Sunday, September 21, 2014

Doll-A-Day 240:Red Heads Week: Georgette

  Update: I have replaced most of the pictures I borrowed with pictures of my own Teresa,which I bought after this post was done. To see the post on Teresa herself, go HERE.

First off: I have borrowed a few pictures for this post to help with identification and comparison. If the owners of the photos wish them to be removed I will gladly cooperate. If not, thanks for your help!
  For a while now I have been planning to do a Red Heads Week. Even though I was never crazy about my own red hair, I love dolls with red hair, so quite a lot of my dolls are red heads. I could do a few weeks. (Of course, if you're a regular reader, or someone playing catch-up, you will have seen quite a few of my red haired dolls already.) I finally decided to just do it. Our first doll of Red Heads Week is Georgette.

She was made by Eegee in 1971 I think.She's a little hard to find information on. (She's supposed to be kind of rare.)

Sorry about the sideways thing...

She is actually Georgette, but a lot of people refer to her as Pippi Longstocking. I'm not sure if this is because Eegee used the same basic doll for a Pippi doll, just because she has red hair in braids, or because she bears a great resemblance to this girl:

Although Georgette is slightly less alien looking than this Furga doll.
(Same weird hand positions.) 

This is an Italian doll named Teresa, and made by Furga. However, Furga used the same doll to make a Pippi doll.
 
Georgette on the left and Teresa by Furga on the right.
Crazy alien eyes!
  It's a little confusing. Were Furga and Eegee related? Eegee is the same company as Goldberger. (Eegee, as in E.G. for Eugene Goldberger.) What's the connection between Furga and Eegee though? Did one of them just sell the molds to the other? (But the eyes are waaaay different, so is the mold exactly the same?)Hmm...
There is quite a size difference.Georgette is about 19" tall. Teresa is 24" tall.You can read about and see more of Teresa on her day HERE.

Those eyes can be a little scary when the light hits them in a certain way.

She has a soft, huggable stuffed body, with vinyl arms, legs, and head.



She also had a brother named George. I'm not sure if they were sold as a pair, but I know they were sold separately.

 Look! She's wearing the same dress as Teresa!
My Georgette has been redressed, because her dress is a bit tight. She's wearing matching bloomers though, that fit perfectly.

Her hair has no part in the back. The choppiness is original.

"Hey, I think I dropped my contact."
George and Georgette were both sold as 'the Flippety Floppety doll', as was this girl:


She is like Georgette, with the same hands, but a different head mold.

"But I'm cuter, right?"




With that hand I see her winking and making that 'click' sound in the side of her mouth: "You got it buddy."
I saw Georgette and George as a pair at the local doll show a couple of years ago, but didn't buy them. At the most they were $65, which was too much for me. Now I know that's actually a pretty cheap price for the pair, especially since they were both in their original clothes.



My Georgette has replaced shoes and socks too, and the shoes are way too small.
"Are you saying my feet are big?"

"Ohh, maybe you're right. My feet are killing me."

"Reach for the sky!" Not really sure what they had in mind with these hand molds. What are you supposed to do with that right hand?

Didn't anyone tell her it's impolite to point?

Apparently not...

 Georgette has sleep eyes with 'real' eye lashes.



The origins of red hair have been the subject of some wild theories over the years. Throughout history red heads have been feared, hated, tortured , and even killed because of the colour of their dead cells. (That's what hair is made up of.) We now know that red hair is caused by a rare mutation on the MC1R gene,a recessive gene.That means that it can lay hidden at the bottom of your family gene pool until one day it suddenly floats to the surface and produces a red haired child where there were none before. The only way that can happen though, is for both parents to have the recessive trait. A family can go for generations without red heads, and then all it takes is for one family member to find a mate with the same recessive gene and boom: red haired kids. This is why my family had no red haired people for generations, until my Dad's grampa, and then Dad. Then Dad had me, and I had two red haired kids. Ken was born with red hair, but his mom wished it off of him. Too late. The gene had been passed on.
   Redheads are known for having bad tempers.(I know this one is true for me.)In ancient times red heads were burnt as witches. In medieval times red heads were considered untrustworthy, and their bodily fluids were thought to have magical properties.It was believed poison could be made from the fat of a red-haired man,and his blood could be used to turn copper to gold.The urine of red-haired boys was used to make paint for stained glass windows.(Eww...) Most of these beliefs seem to stem from the rarity of red hair. It was considered not 'normal', since so few people had it. That's still true. (Although the recent claims that red heads are going extinct are considered by scientists to be ridiculous, mostly due to that 'it can crop up unexpectedly any time' thing I mentioned. Sorry folks, but you're never really going to get rid of us.) Only 1-2 % of the world's population has red hair.

