Doll-A-Day 2023 #329: Aimee

  Today's doll is this girl.

This is her original dress.

She's Aimee. She was made by Hasbro in 1972.

That period was all about hair play. Aimee originally came with extra hair pieces.

Her hair pieces included a fall, braids, and various hair pieces. Apparently, some of the hair pieces plugged into holes in her head. (For those of you who aren't a million years old, as I am, a 'fall' was a long piece of hair that made it look like a person had long hair.)

  Aimee also had a pretty good sized wardrobe made for her, which was sold separately. 

Aimee is 18" tall.

Aimee has what can only be described as a shag haircut, one of the most popular haircuts of the 70's.

She has a twist and turn waist, and joints at the neck, shoulders, and hips.

I told Ken to turn her for me, to show off her twist waist. But I think he carried it a little too far!

And sleep eyes.

  I don't think Aimee is very attractive. Maybe it's because I grew up in that era, but, to me, she looks like a middle aged rich lady. I do think they did a great job on her hands though. They are graceful, and detailed, and show a lot of life.

Palm and finger creases.

Nails and knuckles.

  I've had Aimee for years, but misplaced her. I then bought one at Goodwill, (They actually had two or three that day!) I've actually had this post in drafts since 2019! Then everything that's been going on occurred. But in storage the other day, I happened upon one of the Aimees! I thought it was a good time to photograph her, in spite of the background not being exactly interesting or attractive.

  You can see the commercial for Aimee HERE.

There is a great page that has tons of information and pictures of Aimee, her box, her fashions, and her accessories. You can see that page HERE.

  That's today's doll. See you tomorrow.

Doll-A-Day 2023 #135: Make Up Tressy

   Recently we looked at Mary Make Up.  The impetus for that post was the doll we're looking at today. Why? Because when I pulled this doll out of the bunch of dolls brought from The Room of Water, I thought she was Mary Make Up. I thought she was a lot more attractive than the Mary Make Up dolls I'd seen, but she had the same face. And another thing was, I had never heard of the doll she actually is. She's Make Up Tressy.

She's wearing what is probably a homemade outfit.

  Tressy was made by American Character, beginning in 1963. Make-Up Tressy and Mary Make-Up premiered in 1964. They share a face sculpt, so I thought this unmade up doll was Mary. I was used to regular Tressy dolls, like the one we had as kids...

Our Tressy on the left with our childhood Glamour Misty.

...and the ones I've gotten as an adult.

See her 'Day' HERE.

  Make-Up Tressy was made with what I guess American Character considered very little make-up, (But she is still wearing blue eye shadow!), so that kids could make her up, using the make up that came with her. 

She had an eyeliner marker, eyebrow marker, and eye shadow and lipstick markers. 

Her face could be washed afterward, and she could be made up all over again. This girl had had her face washed when I got her.

    I'm not sure what markers could be used to make her up now. I'd suggest trying dry erase markers on a doll past worrying about, but they do eventually even stain the dry erase boards, so maybe not. (And, can I do a rant here? When they built the new schools in our town several years ago, they put in all dry erase boards. When school started, all the kids and the teachers had headaches for ages from the markers. And the boards themselves were getting hard to read fairly quickly, as they began to turn a nasty purple. What was wrong with chalk boards? The ones they had in the kids' old school had been there for decades, and still worked fine. Chalk is cheap, and nobody ever got a headache from chalk. I don't know about breathing chalk dust. Okay. I just looked. Chalk dust can cause asthma in some people, and inhaling large amounts over a long period of time can give you a long term lung disease called silicosis. But I still say there are dangers to breathing the markers too. The main problem with the chalk would be the dreaded eraser cleaning. I say dreaded, but didn't everybody want to be chosen to go out and clap erasers so they could get out of class?) 

  Make-Up Tressy also came with markers to colour her hair. I don't think this doll could have had the hair colouring feature, because her hair is already a colour. The hair colour dolls had pale blonde hair, so it could be coloured with the hair dye markers.

  Why there was a need for a Mary Make Up and a Make Up Tressy? They have the same face and body. But while Mary stole everything else from Tressy, her face, her body, her clothes, her make up, her hair colouring markers, there is one thing Mary didn't get: Tressy's grow hair feature.

  Tressy had growing hair. Make-Up Tressy has long flowing locks. They come out of a hole in the top of her head.

The hair can be lengthened by pulling the hair as you press the button on Tressy's belly...

...and retracted by using the T shaped key that came with Tressy, (Or you can use your fingernail. Trust me.), in the 'keyhole' in her back.

  I didn't event think to take a picture of Tressy with her hair draw up short. Forgive me. I was more concerned with making sure the pictures I was taking were in focus. I knocked my camera in the floor a week or so ago, and once again, ruined my lens! My autofocus isn't working, and I have found that I need it a lot more these days. Plus the lens isn't moving smoothly when I zoom or focus, so it's a lot harder to get the lens where I want it anyway. So these pictures, and tomorrows, were a challenge. I spent time taking the pictures, but couldn't really be sure they were sharply in focus until I came back and put them on the computer where I could see them in larger form. And believe, me, there were a lot of deleted pictures from these shoots! 

I did, however, think to show some of the things that could be done with Tressy's long hank of hair.

For one thing, she made an attempt to cover up the unattractive plug holes in the front of her hairline. They have hair in them, but they are also a bit black, which makes them very noticeable. I washed this doll, and conditioned her hair, but those plug holes could maybe do with some more cleaning, and her face could use some more careful cleaning in the low spots, like around her mouth. 

You could call this a comb over.

Hair do's aren't my thing. i can't even do them on myself.

  This Tressy also had a feature that I know our Tressy we had as kids didn't. Her legs are bendy.

They don't bend in the most realistic or attractive way, but at least she can sit down in a fairly normal fashion, and not have her legs sticking out like she has rigor mortis.

  You can watch a commercial for Make-Up Tressy HERE.

  That's today's doll. She'll be going on the sales page, but without her cute outfit. I'm keeping that. Tomorrow we'll see a rarely seen vintage doll. See you then.

Doll-A-Day 2019 # 222: Baby Crissy

   Here is a doll I found at my favourite Goodwill. She's Baby Crissy.

Baby Crissy is a baby version of the grow hair Crissy doll made from 1969 to 1974 by Ideal. 

She was originally produced from 1973 to 1977,but was reissued, relatively unchanged,for two years,beginning in 1980.

  She's about 24" tall, but has curved baby legs more suited to a sitting position.

She really can't stand by herself.

 Her legs are not only in the curved,baby leg shape, they are chubby, with chubby baby feet.

She has chubby baby hands to go with them.

She has a really chubby belly and baby boobs.

She has big brown eyes,with rooted eyelashes. 

Her growing hair comes out of a hole in the top of her head.
 

The hair pulls out manually, and can be cranked back in by pulling the ring on a string that is hanging out of her back.

Her hair can be long..

..or short.

This is the shortest mine will go.

Or long and up.

There isn't any hair rooted close to the hole where the ponytail part comes out.

Baby Crissy bears a resemblance to Patty Playpal because she was sculpted by the same artist.

There is a page with loads of photos and identification information HERE. The page is by Beth Ellen Colvin, who shares my original last name,(my maiden name,which I still use.),but she's no relation as far as we know!
This isn't her original outfit.

This is a real vintage baby dress she borrowed because she was naked when I got her.

It was so long on her that I had to fold it under so her baby legs would show.

  That's today's doll. 

See you tomorrow for another one.