Doll-A-Day 2019 #214: Kissy

  Well, it's finally here: that picture heavy post that I have been threatening you with. Today's doll is Kissy. Two of them actually.

Kissy was produced from 1961 to 1964.

She was made by Ideal,one of Mattel's biggest rivals in the 1960's.
 

Big Kissy's markings. notice that she has pronounced shoulder blades.

Tiny Kissy. No shoulder blades.

She came in two sizes,Tiny Kissy,first produced in 1963 is 16" tall and Kissy is 22".

She is made to look like a chubby toddler. 

 In addition to her shoulder blades, she also has a chubby belly,baby boobs,a belly button,and chubby toddler legs. 

Pudgy little hands are also part of her look.

She has vinyl hands and plastic arms,with a joint in between,so her hands can turn.  

Tiny Kissy has the same hands.

 Bigger Kissy has very rosy cheeks.
 

Tiny Kissy's cheeks aren't quite as red, but that could just be this particular doll. 

Both dolls have big green eyes. 

 

 They're sleep eyes.

Tiny Kissy.

Big Kissy.

 The larger Kissy doll has her original dress and original shoes.

The outfit is one piece, with built in bloomers. Kissy also came in the same style outfit in a different red and white fabric, a red fabric with nautical trim, the same style, and and a very similar style outfit, both in blue and white gingham, and who knows how many other fabrics. The outfit came in different fabrics, but they all had a ribbon that said 'Kissy' on the right middle of their outfit, just below the waistband. My doll is missing hers.

The elastic is dead in her puffy sleeves and bloomer legs.

Interesting story about those shoes: I had the shoes for ages, but I didn't know who they fit. I got them at a garage sale, but nobody was in them, so they were a mystery. I thought they might fit Whimsies. Then I got Kissy at an auction. In researching to find out who she is, I saw a picture of her in her original outfit, which included these shoes! Since she had her original dress but was missing her shoes, it worked out perfectly!

The shoes have black soles and side buckles.

Kissy gets her name from her kiss feature. When her arms are brought toward each other in front of her chest, she actually puckers and makes a kissing sound.

Her face goes from this...

...to this.

Tiny Kissy also kisses.
 

Her face changes from this...

...to this.

It's sort of like Giggles' giggling feature. The arms go out in a 'so big' pose...

...before bringing them in to make her kiss. It's not necessary to pull them out that far though. I just raised them and brought then together. She still kissed fine. You can watch, (and listen to),a video showing Kissy going through her motions HERE.
For some reason their legs do the same thing as their arms,(except for the pulling together move and the kissing action!)

For some reason Tiny Kissy was a lot easier to get to stand on her own with her legs out. Bigger Kissy was harder to balance. I think part of the problem is that her stringing is getting loose. The Kissy dolls are strung instead of jointed. I'm sure that's so they can do the kissing arm motions. That makes me think that her stringing must be somehow connected to the kissing action. So I'm guessing that if the stringing dies, it would be very hard to get the kissing action hooked back up when she's restrung. I could be wrong.
 

Big Kissy has short, curly hair.

Tiiny Kissy has short hair too...

...but she has a long piece on top that is supposed to be pulled into a ponytail.

 

Like the picture, top,left.
 

There was also a Baby Kissy, and a Cuddly Kissy. Baby Kissy was as large as the larger Kissy, but had more of a baby body, such as curved legs, etc. Cuddly Kissy had a cloth body and was activated by squeezing her stomach.

Saalfield even made a Kissy paper doll, but apparently it's pretty hard to find.

 The doll was a large 24 inches.(even bigger than the real doll!), and came with paper outfits like the various ones Kissy came in. The doll was a photograph of a real doll, but her kissing feature was achieved by the addition of a lenticular picture,(Those 'flasher' pictures that change when moved or viewed from a different angle.), of lips, that changed from a regular mouth to a puckered one!
 

  There was also a Kissy colouring and cutout book, also made by Saalfield. You can see a lot of good pictures of the set HERE.
  In 1966 Tiny Kissy was Mod-ified, so to speak, and given a brightly coloured A line dress and long, straight hair. So, she was still 'tiny', but was she still a toddler?
  You can watch a commercial for Kissy HERE.

I can't get that right shoe buckled!

  Kissy looks a lot like another Ideal doll, Bibsy. Bibsy has chubbier cheeks. Her gimmick was, when you fed her and then squeezed her stomach, she would dribble. Hey, so would I,  if you squeezed hard enough. Geez.
  That's it for today. Come back tomorrow and see another doll of the day.