Beautiful Crissy Doll
Before Samantha Parkington, Felicity Merriman and Mollie McIntyre, late-wave Baby Boomers and first-wave Gen Xers were loving on Crissy and Velvet Dolls. Cricket, Mia, Dina and Tressy, too. I bet there were a lot of these dolls given for Christmas 1969-74!
I thought all the dolls in the Crissy family were really terrific, even if I found them kind of useless. I couldn’t figure out how to play with a doll that was the size of a baby but was actually a pre-adolescent girl who dressed like my teenage sisters.
The best thing about the dolls was the retracting hair feature. Crissy kind of looked like a preschooler who gave herself a haircut.
Black Crissy Doll
Ideal Toys created the 18-inch Crissy doll in 1968 and released her to the buying public in 1969. She boasted auburn hair and a signature orange mini dress.
Velvet Doll – Crissy’s Little Sister
In 1970, Ideal introduced Crissy’s cute younger cousin, Velvet. The Velvet doll was three inches shorter, had blond hair, and wore a purple dress. That same year, they also introduced Kerry and Gorgeous Tressy, not to be confused with the 11.5 inch Tressy doll by the British toymaker Palitoy. That doll was released in 1963 and was one of the very first dolls with retractable hair.
Palitoy’s Tressy, not to be confused with Ideal’s 18-inch Tressy
Ideal’s Tressy doll, friend to Crissy.
There were also African-American dolls in the Crissy family.
Pretty Black Velvet. I always wanted my white dolls to have black friends.
In 1971, Talky Chrissy, Talky Velvet, Posin’ Cricket and Mia were also released. In 1972, we were introduced to Dina and Cinnamon. There was also Moovin’ Groovin’ Crissy, Look Around Crissy and Swirla Curler Crissy.
Cinnamon (left), Velvet’s Little Sister | Dina (right) Crissy’s Friend.
Mia and Cricket, both considered part of the Crissy family of dolls.
Crissy and most of her friends and family enjoyed enormous popularity for about six years, making her (along with Topper Dawn Dolls) pretty exclusive to a slim demographic of very late-wave Baby Boomers and first-wave Generation X girls. Production of Crissy ceased in 1974, the year I turned seven.
I never had a Crissy doll, as our family was very devoted to the Mattel Barbie brand. But, my cousins had Crissy and Velvet dolls. I played with them at their house in Hacienda Heights a few times before our family moved from Southern California in 1974.
Did you have a Crissy doll growing up?
Here are the only photos I could find of Generation X girls getting Crissy dolls for Christmas. Click the photos to link to Flickr users who’ve made their photos shareable.
From Flickr user jacdupree
From Flickr user lisatee
I have Crissy, Velvet, Cinnamon, and Baby Crissy and Baby Tressy. I think Chatty Cathy and her friend Hi Dottie, who I also have were the forerunners of the American girl dolls. They are 18 inch, have the same body shape and even have similar hand position molds. I only got big dolls on my birthday or for Christmas. I have a few Barbies and Dawn dolls, too. The Baby Crissy and Baby Tressy, I bought as an adult, because I always wanted them as a little girl. My aunt got my sister and I Chatty Cathy dolls at an after Christmas sale at Famous Barr in St. Louis. She intended to give them to us for or birthdays or save them until the next Christmas, but was so excited that she had our parents bring us over and told us that Santa had left them with a note that they had gotten left in the sleigh. ?????? We were both so excited! My sister is a year and a half older than me. I have copies of the photos of us unwrapping them. You can see the excitement on our faces when we saw Chatty Cathy’s face peeking out through the wrapping paper. I got Hi Dottie for my birthday that August. I still have them. Yes, I am a pack rat. I still have my first Barbie. Heck, I have the band from my ankle when I was born. Pack rat. ???
I am a packrat also since I have all of my dolls and some of my sister’s too! My Velvet is probably my favorite tho!
There isn’t a Baby Tressy. There’s a regular size Tressy with black hair. The only baby is Crissy.
I remember one Christmas I got Kerry and my cousin got Chrissy. Her mom (my aunt) made them matching outfits, too. Unfortunately I lost Kerry a long time ago. I seem to remember Kerry having the curler thing, too. I know that gadget looks familiar.
I got a baby Crissy doll, when I was 6-circa 1973,when my Mamaw got her 1st “black lung check”. Apparently, it was some kind of benefits for widows of miners (as my Grandfather had been) with black lung. The baby Crissy doll was expensive in those days. So, when my Mamaw heard I was really wanting that doll, she got it for me with the 1st of those checks. Then, later on, my Mom’s best friend’s older daughter’s learned how much I loved my doll, they gave me 2 of those 1st Crissy dolls in those orange mini dresses with the lace sleeves. Ahhh, the 70’s. I wasn’t able to get any more of the Crissy clan, because they were much more expensive than Malibu Barbie & all her regalia, whom I found to be more versatile & fun.
Yes, I remember Crissy being expensive, too. My friend up the street had one and her sister Velvet. I love the story of your mamaw buying the doll with one of her first black-lung checks. That is really touching – and amazing. Thank you, again, for stopping by!! I really enjoyed your notes.
Thank you for your post. I just found a sewing pattern in my stash of patterns for the 15.5 and 17.5 dolls on here. And I recognize a (nude) doll I bought a few years ago, as Cinnamon. Thank you again! Now I’ll have ‘proper’ clothes for her!!!
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you found the post helpful. Cinnamon was a cutie!!
I remember getting a Beautiful Chrissy doll when I was around 9-10 years old for Christmas. I was a late-wave baby boomer. I was born in 1960. I gave her away when I was a teenager thinking that I didn’t need dolls anymore. I was wrong and regretted it for years… until my husband found one online about 15 years ago. He bought me my Beautiful Chrissy again for $100. I am so glad to have her again.
You are almost a Gen-Xer, Donna! You might look at the generation quiz. You might identify with the slice of generation between Boomers and Xers – Generation Jones. The Crissy Doll was much beloved by girls your age. I loved her, too, and always wanted one of my own. I also loved her little sister Velvet. You have a great husband. What a sweetheart for being so thoughtful.
I was born in 70 I had big Jim and his world I got him when I was 2 or 3. My sister had (has) Kerry. I loved Francie as she had brown eyes.
Oh, how I loved Francie! For the same reason – those big grown eyes and “real” eyelashes!
I was way too young for these when they were popular!