Doll Patterns

The Crissy Doll was created in the Ideal Toy Corporation's prototype department in 1968. This auburn-haired 18" fashion doll was known for the ability to adjust the length of its hair so a child could choose to make the hair short or long. more...

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While having stationary foundation or base hair rooted to its head, the Crissy doll also had another adjustable thick strand or lock of hair that emerged from an opening in the top of the doll’s head.

History and Concept

The creative idea and realization of a doll that “grows” hair originated not at Ideal, but at the American Character Doll Company. The Ideal Corporation obtained the patents for the basic mechanism when they acquired them from the American Character Doll Company in the 1960s. American Character developed and used the concept as early as 1963 in their "Pre-Teen" Tressy, and later fashion model Tressy and Cricket dolls.
The patent for a grow hair mechanism awarded to Ideal in 1971 and attributed to inventors; Francis Amici, Robert David, and Richard Levine is scarcely different from the original invention used in the 1963 Tressy doll.

Operation

With the Crissy doll’s hair fully or partially extended, turning a knob located on the doll’s back retracts the hair into the torso to be wound on an internal rod or spindle. The design of the knob and the body mold form a one-way ratchet which along with internal spring tension serves to hold the hair locked and stationary. Pushing and holding in a button on the doll's tummy disengages the locking ratchet to allow the hair to be pulled back out of the doll’s head. From a child’s perspective this ability to “grow” hair was the Crissy doll’s main appeal, as in play, Crissy had the potential to sport various types of hairstyles by adjusting the hair to different lengths and styling the hair appropriately.

Marketing and Production Models

After the New York Toy Fair in 1969, Ideal's "Beautiful Crissy" was released to the buying public. Each production year enjoyed some new variations. Production runs of the Crissy doll early in 1969 had adjustable hair that "grew" down to the doll's feet. Later production Crissy dolls in 1969 had hair extending only to hip length. This became the standard length for the later models produced in the following years. Hair quality of both these early dolls tended to be of a coarser or wooly quality than subsequent models.

Development and Innovation

The 1970 model of the Crissy doll had better hair quality, a new aqua mini-dress and a new box design to depict her clothing. Despite these minor alterations, the 1970 Crissy was basically the same doll. The greatest landmark of 1970 is that Crissy was joined by a companion doll, Crissy's shorter 15" cousin Velvet. With popularity of the doll increasing accompanied by rising sales, beginning in 1971 Ideal took the initiative to modify their ever-growing Crissy line of dolls. Not only were new models added to the expanding family, but by using new designs and mechanical gimmickry the dolls started "doing things”.

Read more at Wikipedia.org