1.
SV INTERIOR: Dorothy Hastings cutting up apples
0.14

2.
CU PAN FROM: apple to Dorothy Hastings eating slice.
0.18

3.
SV: doll made by Mr.s Hastings (3 shots)
0.30

4.
CU: doll of old lady with Mrs. hastings speaking over.
0.35

5.
CU: shaping apple with knife. (2 shots)
0.48

6.
CU: another doll
0.53

7.
CU: name card and price on doll.
0.54

8.
CU: guitar playing doll and old lady. (2 shots)
1.04

9.
CU: Dorothy Hastings eating sections as she works on carving. (3 shots)
1.25


BOYD:"This is the apple-head doll lady, 51-year-old Dorothy Hastings. Despite the fact she is almost totally disabled, with no feelings in her left had, she has managed to produce one of the largest apple head doll collections in the country. Dorothy's tiny shop is in the basement of a commercial apple barn in the apple hill country of the Sierra foothills. Her carvings are unique in that her apple-head dolls seem to be constantly in motion - she calls them her whimsey dolls."



HASTINGS:"It's just a fanciful flight of my imagination. As I stare at the apples, suddenly a thought comes to me as to what the expression might mean and then I look around to see if I might have what's necessary to come to life in somebody's mind the way it came to life in mine."



BOYD:"The features of no two are alike when completed. An intricate doll, totally finished takes hours to produce and will last under normal conditions up to 10 years., She's even written a "How to..." book on carving. Adds Dorothy "apple carving in fun....and it's the only craft I know where you can eat your hobby and most of your mistakes too." Mike Boyd for NBC News, reporting from Northern California."




Initials RH/NPJ/AW/2150



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: As the United States' bicentennial year draws to a close, an old craft first introduced by the country's early settlers, is achieving renewed popularity wherever apples are grown. NBC reporter Mike Boyd went to the Sierra foothills to meet a lady who has raised apple carving to an art.