In the early 1960′s, Georgene Novelties lost the license to produce their Johnny Gruelle authorized version of the very famous Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. For a decade or so, Georgene Novelties had to tolerate many Raggedy “look-alike” dolls that were produced by numerous smaller companies. Now it was their turn to produce a doll that resembled the popular Raggedy Ann doll. In 1964 Georgene manufactured their last cloth dolls and named them “Georgene” and “George”. These all cloth dolls were 15″ and 19″ tall and had yarn hair. The bodies were the same as the earlier Georgene Raggedies. The face was all printed with a round nose and cute smile. The legs were solid red or blue. If Ann had red legs, her dress was blue and vise versa. If Andy had blue legs, his pants were red and vise versa. These dolls failed to capture the popularity of the licensed Johnny Gruelle’s Raggedy dolls so it wasn’t long before the latest Georgene dolls and the company itself disappeared from the doll world.
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I am thrilled to see a picture of Georgene and wish I could see George!
After Georgene Novelties lost the contract for Ann and Andy, they came to artist Dianne Dengel to make a replacement set. She designed Georgene and George for them. After seeing the final product, Ms. Dengel was saddened by the poor face quality. Hers were bright and cheerful unlike the final product. She never was given a sample to keep so I had never seen one before, only heard the stories. There were also a clown doll produced called Pippo that came in pink and blue. There was also a Tear Drop Baby doll. All manufactured by Georgine Novelties. Ms. Dengel never owned then either. If anyone has a photo of them I would like a copy for a book I am writing about extraordinary American artist Dianne Dengel.
Holly
http://www.diannedengel.com
Thank you so much for adding that information about Dianne Dengel. I certainly would never have known about her connection to Georgene. Hopefully some readers will help you with your book. How exciting! Thanks again
Here is a photo of the George version of the doll. Sorry, photo is now unavailable.
Very cute. Thanks for the link. I hope others will enjoy!
I have a doll in it’s original box with original tags, including the price tag (Flint and Kent $1.98). The box says A Georgene Product made by Georgene Novelties, Inc. New York City and the item number is 5600. The tag says A Georgene Doll Sunny Maid Georgene Novelties, Inc. New York City made in USA. She is made of rubber with rubber hair and a painted face. She is wearing a sun suit and has socks and shoes. She has never been played with. Can anyone give me any idea of her value?