Doll-A-Day 54: Tutti's Friend Chris,Plus A Yard Sale Tale, Wherein I Buy One Woman's Childhood...

  Today we start a week of posts on a bunch of Barbie and family dolls I bought at one garage sale. It's another...

  I have become  skeptical about people who advertise that they have 'Barbies' at their sales. When you get there they are always modern Barbies, usually naked or wearing icky homemade clothes,and they want too much for them. Well, not always. One Saturday, 2 or 3  years ago, I went out with my list, which contained a listing for a sale with 'Barbies'. I was in no hurry to get there. I had a church sale on my list, and with so many different people donating you never know what you'll find. (Found a Glamour Misty once.) Besides, these were probably new crappy Barbies anyway. When it was nearly noon I had been out for a while and still hadn't gone to the Barbie sale. I decided there was a sale I needed to go to and started to turn that way. Then I realized I was actually very close to the Barbie sale, so I figured I might as well go there first. I pulled in the driveway and got out. As I walked toward the garage door I saw a table in the garage lined with vintage Barbie and family dolls. I went directly to them, picked them up and started making a pile on the table of  the lady who ran the sale, who will, as usual, be known as TLWRTS. I don't remember all the individual prices, but I'll do my best. Here's what I got:
  crewcut Ken in his box
  straight leg Skipper w/original swim suit in her box
  bendleg Skooter with pink skin, with stand and original outfit and hair ribbons, in her box. These three were about $10 each.
  titian bubble cut Barbie  was a little more because, TLWRTS said, "she's old." (Lady, they're ALL "old"! This was a later bubble cut and was probably the same age as the Ken and not more than a couple of years older than the 'youngest' doll there.)
  Twist and turn Barbie with summer sand hair $7
  blonde Chris in her original outfit, no shoes for $2

  She's today's doll.  I bought her some shoes. I can't remember if she was wearing her green undies or if I bought them too. I know I outfitted a couple of Chris dolls with green undies.She's supposed to have two green hair ribbons and a green metal barrette. We'll see more of Chris after I finish my story.

  brunette bend leg Francie $7
  ziplock bag of Barbie Pak knit separates pieces about $2
  Skipper's Sunny Pastels dress and purse for $1
  Francie's It's a Date dress and stockings for $2
  And I passed up Skipper's White Bright n' Sparkling coat for 10 cents because I didn't know what it was. (This is why I needed that Skipper book.)
  I bought a couple of other very small things.In all my total was  $67. I had to go get $7 more  from Ken, leaving $7 Francie behind as collateral. Ken was at work and don't think he wasn't thrilled to find that I was spending $67. To allow myself to keep most of the dolls, I let go of most of the Pak knits, the bubblecut, and I think the Twist and Turn.Ok, so Skooter had had straight pins stuck in her head to hold her hair ribbons on  and had a little green. It doesn't show and I did take the pins out.. Francie has some pale green under the edges of her hair too, but she looks nice in her Its a Date. Chris was perfect, as was Ken, and Skipper was pretty nice too.These dolls belonged to TLWRTS as a kid. I pretty much bought out her childhood. And to prove my other point, at this same sale there were boat loads of modern Barbie furniture and accessories and TLWRTS wanted a fortune for them. I went to her sale the next year and she still had the modern stuff and still wanted a fortune for them.

 Chris is so perfect! No chews, all her bends, no hair cuts, no green.

 

Tutti's friend Chris was produced from 1967 to 1971 in the United States, and longer elsewhere. She came in blonde and brunette. These days most of the brunette's have oxidized to various shades of red or auburn.You've seen these girls before.

Unoxidized Chris on the left, oxidized Chris on the right.

She was the only Tutti size friend produced as specifically that. (You can count Buffy and the Pretty Pairs dolls, but they weren't actually marketed as Tutti friends, just that they could wear her clothes.) 

 

"Nice Kitty Kitty.Can I pick you up?"

"You're a good kitty. I'll sit here, ok?"

"Darned humans. I fall for that one every time!"

I definately do NOT own this set. I have the vinyl top and pants pictured second from right, but that's all. This set is REALLY expensive.

Her original dress has a 'Chris' tag inside.She even had her own gift set,the Chris Fun-Timers Set,and Tutti had a couple of houses and a couple of cases, and a combination case/picnic setting, (the patio picnic case), that also pictured Chris and used her name.

Thanks to my friend Connie I have both of these.

  If you think about it, it's kind of amazing that Mattel could keep milking their original character's success by creating all these spin off characters.Barbie begat Tutti,who then had to have a friend and begat Chris. It could have been never ending: Did Chris need a friend too? Or a brother? Now of course the doll companies produce a zillion characters, and also a zillion of the same doll.When I was a kid the Barbie universe was a lot smaller, and only one or two versions of each doll were produced at a time. Now there are countless versions of each doll put out. If you want different outfits for your doll, alot of the time you have to buy a whole new doll.No wonder kids don't seem to get as attached to their dolls as I did when I was a kid. They have so many! 
  Tomorrow we'll look at another doll from this garage sale 'family'.