Today's doll is one from my childhood, and my sister's. She's my sister's doll, Baby Ginger.
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| This is her original bonnet and shirt. She also had yellow pants. For some reason, my sister has her doll, but I have her doll's pants! |
Ginger was made by Cosmopolitan in the 1950's. She began as an 8 inch hard plastic doll called Ginger, made to compete with Vogue's Ginny. (In fact, Ginger and Ginny were both produced by Commonwealth Plastics.) The next version was the 10 1/2 inch Miss Ginger, (You can see ones I have posted HERE, HERE, and HERE.). This version was a more mature lady, and intended to compete with Little Miss Revlon. There was also an 8 inch Little Miss Ginger, made to compete with the 8 inch Little Miss Revlon. My sister was born in 1956, and when she was small, she got this Baby Ginger. Baby Ginger was supposed to be a baby, and was a competitor to Ginnette, the baby version of Ginny. She is about 8 inches tall, and is all vinyl, with jointed neck, shoulders, and hips. This particular Baby Ginger was a Kellogg's promotion, available for $1 plus one box top from Rice Krispies or Raisin Bran. She came with her 'three piece corduroy playsuit', (Only the pants are corduroy.), white sandals, a bottle, and a diaper. That was 'offer B'. Offer C was a complete 15 piece set including a 6 piece bathtub and accessories set, a 5 piece christening outfit, a party outfit, a sun suit, and a two piece night outfit. The price for this massive set? The same $1 and 1 box top!
She has a bottle mouth, and is a drink and wet doll.
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She has sleep eyes, with those hard plastic lashes. In fact, the Baby Ginger booklet proclaimed her to be the 'first and only 8" all vinyl fully jointed drink and wet baby doll with rooted hair and moving eyes'.
Of course, if she missed any one of those things out, she may not have been the first. She may have been the first to have ALL those qualifications. Or maybe not.
Her brown hair is rooted in a short style.
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This one is a bit worn!
She had an entire wardrobe.
Of course, we probably never knew that. When we got something, we never got anything to go with it. For example, we had a few generic Barbie clone clothes, but never any more real Barbie clothes, (until I got one Barbie, one Ken, and one Francie outfit when I was a kid.), extra clothes to go with our Penny Brite dolls, or any sets for our GI Joes, etc. This prompted my sister to start sewing and make doll clothes. Later she worked as a tailor, so I guess it did her some good.
That's the doll for today. See you tomorrow for another doll.
I rarely received “real” Barbie clothes either! I loved to play with other girls who did though!
ReplyDeleteMy sister played with our cousin Sis, and appropriated some of her Barbie underwear. But by the time I came around, Sis was too old for Barbies, and our other cousins didn't seem to have any. Since we lived in nowhereland, I never saw any other kids!
DeleteYou and Anonymous sound like my mother. She never got "real" clothes for her Barbie either. Grandma was a skilled seamstress, and so all of Barbie's clothes were handmade. Miss Ginger is mighty sweet.
ReplyDeleteMy mom could sew, and in fact, made clothes for us. But the only doll clothes she ever made were a single Barbie dress, apparently to distract my sister from the grief of her cat dying,(Before my time.), and a dress and bonnet for Little Miss No Name. I must have begged her, because I was intent on giving LMNN a better life!
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