Jointed Fashion Dolls - Cindy and Dollikin

With the popularity of Madame Alexander's Cissy doll, there came the inevitable competition by other doll manufacturers. Little girls now wanted large fashion dolls with bendable joints so that they could be posed in any number of ways. To meet the demand, in the late 1950s, Uneeda gave us Dollikin, and Horsman gave us Cindy.

Both dolls in my collection are approximately 19 inches tall, athough there is an 11 inch Dollikin doll, and smaller versions of Cindy. Dollikin has a jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees and ankles. Her knees, elbows, hands and feet joints use a swivel type of fastener (pin) mechanism, and Cindy's upper body joints are held with elastic. Cindy's body and legs are one piece of soft bendy vinyl with wire inside to hold a pose. Cindy does not have the wrist or waist joints that Dollikin has.

Dollikin's body is made completely of hard plastic but her head is made from vinyl, and Cindy is made of vinyl. Both dolls have high heel feet and sleep eyes with brush lashes. Cindy is marked HORSMAN on the back of her neck, and Dollikin is marked UNEEDA 2 S on the back of hers. Of course, no fashion doll would be complete without a great fashion wardrobe.  My Cindy is dressed in her original bride's costume. Her hair is perfectly coiffed in its original setting and she wears pearl earrings in her pierced ears. She wears grown-up nude stockings on her feet and carries a bouquet of fabric flowers. More fabric flowers adorn her veil.

Dollikin came to me needing a bit of work. Someone had tried to re-root her hair, but patches were bare and thin. I spent some time filling in the bare spots with Katsilk doll hair (highly recommended,) and dressed her in a spare doll dress I had. To me, there's nothing sadder than a fashion doll without clothes. I purchased her fancy stockings and shoes and hope to get a vintage fashion outfit for her at some point. Her arm joints are rather loose, so I will have to do some investigating on how to tighten them back up. I'd love for her to return to her original posable glory.

Both dolls have beautiful faces and make a great addition to my collection. You're never too old to play with dolls!