| 1954: GINNY WALKS! and Other Changes
By the mid-1950's vinyl was becoming a popular material for dolls. But Mrs. Graves resisted, insisting that hard plastic allowed better detail and indestructibility.Mrs. Graves wanted a truly durable doll, and hard plastic with replaceable wigs fit that bill far better than vinyl and rooted hair. Once rooted hair was damaged or given a haircut, the doll was ruined. Wigs, however, could easily be replaced. (Unfortunately, that is no longer true. Just try to find a replacement Ginny wig at an affordable price!!) So GINNY retained her hard plastic head (which was more sensitively detailed than the crude, bland vinyl heads), and her replaceable wig long after other brands had switched to vinyl heads with rooted hair. Still, worried that vinyl dolls would push out Ginny, she came up with a new feature: WALKING! The head-turning walker concept was already available on larger dolls- why not a small 8-inch doll like Ginny? In 1954 Ginny emerged as a painted-lash straight-leg walker. Her wig was made of dynel or saran.
  Photos: Ebay In 1954, an African-American Ginny head-turning walker was produced - for just a few months.1953 and 1954 were the only years of the whole decade that saw a Ginny of color. Today these are extremely rare, and highly prized by collectors. These sell for extremely high prices today. 1954 series include "Candy Dandy," "My Twin," "Fun Time," "Rain or Shine," "Tiny Miss," "Kinder Crowd," "First Corsage," and "Whiz Kids." 1954 dolls are marked "GINNY VOGUE DOLLS, INC. PAT PENDING. MADE IN U.S.A." on their upper backs. NEXT:GOLDEN YEARS |
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1954 
Photos: Ebay