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| This is Suntan Tuesday Taylor in her original bathing suit cover up. |
Tuesday Taylor was made by ideal.
She was introduced in 1975.
She was produced until 1978.
This is regular Tuesday.
Other than having bendable arms and legs,Tuesday Taylor was a smaller version of Ideal's earlier doll, 19" Tiffany Taylor doll. The most defining characteristic of both Tuesday and Tiffany is that they have scalps that rotate, turning their hair from blonde to brown, and back again.
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| This allows her to go from this... |
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| ...to this. |
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| Or even this side part, if you don't turn the scalp all the way around. |
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| You can see from these pictures how much silkier regular Tuesday's hair is. The fiber is completely different. |
Mattel eventually stole this feature,but it took them a while. It finally appeared on the Jam N Glam Barbie and friends dolls in 2001,and was called their 'Twist N Turn hair feature'.
Tuesday has jointed elbows that are covered with a layer of rubber skin, jointed wrists,and click bend knees.
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In her three year run there were several different versions of Tuesday made. Beauty Queen Tuesday Taylor had straight legs, no rooted eyelashes,and blonde hair that was not attached to a rotating scalp. Super Model Tuesday Taylor also had painted lashes, and straight legs,and shorter,curly hair. There's a rare version of Tuesday that has a different shade of blonde hair.
In 1977 Ideal introduced Suntan Tuesday Taylor.
There's a slight difference in the colour of regular Tuesday and Suntan Tuesday's vinyl.
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| Suntan Tuesday,on the left, is slightly more 'tanned'. |
Suntan Tuesday came with stickers that could be placed on her body. When the doll was placed in the sun for a few minutes, she 'tanned'. When the stickers were removed the area that had been covered was still the lighter shade.
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| I didn't have any stickers handy, so I laid one of her shoes on her leg and left her in the sun for a few minutes. I could see the slightest of differences, but it doesn't really show up in the photograph very well. |
Dodi was an update of Pepper's friend Dodi, from the Tammy doll line. You can see the commercial for Suntan Tuesday Taylor and friends HERE.
Tuesday had a Summer/Winter Vacation House...
...as well as her own Penthouse Apartment.
She had fashions produced for her as well,including a set of Montgomery Wards exclusive outfits. I don't have any actual Tuesday Taylor clothes except her cover up, but these are about the right era. Anybody recognize them?
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| I think this one is a Barbie dress. Anybody? |
There was also an African American doll made. Her name was Taylor Jones. She had the same face as Tuesday, and the same rotating,hair changing scalp. Taylor Jones' hair changed from auburn to black. Taylor Jones is much harder to find than Tuesday.
Jewel's Doll Castle has a great page for reference on Tuesday Taylor and all her friends and outfits. You can go to her page HERE. I have found another page I want to give you a link to. THIS PAGE has a lot of great pictures of Tuesday's fashions and structures,plus it gives you a link to usable PDF files of McCall's patterns of clothes for Tuesday and other dolls.
We'll see more of Tuesday's line tomorrow.See you then.
Yes, I recognize the orange flowered dress. I had it as a child in the late '70s. It is Barbie Best Buy #9573.
ReplyDeleteThanks! That's what I figured.I didn't know the number though. It's pretty nice for a Best Buy.The button and thread closure in back is unusual too.
DeleteMattel didn't actually steal the idea of the rotating scalp. When IDEAL went out of business, and their assets were liquidated, mostbof the intellectual property was split between Mattel and another company. They own the patent for that hair feature, in addition to many of the names ( Barbie's baby sister Krissy....) that IDEAL had used....:)
ReplyDeleteThanks! Good point.
DeletePretty doll, I was three when she had her last run so I didn't see her.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember her from the time either. I was going through my "I'm too old for toys' stage. As you can see, that didn't last!
DeleteI absolutely loved my Suntan Tuesday Taylor doll. Not only did she tan (and she tanned well - loved the stickers) but she had dark hair. The blonde hair was not as prominent in my doll but a fascinating feature. I was trying to describe this doll to my kids who are astonished how we worshipped the tan in those days (“and I even had a doll that tanned!”) and found your blog. I also had that penthouse! What a rush of memories. I loved that penthouse - it was my barbie dolls’ hangout. I also had barbie’s remote control corvette (“remote” had wires) which was very cool too. It had a car phone and working glove box. Cool enough that my daughter played with it herself. We just cut the wires off since that no longer functioned. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it! Nice to hear that you passed your car down to your daughter. Amazing how times have changed, isn't it? now we know better, but some people still have to have a tan!
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