Original Tammy Doll

In 1962 Ideal Toy Corporation introduced the Tammy doll to compete with Barbie. She was made to look more like a 16 year old teenager.

The original Tammy wore a white trimmed, turquoise play suit and white sneakers. She had a plastic ankle gripper stand and a pamphlet. Her box was white with drawings of Tammy in various outfits or fuchsia with an illustration of Tammy. Tammy came in various hair colours and styles from platinum blonde, medium blonde, toscan, reddish brown, brown and black. She is approximately 12" tall, straight legged with vinyl head and arms, plastic legs and torso. Her markings are Ideal Toy Corp. BS-12 on head; Ideal Toy Corp BS-12 on back with a single digit number underneath.

The Pamphlets

There were 4 pamphlets that came with either the dolls or the outfits.

The original pink pamphlet showed Tammy wearing her "Dream Boat" outfit. There was a variant of the same pamphlet showing Tammy without the jacket of the "Dream Boat" outfit. This pamphlet showed a sketch of the Tammy doll and 20 of her outfits with a description of each.




The fuchsia pamphlet showed Tammy wearing her original outfit and on the back it showed Tammy and her family (Mom, Dad, big brother Ted and little sister, Pepper). Inside are line drawings of the dolls, the first 20 outfits (as above) PLUS an additional 6 more outfits and "pack" items. Also included are Mom's, Peppers and Dad/Ted's outfits and their descriptions.



There is one other pamphlet - a black/white one that only shows Mom's, Dad/Ted's and Pepper's outfits. These were usually found on the back of "pack" clothing items or accessories packs.

In the beginning.....

In 1962 or 1963, when I was 9 or 10 years old, I received a Canadian Reliable Tammy doll as a Christmas present. She was given to me by my Auntie Ev and Uncle Treb. I used to pour through the little booklet hoping and wishing for some of the "store bought" outfits, but I believe I only ever got one of them - "Sweater Girl".

My Mom and I used to make her clothes. Mom had 3 Tammy patterns so Tammy got an extensive wardrobe consisting of dresses, pj's, skirts, pants, tops and even a beautiful black velvet skating outfit.

Over the years, clothing and accessories got lost or given away before each move when my military father got posted, until I had nothing left.

Therefore, in 2002, I was VERY surprised to find my original (naked) doll in a box in the basement. I really don't know how I managed to hang on to her.

So I thought I would do some research into this doll and I discovered a whole Tammy world out there. At first I was only going to buy her an outfit so she wouldn't be naked anymore, but 1 outfit became 2 and so on, and so on. Then I wanted to have her family and friend dolls..... Well, you can see where this is going.....YUP....I caught the collecting bug and in 2010 I have TWO Ikea glass-doored bookshelves FULL of Tammy dolls, clothing, accessories and toys.

And you know what? I'm LOVING IT! I have so much fun - it's like reliving your childhood plus having a treasure hunt.

So this blog is dedicated to Tammy - the Doll You Love to Dress.

I will be posting my Tammy items but this will take some time. I have to retake some photos (my original photos were lost in a computer crash.

But meanwhile, here is my original Tammy wearing an original outfit and shoes.