Silken Flame

Vintage Barbie illustrations, built environment, clones and more

The Two Abodes of Tammy

In the early ’60s, the glory days of chipboard living, Barbie’s rivals enjoyed rooms and apartments of their own. Tammy, an early competitor from Ideal, came out with a pair of domestic play sets in 1963, hot on the heels of Barbie’s first Dream House.

The first of these houses was not marketed specifically for Tammy but advertised as a home for Tammy OR Barbie, and is known simply as the 1963 Ideal House. While Barbie’s starter home was studio-style, the Ideal House boasted three rooms with furniture to match. A listing in that year’s Sears Wish Book outlines the premise, showcasing Barbie and Midge as occupants of the home alongside Tammy:

Color listing for the Ideal House, which looks like photographs enhanced with illustrated or at least hand-colored furnishings. Brunette Midge, wearing the pink gown from Sophisticated Lady, reclines in the living room. Bubblecut Barbie, in a negligee, sits before a heart-shaped vanity. Tammy raids a pink fridge. Text reads: "Sears puts at your fingertips more of what America's children want most; THIS DOLL HOUSE; Three completely furnished rooms and a patio, all of corrugated board, scaled to fit Tammy and her family, or Barbie and her friends. Modern, colorful house opens to almost 4 1/2 feet long."
Sears devoted a full page to the Ideal house (which, despite the copy, is not corrugated).

The bedroom, clearly intended for a teenaged girl, is more youthful than any Mattel ever designed for Barbie–it’s closer in style to Skipper’s bedroom. The kitchen looks comfortable, if a bit pink, while the patio is merely alluded to in furnishings–not a well-defined space.

Thee small images of chipboard rooms and furniture. At left, a kid's room with pink furniture and blue walls. Pennants and "photographs"hang on the wall. The vanity mirror is heart-shaped. White curtains with pink ribbons cover the windows, and a pink area rug covers much of the floor. At center, blue-and=yellow striped patio furniture, including a picnic table with one bench and an umbrella, sit in front of the house. At right, a kitchen with pink tiles walls, pink cabinets and appliances, and pink stools cdawn up to a pink counter.
Bedroom, patio and kitchen. Sources (all eBay): dawnpippadollfashionfurniture, toystuffs, 608samolly.

The piece de resistance of this home is its large, luxurious living room, boasting a range of seating options, electronics, shelving/storage, and other little flourishes like a fireplace and fish tank. Rounding out the scene, the warm color scheme and wall decor give the room a welcoming feel.

A large (for Barbie or Tammy) room interior. Furnishings are folded chipboard. Furnishings are described in this post. The wallpaper is a brown/orange check pattern on white; the sofa and chair are orange with brown and "wood" accents. Blue and yellow storage units occupy the back corners, one with a rod for hanging clothing and one with various shelves and cabinets, some occupied by the "electronics." in front of the fireplace, at center rear, sits a blue and "wicker" rocking chair. Some indistinct paintings hang on the walls, and the floor is wall-to-wall carpet texture in beige.
A well-appointed living room. Source: dollwhisperertx on eBay.

Barbie’s first home had a television and turntable built into a single console. Ideal countered with a television, film projector, radio, and record player as separate units that had space on the built-in shelves. In contrast to Barbie, however, there are no books in the Ideal house.

Close up on four pieces of chipboard "electronics." All have wood look and gold-ish plating. A radio is signified by knobs, a dial, and a couple of input/output jacks. A film projector has two reels sticking up. A record player has three knows and what appears to be a speaker on the front. A black-white television has two knobs in the bottom corners and smiling woman illustrated on the screen.
Chipboard electronics. Via thegreatwarinbrickslegoandtoys on eBay.

The exterior makes clear that this home is, like Barbie’s, a suburban haven.

Color photo of a chipboard playset "house" in brown and blue. House exterior is lines with shrubbery, and a house number (2635) extends from a lamp post next to the windowpaned front door.
’63 Ideal House exterior. Source: Red Rover Virginia on eBay.

