in the 70s, Toys of the Seventies

Message Report

Commentor Name:	Heidi
Comments left:	In 1974, when Ideal decided to discontinue the production of the Crissy doll, they introduced TIFFANY TAYLOR. She also was an 18-inch fashion doll, but her claim to fame wasn't that she grew hair. Instead, her hairstyle could be changed from a blonde to a brunette. Tiffany's scalp rotated in order to change her hair color. Her brunette hair had bangs, and her blonde hair had a center part, so not only did she sport 2 different hair colors, but also 2 different hair styles as well. Her hair was waist length. She was issued in a one-piece gold lame` swimsuit, green mule clogs, and in her box she was issued with a floor-length lime-green skirt in a plastic baggie. This floor-length skirt fastened to a velcro dot on the front of her bathing suit. Some collectors mistake this skirt for a cape. In her box also came an instruction sheet with hairstyle tips. She also came in an African American version. This doll sported auburn hair and black hair. Also included in her box was a small brochure showcasing 5 of Ideal's current dolls for sale. It had a picture of Ideal's Jody doll on the cover. These dolls were: Jody (as well as 3 Jody playsets: The parlor, The general Store, The country kitchen), Rub-a-Dub-Dolly, Tiffany, Baby Crissy, and Shirley Temple. This is a wonderful little item to have. Tiffany's body, however, was not as well-constructed as Crissy's. Her limbs swung rather freely, and her plastic body was very lightweight. Although, that said, she did have a very pretty face with beautiful painted eyes and long eyelashes. She also had an extremely adult figure. Tiffany had 12 different fashions that were produced for her. However, she only ever had one pair of shoes: her lime-green mule clogs. Tiffany was issued in 3 different boxes. One was a red box with a window on the front and two photos of Tiffany on the back showing her with her two different hair colors (this box was made of very thin cardboard, so it's not unusual to find these boxes with rips and tears. They were quite fragile. I'm not sure about the quality of the other 2 boxes about to be mentioned, as I've only ever had one Tiffany and she was in this first box). This box had a heavy duty cardboard insert that Tiffany was secured to, to keep her from shifting around in the box until her new owner removed her for play. The other box was somewhat similar but was a semi-triangular red box with no window. In this box, Tiffany is issued with 2 large curlers in her hair: one on the right side of her head, and one on the left side of her head. Over the curlers are plastic baggies to keep the hair and the curlers secure. Both the Caucasion dolls and the African American dolls came with their hair in curlers. The 3rd type of box was white with a window and several photos of Tiffany. This 3rd box is very pretty, and seems to be more attractive to collectors. This box doesn't show up as often on today's secondary market as the previous 2 mentioned. Dolls in this 3rd white box tend to sell, at auction's end, for a slightly higher price. Tiffany is a larger version of a smaller, barbie-sized doll named Tuesday Taylor. She was a white doll with the same hair-changing feature. However, Tuesday can be found with either shoulder-length hair or waist length hair. She also came issued in an African American version. That doll's name was Taylor Jones. Some Tuesday Taylors were produced with a suntan body. Place her in the light, and she tans. Tiffany had a modest following, but a following none-the-less. Tiffany's production ended in 1977, when Ideal took Tiffany's body to use for the Magic Hair Crissy doll (on a personal note, if I had to choose between a Magic Hair Crissy or a Tiffany Taylor, I would choose Tiffany). Sometimes Tiffany Taylor is mistaken to be a member of the Crissy family. She is not. Also, Tiffany at auction's end seems to bring about 1/3rd the final value as a grow-hair Crissy doll in the same condition. Both the African American Tiffany and the Caucasion Tiffany realize about the same price at auction's end, unlike the Crissy family where the black dolls realize a higher price. Tiffany, although she was somewhat popular, didn't seem to hold the buyer's interest for very long, so she was discontinued after 3 years of her initial production. The Fisher Price My Friends dolls, and the Sunshine Family dolls were too much competition for Tiffany (but that's just my theory. It's never been proven to be a fact, but I believe this was the case. I could be wrong on this one). Many have wondered why, when they introduced the Magic Hair Crissy doll, that the MHC was so different than the original 18-inch grow hair versions of Crissy. Well, it was most likely because Ideal already had the molds being used for tiffany's body, and I'm sure it was much more cost-effective to produce the Magic Hair Crissy with this new body, rather than halting production, changing the molds back to the originals, and starting over. It's also quite possible that the original Crissy molds were destroyed anyway, so production cost and available inventory were the main reasons. Big mistake, for sure.
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