The 'star' of this group of dolls is Heidi,third from left. No connection to the Heidi from the book by Johann Spyri..
Heidi was made by Remco,for several years from around 1964. She measures about 5 1/2" tall. Heidi and friends were called 'Pocketbook Dolls'. The phrase isn't used much these days, but my parents always referred to purses as 'pocketbooks'. That's where the dolls got their name, because they came in plastic purses.
Like Heidi's sister Hildy here. |
Heidi was so popular that she spawned a plethora of friends, relatives, playsets,and other items. Hildy is one of Heidi's siblings.
Hildy is only 4 1/2" tall.
Hildy had to borrow one of the other Hildy's single shoes, to wear with her single shoe,so she could stand upright. |
Since Hildy is smaller than Heidi,her pocketbook is smaller than Heidi's too.
Heidi's pocketbook is red. There are those red boots Hildy #3 was wearing above. |
This is a little confusing actually. Available separately,Herby is described as 'Heidi's little brother, but Pip is described as 'Heidi's lil friend'. As a set they were Heidi's 'lil brother and sister'.
Hildy and Pip:Sisters,or just 'lil friends'? |
Hildy and Pip are the same size. |
And they share a body mold. Pip is wearing a Heidi dress. |
But their faces are all their own. |
Heidi on the left,Jan in the center, and Spunky on the right. |
Jan came in a blue pocketbook.
I actually have the dress Heidi is wearing above. I found it at school when I was a kid. You may have seen it on a little doll I featured on the original Doll-A-Day. You can see her HERE. |
Jan came in either a yellow dress, or a red and blue dress.
That yellow dress is around here somewhere.This is a Heidi and friends dress too though. |
And she had her own Japanese tea set,available separately.
Jan is the same size as Heidi.
Except this Jan has a smaller head. |
There were apparently two versions of Jan.
Are they both Jan? They have different heads. Jan on the left has a much smaller head. |
They have the same hairdo,and dimples. |
Jan on the right is wearing a strange homemade dress that is sewn on her. |
They are both the same size as Heidi.
Although Jan on the right has a head the size of Heidi's, and small-head-Jan has ahead more the size of Hildy's.
They both say Remco on their head.
There was also a rare African American version of Heidi.
There were also wardrobe and accessory sets made for Heidi and her friends.
The hood really can't go up on her head though. |
And Heidi and Jan's magic House and Garden. |
Heidi had a dining room, a kitchen,and a bedroom.
There was also a 'Bar-be-cue Set' with a grill and patio table with umbrella and benches.
Spunky even had a golf course.
But Heidi had a bowling alley.
Remco even made a Swimming Pool and Cabana set,and a Little Red Schoolhouse set, which both made the audacious claim that they were "For every tiny doll made".
They both used the Heidi dolls photos on their packaging.
There were also paper dolls,(...and why do you need paper dolls of real dolls?),a Heidi game...
The Heidi Elevator game. |
This reminds me of the Tammy doll record I have. |
Most unusual of all, I think, is Heidi's Honda motorcycle and snack stand set.
To see a very comprehensive collection of photos of items produced for Heidi and friends,you can visit The Action Figure Archive HERE.
There were a few different versions of Heidi. The first, and most common version waves when a button in her stomach is pressed.
...and a growing version.The winking version came in a box, rather than a purse.The red dress Heidi in the picture below is the growing version,and is wearing the same dress as my Remco Growing Sally.(You can see my Growing Sally HERE.)
See you tomorrow for another doll.
These dolls are so cute. I think a doll like this would make it now, I would buy one! I do have to wonder where these little girls get all their stuff though. She owns a bowling alley?? Sorta like the cartoons we grew up with where you never saw parents.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she was just visiting the bowling alley. What gets really confusing is when they make a child doll like Penny Brite, who works in a hair dressing salon and drives a car. What?!
DeleteI guess Deluxe Reading didn't hear about the child labor laws?
DeleteI feel like my mom described having one of these dolls…but I swore she said it was a button in her back that you would push to make the hand go up …do you know if the belly button version was the only one ? Or was there perhaps an older version that had the button in her back?
ReplyDelete