Growing Up Skipper and Ginger

I can’t remember when I got my Growing Up Ginger doll, I don’t know if I bought her with pocket money or whether she was a Christmas or birthday present.  Growing Up Skipper was released around 1975, but I have a feeling it may have been a little bit later here in Australia.  I’ve read that Growing Up Skipper was released a year before Growing Up Ginger, but I’m wondering if they were sold here in Australia at roughly the same time.  I know if I had seen Skipper before Ginger, I’d have wanted her, even though I already had my Sun Set Malibu Skipper.  Anyway, however and whenever Growing Up Ginger came my way, she was a doll I just had to have.  For a start, she had a gimmick, twist her arm and she grew about a centimetre taller and grew breasts.  Secondly, she was a new character and friend for Malibu Skipper, and with lovely brown hair, a perfect match to Mod Hair Ken, she just had to be his little sister.

Growing Up Skipper and Growing Up Ginger in their little girl fashions and ‘tall curvy teenager’ fashions.  Putting the flat shoes on over the socks will cause the shoes to split.

It seems these dolls caused some controversy, with some parents and feminist groups taking offence, to the extent it made the papers.  But as a child I wasn’t aware of that.  I just loved having a doll that could be Skipper sized, or with the twist of an arm, a little bit older than Skipper.  A doll in between Barbie and Skipper that enhanced my play possibilities.  And to be honest, I’m still not entirely sure I see the need for the outrage.

Ginger uses the Skipper head mould, but with brown eyes and brown hair.  She came wearing a blue bodysuit with an elastic gusset, which allowed it to stretch when she grew to her teenage size.  She had a short turquoise and white polka dot skirt, pink socks, flat turquoise shoes and pink collar to wear as a cute little girl, and a long turquoise polka dot skirt, pink scarf and white sandals to wear as a tall curvy teenager (so said the box).  She was basically two dolls in one, and I loved her.  At some point though, her mechanism became stuck and she needed surgery.  Mum had to slice open her side to get her working again, which left her damaged (and I’m now thinking maybe I should try and glue her together again), but also meant I got glimpse of how she worked.

Left: Growing Up Skipper and Ginger’s bodysuits have an elastic gusset allowing them to stretch when the dolls grow.   Right: Here you can see Ginger’s inner mechanism. 

Growing Up Skipper in little girl size and teenage size, with her elongated torso.  The vinyl covering the neck can bulge a little bit. 

The upper torso of these dolls is a soft vinyl, covering a white plastic mechanism.  Twisting the doll’s arm counter clockwise forced the breast shaped mechanism forward, stretching the vinyl and effectively giving the doll breasts. It also moved the upper torso about a centimetre up the lower torso, making the doll taller.  Turning the arm clockwise moved the mechanism back again, shortening the torso and flattening the vinyl, although in played with dolls, sometimes the vinyl does retain the shape slightly.  As a consequence of the soft vinyl upper torso, the heads of these dolls are slightly smaller and harder than other Skipper dolls.  The vinyl also extends up the neck and can give the appearance of a bulge at the neck, or look a bit like a goitre.  The arms and legs of these dolls are made from a hard, shiny, unbending plastic.  I would have loved for them to have bendable legs, and I’m not sure why they don’t have them.  Their hip joint seems to be a standard Skipper joint, but perhaps it would have made them too expensive.  It does limits their poseability though.

There is a lot of variation in Growing Up Skipper’s hair.  Mine is choppy and wavy, but it hasn’t been cut.  Ginger’s hair has seen a lot of play and is a bit frizzy, I’ll have to see if I can restore it at some point.

When I first started collecting in earnest, I thought garage sales might be the place to find vintage dolls, and at the very first one I went to, I bought a Growing Up Skipper doll from her original owner for a whole $2.50.  She was in pretty good nick and had most of her fashion, only missing her teenage skirt, scarf and one red shoe.  Her outfit consists of a short red and white hound’s tooth skirt, long red socks, red flat shoes, and navy collar for her little girl fashion, and long red and white hound’s tooth skirt, navy scarf, and white sandals for teenage wear.  There’s quite a bit of variation in these Skipper dolls, from hair colour and style – some like mine have very choppy hair, others very straight or wavy, and some have a red ribbon hair band.

Growing Up Skipper fashions came with accessories, but not shoes.  #9022 has a hamburger, brush and comb while #9023 came with a cardboard mirror and red ball.  The floral top of #9022 isn’t quite long enough to cover the vinyl torso.

A range of Growing Up fashions was available and I was lucky enough to get two of these fashions – again I’m not sure how or when.  I have outfits #9022 – floral pants and top for teenage wear, a red tricot skirt and top for little girl and #9023 – a long red patterned halter dress for growing up and short red patterned skirt, blue denim shorts and white tank top for little girl wear.  These outfits came with cute accessories, but not shoes (despite what many books and websites say), which was really limiting for me, as Ginger’s turquoise shoes didn’t exactly match either little girl fashion. I did love that the floral fabric of #9022 matched Ken’s Best Buy fashion #9128 and the red patterned fabric of #9023 matched Ken’s Best Buy #9131.  Ginger could coordinate with her big brother and Malibu Skipper got a fashion too.   I have since bought the matching red patterned Barbie fashion, but I’m still to find the floral one, although I have a Get Ups n Go fashion with similar print, but in red.  I love to have matching fashions and only wish that the red tricot outfit in #9022, matched the floral suit a little better.  I am pleased that even though these fashions are Best Buy era, they’re still well detailed with tiny button closures, although they are tedious to do up.  The teenage sandals sometimes present a bit of a challenge, the straps fold over and clip together with a tiny peg.  My Skipper’s are fine, but Ginger’s seem to be made of a flimsier plastic and just won’t stay done up.

Growing Up Skipper and Ginger fashions have tiny button closures.  The sandals present a challenge.  Ginger’s just won’t stay done up.

I don’t think these dolls were on the market for long, but controversial or not, I love having these dolls in my collection.  Their ingenuity and play value is exceptional, and made my childhood a happier, more interesting place.

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