Silken Flame

Vintage Barbie illustrations, built environment, clones and more

Tammy Paper Dolls (1963-66)

Color illustration, detail from a Tammy and Pepper paper doll folder. Tammy and Pepper, both blonde and blue-eyed with green hairband (Tammy) or hair bow (little sister Pepper) each hold a paper doll version of themselves.
Artwork from a 1965 Tammy and Pepper paper doll set

Things started out… inauspiciously.

Two Tammy paper doll folder covers. The styl of the character is described in the text. Both inhabit beach scenes. The one at lef has a huge head and wears Tammy's original playsuit. The one at right wears a strapless bathing suit, teal with orange flowers, and her head is also too big for her frame to support. Left character is red-headed and right is blonde.
Disturbing actually.

The real Tammy doll, as a less-grown-up-but-still-teenaged Barbie competitor, had an oversized, baby-faced head on a prepubescent body: an iteration toward maturity and away from the many costumed babydolls of past decades, but still skewing young in appearance. Tammy’s first paper doll designers, on the other hand, took her giant, infantile head and plastered it onto pinup girl physiques for the first, 1963 releases. The result, seen above, was unfortunate.

Tammy’s early paper doll wardrobe largely reflected that of the original doll,

Redheaded early Tammy paper doll is dressed in the Walking Her Pet fashion sans pet. Pizza Party and Travel Along float disembodied to either side.
It’s always time for Pizza Party. And Travel Along and Walking Her Pet.

but there were novel additions as well.

Blonde early Tammy wears a pink sweater over matching fit-and-flare dress. Hovering by her are a bright pink coat with arm holding green schoolbook, and a yellow dress with orange floral print, white cuffs and collar, thin green belt, green box at neck. The shadowed parts of the dress, where there are folds and angles, are green instead of a darker yellow, giving a (maybe unintentional) iridescent appearance.

Enough of womanly baby Tammy.

Things got better after just a year. As Tammy’s booklet illustrations were revamped, so were her paper doll likenesses. The next paper dolls showed the new fresh-faced, cartoonish Tammy still wearing her real ensembles. Her head-to-body ratio was much improved, and at the same time her figure took on more junior-ish proportions. Her family made an appearance, as well.

Color image of two paper dolls side by side with their fashions overlaid so they are "wearing" them. Tammy is on the left. In this image and all remaining in this post she has a blonde short flip haircut with fringe brushed to onne side and a headband. In this case the headband is red. She wears Pizza Party: a harlequin top in four vertical panels of blue, yellow, red, and green with tassels at the bottom, red leggings, white sandals. Next to her is Mom, also blonde, whose hair si piled on her head in almost a turban look. She wears a blue sheath dress with a Y seam from the bust to the waist. The seam is decorated/tied with white laces. She holds a blue purse and wears red closed-toe shoes. The background is colored with blue and green crayon, part of the paper doll folder decoration.
Time, again, for Pizza Party–featuring Mom.

This set has a bonus feature: its folder reproduces a handsome illustration of the 1963 Ideal Family House for the paper family to inhabit.

An image of the interior of the paper doll folder spread open. Illustration across the two halves shows rooms of a home in yellowish tones. At left, a living room with gold sofa, red-and-yellow floral chairs, large circular coffee table, television, built-in shelves, lamps and plants. At right, a bedroom with yellow walls ad dresser, red floors, yellow-and-red floral beadspread and headboard, red armchair, indistinct framed art and/or photos on the walls. These illustrations are framed by more blue and green crayon marks.

Later that year, as the paper doll’s wardrobe diverged from the physical doll’s, things really got going. Suddenly Paper Tammy had a rainbow of options!

Paper doll fashions laid out on a white background: A bathing suit with vertically-striped, rainbow-hured top and red bottom; a shift dress in white with a column of rainbow-colored, geometric flowers running down the center and white gloves, a colorful quilt-look belted shirt dress, and a vertically-striped rainbow top with elbow-length sleeves, flounce at bottom hem, blue skirt and long white gloves. The composition is decorated with a couple sketched rainbows and the words "Rainbow Mixables" written with each letter a different color.
(The real Rainbow Mixables are separates, as the name implies; above are looks from a couple sets overlaid on the 1964’s “School and Sports Clothes” set’s art.)

