In 1964 Mattel added a new hairdo style to its line of Barbie dolls. It was known as the Swirl Ponytail Barbie or is also referred to as a side part or swept ponytail. The new style came brunette, blonde, platinum blonde and titian. This doll came with a red swim suit a change from the earlier black and white striped suit. This style Barbie had the Midge/Barbie body with the addition of the word patented on the last line. This mark was found on one side of her butt. They also had a variety of lip colors. Some were red, while others harder to find are light pink, coral, white and a “mustard” color. These dolls have become very collectible today and usually command a higher price than other dolls of the same vintage.

The Ideal Toy Corporation began production of their teenage doll, Tammy, in 1962. Like the many other teenage fashion dolls of that time, Tammy had many outfits and accessories. The high quality outfits depicted the styles of the early 1960′s . The 12″ dolls had vinyl heads (rooted hair), legs and arms with plastic bodies. The dolls resembled the “girl next door” with a more “girlish figure” than the very popular Mattel’s Barbie. It has been said that the movie “Tammy and the Batchelor” starring Debbie Reynolds may have influenced Ideal to name the new doll Tammy and also that they designed her face to resemble the movie star, Sandra Dee. The dolls could have blonde, light brown, tosca or brunette hair color and came dressed in a blue and white one-piece playsuit and sneakers. Later variations of the doll were Posn’ Tammy, Grown UP Tammy and Posn’ Tammy and Her Telephone Booth. My photo shows her little sister Pepper. Other dolls in the Tammy family include Pepper (sister), Tammy’s Mom, Tammy’s Dad, Brother Ted, Misty (best friend), Bud (Tammy’s boyfriend), Pete (Tammy’s little brother), Dodi, and Salty (Pepper’s friends). These dolls very popular in the 60′s and have become very collectible today.

In my August 2007 article about the all vinyl Ginny produced between 1965 and 1972, I mentioned the highly collectible dolls that were made for just one year. These dolls were from the Far Away Land Series. The Stewardess #518, Pilgrim #519 (pictured in 8/07 archive), Cowboy #520, Ballerina #522 and the Bride #523. One doll in the series is very hard to find and has become highly sought after. It is the #501 American Indian. She is dressed in a lovely real white leather beaded dress, headband and moccasins. She even had a papoose on her back. She is a very pretty doll with her darker skin tone and jet black braids. Perhaps, these late 1960′s Ginny dolls will soon become very collectible as are her earlier 1950′s sisters.

The Vogue Doll Company discontinued manufacturing their popular all hard plastic Jill doll in 1960 (see article in category 1950′s). Because the doll company subsequently received so much criticism, they decided to create an “All New Jill” teenage doll in 1962. She was an all vinyl doll with rooted hair and sleep eyes with molded lashes and three painted on lashes on the outside of the eyes. She had soft blush cheeks and pale pink lipstick. Her hair was styled in an angel bob in auburn, brunette and platinum. The back of her head was marked VOGUE, which was her only identifying mark. She was sold for $3.00 with chemise underwear or dressed in one of the ten outfits that were available that year. Outfits were also sold separately. In 1963, Vogue manufactured the same all vinyl doll that also came with a beehive hair style. She was known as “Sweetheart Jill” and had eight outfits. Some outfits also matched her little sister Ginny that year. There was no Jill in 1964 and in 1965, Vogue created a “Vogue Dolls from History Land” series. The same Jill was used in this series which consisted of Colonial Days, Revolutionary Days, Frontier Days, Southern Belle, Victorian Era, and Gibson Girl. Since these dolls from the 1960′s are getting very difficult to find in mint condition, they are now becoming very collectible.

In a previous article, I discussed a very rare 1960′s Black Ginnette doll. This article shows the more common white version of the same doll manufactured by the Vogue Doll Co. in the mid 1960′s. She was redesigned from the 1950′s doll. Her size was the same, but her sleep eyes looked a bit larger (her head may be somewhat smaller) and her eyebrows were there in the mold, but not painted nicely as the earlier doll. She was marked Vogue Dolls Inc on her backside and she also was a drink and wet doll. Her outfits were simpler and not as many. The quality and the popularity of the dolls during this period seemed to be diminishing. It is still fun to find one of these dolls in excellent condition to add to a collection.

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.

The Flagg and Company Doll Company was originally located in Brookline, Mass. and produced a line of dolls made of flexible vinyl resin. These dollhouse sized dolls were designed by Sheila Flagg and were sold from 1947 to the mid 1980′s. The dolls faces were hand painted and they were dressed in real cloth clothing. They had a wire inside that made them poseable. The original dolls (2″-4″) consisted of family members (father, mother, brother, sister and baby) so were very suited for dollhouse play. Later the company added different lines of character dolls and were a larger size (8″). The dolls could be in pairs or dressed in clothing from different countries. The last address for the company was Jamaica Plain, Mass. Today, MIB dolls have become very collectible. The very rare black dolls command higher prices.

In 1960 the Vogue Doll Company created a very different Ginny Doll called “Wee Imp”. She was a Bent Knee Walker doll with molded lash green sleep eyes, freckles and straight red “carrot-top” hair. During this early 1960 era, some regular Ginnys also had freckles, lighter lip color and the usual flip styled wig. Wee Imp had four outfits. A blue jumper with red sail boat and hat, red and white striped pj’s with matching nightcap, blue jeans and red checked shirt with a straw hat and a turquoise and white polkadot pinafore dress. She is a very cute, unusual, little doll who was marketed as the “mischievous friend” of Ginny. This doll’s value remains high due to her rarity.

The all vinyl version of Vogue Dolls, Inc. Ginny Doll was manufactured from 1965 to 1971. The dolls were straight leg, non-walking dolls with eyes that opened and closed. They had rooted hair and were marked “Ginny” on the back of the head and “Ginny, Vogue Dolls Inc.”, on the back. This 8″ doll was the last Ginny actually made in the USA. These dolls were dressed in the typical little girl dresses and outfits from the Fairy Tale Land and Far Away Lands Series. They came in blue and white boxes with cellophane fronts or the very hard to find all hard plastic completely transparent boxes. There was a group of special dolls produced in 1968-1969 which were the Nun, Nurse, Bride, Cowgirl, Pilgrim, and Stewardess. Because of their limited production, these dolls are considered very rare and highly sought after today. A comprehensive Ginny collection would not be complete without one of these last USA dolls.

These are some of the variations of cotton floral prints used by the Knickerbocker Toy Co. in the 1960′s. I constantly search for more examples of the unusual early prints and sometimes have to purchase a doll in fair condition just to have her dress!! See the article about the Knickerbocker Anns that follows.