Saving The Vogue Ginny Doll...One Doll At A Time

 Growing up in the 1950's I had quite a few dolls.  Every Christmas we got at least one new doll, but my favorite by far was the Vogue Ginny doll.  I remember sitting on my bedroom floor and playing with Ginny for hours.  I had the cardboard Ginny dollhouse and some furniture along with Ginny and her sisters Ginnette and Jill and her brother Jeff.  I also had lots of clothes for my dolls and I'm fortunate to still have many of those clothes today.  I still have one of my childhood Ginny dolls.  Back then most of my friends had Ginny dolls or one of the other popular dolls in the same scale as Ginny.  We even brought them to school sometimes and played with them on the playground.  Ginny was a popular childhood doll in New Jersey where I grew up.  In Texas I have never found another person around my age who even knew what a Ginny doll was which kind of surprised me.  I guess because Ginny was made in MA she was more popular on the east coast.

As an adult I became a doll collector.  Over the last 20+ years I've added to my doll collection, but the Vogue Ginny doll has always been my favorite doll. 

I tell myself that I have enough dolls and nowadays I don't even look at eBay daily.  Back in the old days I would look several times a day, but not anymore.   However, a week or so ago I took a look and spotted a BIN with 4 Ginnys for $80.  I think the shipping was around $10.  The seller only had a 4 after her name and no recent feedback.  Normally I would bookmark a BIN and think about it for a while.  Most times when I would come back the BIN would be gone.  For some reason this time I acted impulsively and did the BIN. 

Oh dear...I had immediate regrets.  What had I done?  I watched to see if the dolls would even be shipped.  After all the seller wasn't an active seller on eBay.  I followed the package until is said it had been delivered.  I hopped in the car and went to the mailbox and retrieved the package.  I brought it home and opened the package expecting that I had made a big mistake.  I took a look and almost cried.

 I have never bought a mint doll.  Most of my Ginnys are fixer uppers.  I enjoy give them new life and like to think that I'm saving a doll that some little girl really loved at one time.  It was a doll friend that told me once that these dolls are previously loved dolls.  Well, included in the box was a note from the seller:

I've never actually had a seller tell me that a doll I bought was their childhood doll.  I always knew the fixer uppers must have been played with (and probably loved) by a child in the 1950's, but in all probability came from an estate sale, garage sale, or even a doll show and the person selling it wasn't the original owner. The note almost brought me to tears.  (Am I crazy or what??)  These 4 dolls came from the original owner and now I knew I had to get busy and restore them.  They weren't really in bad shape for being around 70 years old.  They mostly needed to be cleaned, restrung, and their hairstyles restored.  Here are the 4 dolls:

And here's the bonus that the seller referred to in the note:

I knew I had to get busy and "save" these dolls!  Since the above picture was taken they've all had "baths" and been restrung.

This was the first one I decided to work on mainly because she looked like she'd be the easiest one:

Here she is after she was cleaned and the glue was cleaned off her forehead and ears.  (The Vogue Doll Company got a little carried away sometimes when they glued on the wigs!)  There were only a couple of marks on her one arm that I couldn't get off.  I thought about replacing the arm since I have some extras but then decided I'd rather keep her all original.  After all those marks mean she was played with by some little girl and I'm assuming loved.

I had to reglue her wig around the edges.  Then I got her dressed so she could begin her new life with me and my Ginny doll family.  I already had the perfect dress for her!  (The bracelet was in the bag of clothes and I decided she should wear it.)

Now I'm on to the second doll...the dark haired Bent Knee Walker.  She cleaned up nicely and I think I'll be able to just comb her hair back into place.  I've already fooled with it a little.

Most of the clothes in the bag were non-Ginny clothes although there was the Vogue 1954 pineapple dress and the 1955 wedding gown along with pj's, robes, nightgowns, a Jill leotard, hatbox and numerous shoes and accessories.  Most need a little work and I still have to identify some of the other clothes in the bag.  Needless to say I was thrilled with all of it.

The 1954 Painted Lash Walker needs a new wig and I have one that I can use on her.  The only problem that I'm having with her is that the glue won't come off her face.  This is only the second Ginny that I've come across in all the years I've been restoring these dolls that doesn't have a water soluble glue that comes right off with water and a gentle scrape with my fingernail. I looked online and tried a couple of suggestions but so far nothing has worked.  I removed her old wig so I can try some other things on her scalp to make sure nothing damages her face.  If I can't get it off I'll try and hide the glue with the replacement wig.

The blond Bent Knee Walker had some of the old rubber bands stuck in her hair.  I might wash her hair.  I haven't decided yet.

This will keep me busy for a while but I'll put up pictures as I get them all restored.  Before you know it they'll all be part of my Vogue doll family!  I like to think they'll all live happily ever after.  Betty