And a portion of that came directly from me.

In spite of the popular belief that Ireland is full of red heads, it's Scotland that actually has the largest population of red heads of any country in the world: 13% of the population has red hair, and around 40% carry the recessive gene.(Which is why they have so many red heads. All those recessive genes marrying other recessive genes. It's bound to add up.)
The Irish Redhead Convention is held in late August. Redheadday is a Dutch festival that takes place each first weekend of September in Breda, the Netherlands. (Sorry, you just missed it.) It's a  two-day festival, and is a gathering of people with natural red hair. Both attract people from around the world.
  During the week we'll look at some other facts about red hair, and see lots of red haired dolls.

16 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting!

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  2. I had and have this doll again. I had her when I was very young, probably about ten or younger in the late 70s. My friend got her and I haunted my parents until they got me one. She was probably my favorite doll. I bought her in her original box on ebay a few years ago. Have her on my bed and box up in the attic. Mine has original outfit that I recall. I don't think the dress on the doll above is original unless she came in other outfits. She is definitely way prettier than Teresa which is a bit creepy. I think the brother may have been more rare than Georgette.

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    1. I think you're right about the boy being more rare. There are usually less boy dolls made. What is your doll wearing? Is it the dress in the ad above?

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  3. I had the boy doll as a child. It was my constant favorite and went absolutely everywhere with me. I would love to find another of him.

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    1. Aw! Lucky you. George is a little harder to find than Georgette I think, but he's out there. I hope you find one. Check online auctions and doll shows.

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  4. I have this doll and have had her for 50 yrs. As an adult I thought I had got a hold of some scissors and attacked her hair when I was little. I didn't realize her hair was naturally choppy looking like that. That is great to know. I love my baby doll!

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  5. I found her and her brother doll left in my grandmas doll shed, my uncle left them for some reason. She used to have them displayed in one of her display cases, she used to collect a ton of dolls. I washed their original clothes and they look good now, I couldn’t find any real information on them. Thank you for this, I miss her every day & little things like this make me feel closer to her.

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    1. Aw. Sweet that you rescued some of your grandma's special things. You're lucky to have George. He's hard to find.

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  6. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  7. My name is Tammy I had the girl doll my brother had the boy would love to have them both again my brother passed a few years ago and they are a wonderful memory

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    1. Where can I find a brother and sister George in Georgette my girlfriend had them when she was young she would like to have some for Christmas

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    2. George is much harder to find. I would recommend you keep a good eye on auction sites, like Ebay and Etsy, and maybe some doll auctions. You can find auction listings on line, and even bid online, so you don't have to actually go and spend your day at the auction. Google George and Georgette dolls, or even just Eegee dolls and see what images come up, or click 'shopping' at the top of the page. That should show you dolls for sale.

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  8. What would be a good price for one of these dolls in not great condition?

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    1. I couldn't say. Prices fluctuate, and not great condition is sort of in the eye of the beholder, so to speak. Have a look at 'sold' prices and knock the price down in accordance with the condition. I always have a hard time figuring that myself. But in the end, if you're buying, you know how much you feel like paying. If you're selling, try to come down on the price according to the damage of the doll. If it doesn't sell after a while, bring your price down. You know how much you need to get for it, but if it's very bad, you may not get it.

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  9. I have both dolls. We named them Timmy and Cindy. They have been truly loved on by myself and my sister, along with 6 nieces and nephews.

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Thanks in advance for your comments.