If You're Serious About Small Vintage Dolls, This book is a Must-Have:

A & H Gigi

Gigi was A&H's doll that "walks, sits, sleeps, and stands."

Gigi took on 4 or 5 different forms over the decade. She seems to have originated with at least two different manufacturers: the  PMA or the Beehler Arts/ Ontario Plastics/ Fortune/ Virga Group, and  Cosmopolitan Ginger. 

The typical Gigi face - "Neither Ginger Nor Pam"-  is most readily identified by her mouth with its almost down-turned lips. This type of doll is frequently mistaken for  "Pam" (Fortune, Virga and PMA),  Ginger, and even Ginny.

Compare the "Neither Ginger nor Pam" face:
(l-r: Unique Jeanie, A&H Gigi, Active Mindy)
  with Ginger:, with the "Pam" face of the Fortune, Virga and PMA (Plastic Molded Arts) dolls:
, &  with Vogue Ginny:

1. Earliest Gigi 
The Straight-Leg Walker at left fits the Judd & Judd description of the earliest Gigi - (or perhaps the Gigi pre-cursor) with no toe detail & painted-on shoes. (She also resembles Elite's Vicki-Lee) 

photo: Ebay listing
1953 hard-plastic A&H walker 

Judd & Judd say that the very first Gigi had no toe detail - had, in fact, plain feet like the Uneeda Janie that came later. 

2. Early Gigi

The next Gigi was followed (circa 1955) by an early Gigi described as: 

• All-hard plastic hip pin straight leg head-turning walker. 
• Two lines under the knees
• Two dimples behind the knees
• Two dimples over the toes
• No dimples on the hands
• 2nd and 3rd fingers molded together
• Light peachy coloring
• Bright red lips
• Standard "C" arm hook
• Large navel.

Above: Classic Early Gigi

Detail of lower legs and feet, showing the double crease under the knee and at the ankles, and toe detail.

Carol Stover, in her November 1998 article "The Search for an Adorable, Affordable 1950's Toddler" in Dolls: The Collectors' Magazine, says:

• Gigi was introduced around 1955
• Early Gigi's were straight-leg, pin-hip walkers with toe detail.

•  a medium-eye Ginger-face doll
•  a  Pam/ Lucy-type doll. (according to Carol Stover - I have not yet seen one of these.)
• the  "Neither Ginger - Nor - Pam" - doll 

A. The Neither - Ginger - Nor - Pam - faced Gigi

• all HP bent-knee walker, regular walking mechanism (no hip pin joints)
• Same large navel, arm hook, hands, etc. as early Gigi

B . Gigi made from Ginger mold

photo: Ebay listings
These Gigid are identical to Cosmopolitan Ginger
See the GINGER pages for the history of this doll type.

Identification Issues:

The doll at left was sold as "Ginger" - which she clearly isn't. She looks very much like A&H Gigi, and may well be. 

She also fits the description for Mindy. 

As these dolls are unmarked, once they are separated from their original box and costumes, exact identification becomes problematic. 

This old magazine ad for Gigi looks like she could be either Ginger or Pam-faced.

4. Vinyl-Head Gigi
Gigi also came in a vinyl head model with hard plastic body that is virtually identical to the vinyl-head Ginger, except for the back of the vinyl head, which says "GIGI"

Vinyl-head Gigi - (marked on back of her head "Gigi") is - except for the marking - identical to vinyl-head Ginger

photos: (L) mine, (R) Ebay listing
From left to right: Vinyl-Head Gigi, Ginger. 

OTHER A & H DOLLS:

A&H also marketed Julie, 

who was a large-eye Ginger doll dressed in a Spanish outfit.
photo: Ebay listing

A&H MARCIE DOLLS

A&H marketed an extensive line of costume dolls, named Marcie. They were so popular that the name MARCIE (or Marci) came to be used by many as a generic term for all costume dolls. (Just as many people also say "Ginny" to mean any 7, 8, or 9 - inch child-type doll.)

9-Inch Marcie There are many old catalogs and magazine ads (below) testifying that Marcie was also a 9-inch walker - marketed with 16 outfits!

These Fab-LustreCreme Starlets made by Fortune & Virga look much like the  illustration for A&H Marcie Daily Dolly

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