day and for that work, it was a huge amount, but he handed it over. The girl broke into a smile that could have lit up a city block. That propelled him to write the hit.

When I put on this Forever 21 dress, it reminded me of “Rag Doll.” The price was a whopping $13.80. I know, what an investment! 😉 Seriously, I wanted to choose something cute, but economical, for the video. The cost of this dress only amounts to a little over half of what the windshield washer received from the songwriter…and that was almost five decades ago! The value of that $20 would be much higher today.

The dress is an updated version of the short frocks worn around the time the song was released…as you can probably tell from this picture of Barbara Eden, that popular Genie of the era!