But what’s more suburban than a ranch-style home with carefully manicured lawn? A ranch-style home with carefully manicured lawn and a separate structure for the teenaged family members to entertain their friends, complete with ping-pong, a soda fountain, and color TV. Enter Tammy’s Playhouse.

Color listing for Tammy's Play House, or as its caption says, "Tammy's Dream House." Text reads: "Tammy entertains in her Playroom or Patio. $4.40. Has soda fountain, juke box, TV set, table tennis table, shuffleboard, built-in desk, closet. Pictures, dark board game on wall. Patio has chaise lounge, side table, barbecue pit. Chipboard. Folds, with handle. 26x33x14 1/2 inches high. 79 N 9361L. Shipping weight 8 pounds." Room is mainly as described there and in the post, The entire back wall consists of built-in furniture. In addition to the desk is a day bed with colorful pillows and various storage. Above some hanging clothing is a shelf with two hats, one of which appears to be Barbie's from After Five. The desk has a chair with heart-shaped back in red and pink. A Tammy doll stands behind the counter of the soda fountain.
Tammy’s Playhouse in the 1963 Sears Wishbook (via christmas.musetechnical.com)

While Barbie is welcome to use the main house, above, this accessory dwelling unit is pretty Tammy-specific: An awning over the soda fountain reads, “Tammy’s Soda Shoppe,” and a small yard sign is there to ward Barbie off when she starts getting ideas.

Two photographs of the set. One an interior shows a counter with a white top and blue side. Illustrated on the wall behind it are shelves holding glassware and jars of candy. A little faucet mechanism is freestanding on the counter. Stools with yellow seats sit close by, and a jukebox is just visible in the foreground corner. Along the white brick wall next to the counter a pair of skis are illustrated leaning. Other image shows the outside of a red house with flower bushes and a small tree. A little emblem--not really a yard sign, just floating there, reads "tammy's IDEAL HOUSE." There may be an (R) or TM next to the name Tammy, but it's indistinct.
“Soda Shoppe” with awning (and convenient? place for skis to lean); small sign reading “Tammy’s Ideal House” on the playset exterior. Via eBayers janetnmark2010 and csimages.

The sharp-eyed reader has noticed that we list among Tammy’s conveniences a color TV, but the catalog image above shows a black-and-white set. Even though the main house settled for watching in monochrome, Tammy’s television was actually produced in color. (We pay attention to the TVs around here).

Close up of a color "TV" showing a smiling blonde. Plus a wood-look table with white top, two square stools with yellow tops and black bases, and three boxy little "pillows," a square and two triangles in red, orange and mustard color.
Tammy’s television, along with a side table, two stools, and some throw pillows. Source: csimages on eBay.

The catalog entry also exposes that Tammy had a physical, built-out patio with its own brick oven or fireplace. Otherwise, this structure’s exterior resembles a separate domicile more so than it does an outbuilding.

Two frames, one showing the front of a chipboard house and one the side. In the first, illustrated on the box is an entryway with two steps up to a front door surrounded by flower boxes. Off to the side, a large picture window looks in on a lamp sitting on a wooden table or low shelf. In the second, a colorful fieldstone patio extends from the house. On it is a stone fireplace of some sort, as well as an outdoor chair for sunbathing or reclining. A glass-look folding door allows passage into the structure.
Street (?) view of Tammy’s Playhouse, plus the side patio. Sources: janetnmark2010 and brian1235 on eBay.

Gracious living for the girl next door!

Where to next? If you enjoyed this post about the built environments of Barbie clones, you may be interested in the ones on beauty parlors and penthouse apartments. The overall most popular posts on this site are about Barbie shoes, 1959-67, and Mattel fashion booklets. Or just head up to the Table of Contents to see more options.

sheathsensation

,
,

One response to “The Two Abodes of Tammy”

  1. Taswegian1957 Avatar
    Taswegian1957

    “The glory days of chipboard living.” I love that.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to Taswegian1957 Cancel reply