Friday, June 1, 2007

Friday's With Crissy Doll

My memory is not what it used to be but I knew that at some point in my life, I had made a red & white checked apron for my Mia doll. So a month or so ago, I went through the box of clothes for Mia, Crissy, and their black haired friend in the god-awful satin blue dress that I had kept for over 30 years, and sure enough, I found the apron. I guess I was maybe 10 or so when I made that.

Crissy was 18" tall and her cousin Velvet was 15" tall so they were bigger than Barbie dolls. (I thought Velvet was the sister but a little internet research has her as Crissy's cousin.) I remember a friend getting a Velvet doll for her birthday when I was about 6 or 7 yrs old and after that I wanted a Crissy doll very badly. Crissy dolls had hair that "grew" by pushing their belly button. A knob in their back could be turned to make the hair shorter. Eventually, I got Mia, (that's her in the middle wearing the apron) and my sister got Kerry, who was tall and blonde and not in that photo below. Wikipedia says Mia was Velvet's friend and Kerry was Crissy's friend.

By the way, the one on the left in the picture with the black hair and god-awful blue satin dress is Tressy. And, I don't just have Tressy, I have Posin' Tressy. From Wikipedia: "In 1971 "Posin' Tressy" also a Sears catalog exclusive was issued." That doesn't surprise me. Back then, we came up with our Xmas lists by going through the Sears catalog.

One year my mom took my sister and me to the toy store at Fashion Island because we both had some Christmas money to spend (most likely from my grandmother) and we both bought a Crissy doll in the orange-y red dress. Wikipedia: "In 1973 Ideal released 'Beautiful Crissy with the Swirla-Curler.' This doll came packaged with a hair curling attachment designed to be inserted into the head’s opening. This Crissy model came wearing a one piece dress that was fashioned to look like a white and orange plaid jumper with a red-orange blouse underneath." I don't remember my Crissy having a Swirla-Curler but mine does move when you pull a string.

According to Wikipedia (what would I do without them?), what I had was the "Look Around Crissy" model. "This version was released in 1972. This doll . . . was different from previous Crissy models as it employed a mechanical apparatus, set in motion by pulling a pull-string . . . the doll’s head and waist were geared to turn and give the impression of "looking around" when the doll’s string was pulled." My sister's Swirla-Curler Crissy did not have a string to make her move, so at the time, we just thought I got a moving Crissy in the wrong dress and wrong box. But, on Crissy and Beth, it says that leftover inventory of Look Around Crissy was used for Swirla-Curler Crissy, so that explains why mine could move.

My mom and I both made clothes for these dolls. My mom did a much better job (she used a machine, I hand stitched everything) but mine are scary. I'm going to designate Friday as the day to post pictures of Crissy, Tressy and Mia in their groovy 70's outfits. Except for the apron, my dolls are wearing their original clothes and shoes in the picture (Tressy is missing a shoe). Crissy and Tressy both have their underpants on, but the 1972 elastic in poor Crissy's is all stretched out. I was hoping they'd fall down when I pulled her string and got her to "look around."

Stay tuned for a short video of my Look Around Crissy in action. I have to figure out how to upload it here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great dolls! Loved the history of you and Chrissy!

Anonymous said...

It means a lot to still keep doll from your childhood days. :-) Love looking at your dolls' dresses.

Unknown said...

I cannot believe I missed these posts in your archives! I have Crissy, and my sister has Kerri. Actually, our mom still has them. I'm afraid to take them out of their fancy storage box/closet. When we packed them away, we made sure their hair was as long as possible and then we put it in tons of tiny braids! They've been like that for over 20 years now! We never cut their hair, and our mom made all their clothes; Barbie's too!