This post features artwork cribbed from ebay sellers of paper doll reproductions: Arlene’s Vintage Paper Dolls and Somewhere in Time Paper Dolls. Through the lens of said reproductions we learn that Paper Tammy was as smartly attired for city streets,

Three Tammy paper dolls dressed and surrounded by other fashions on a dark background. Left a grey wool suit with cape sleeves or maybe entire cape jacket, plus matching hat, hovers; then Tammy wears a black-and-white houndstooch suit with hip-length jacket, matching beret, black gloves and red top; then a tan-colored coat with polka dot trim and matching hat hovers; then Tammy wears a green cropped jacket over a high-waisted dress with light green top and skirt to match the jacket, light green gloves, medium green purse matching the jacket and skirt, and light green hat with green bow; then a second cape look hovers, with one with red trim on the tan cape and skirt, tan sleeves emerging from the cape, black gloves and boots; finally, Tammy wears a patterned blue suit with wide collar and black buttons and trim, a furry black hat, black gloves and purse.

as she was gaily garbed for fun in the sun.

Tammy paper doll wears a sleeveless shift-shaped garment of vertical green, white and pink stripes with a self-fabric ruffle lining the bottom of the bust and a matching head scarf. She's surrounded by other fashions froma couple sets, including a lavender bathing suit with tiered ruffled skirt; a green bathing suit with white mesh over the top; a nautical-look two piece with blue-and-white-striped top, white pleated skirt with thin red belt and four brass buttons, blue-and-white striped drawstring bag, and matching hat in red, white, and blue-and-white-striped panels; yellow sleeveless top, shorts, and sun hat adorned with oversized red flowers and white-framed sunglasses, and pink pool coverup with spiral-shaped flwoer decoration. Surrounding these pieces are little bits of art from one of the sets: the text "Sea and San" and numerous little fishes in all sorts of colors.
Behold the bust ruffle.

Always the girl next door, she naturally had a great wardrobe for casual time,

Three different Tammy paper dolls lined up on one of the sets' backgrounds of red crayon-look stripes and a gold ribbon frame. The Tammies have, L-R, red, purple and teal headbands. Left wears a sleeveless purple top with geometric design in green, red, and yellow, yellow slacks, and green loafers; a checked black-and-white flared skirt with patch pockets, one of gold gingham and one of red and white concentric squares, sleeveless teal top with white polka dots, and black flats; and a greyish blue sleeveless top with mesh top and band at waist, black slacks, and black flats.

and a superb selection of party clothes as well.

Two Tammies each duplicated for a total of four, on a kind of rainbow gradient background. Left two Tammies have green headbands and are facing slightly inward, to their left. One in back wears a long sea green gown with pink-and-green ribbon sash belt, elbow-length white gloves, and pink satiny purse; one in fron wears a white sheath dress with boxy lace top, pink ribbon belt at waist with white rose detail, short white gloves, pink purse, and dark flats. On the right are two Tammies facing inward (their right), one with a teal headband, blue kneelength dress with pink bow belt at waist, white tights, greenish blue shoes with strap and ankle. One in front wears drop-waisted navy dress with white Peter Pan Collar and white bow at neckline, flared skirt above the knee, black flats, a red hair scarf that obscures her teal headband.

With her ever-present headband, mid-60s Paper Tammy brings to mind that other girl next door: Midge, in her own mid-60s incarnation.

In the second half of the decade, with the Swinging Sixties reverberating across America, Paper Tammy even went Op Art on two occasions.

Two Tammies face inward. At left, a black-and-white checkerboard shift dress with red and white dots running down the center, knee-high black boots, green headband. At right a black-and-white checkerboard beret, dress with top of vertical black-and-white stripes, white skirt with leater look, white fishnets, low white Courreges-style boots.

And in one of the last sets, a trio of fashions echo Francie’s wardrobe.

Three dresses float on a paisley background from the paper doll set. Left it red, black, and white plaid with row of white buttons running down one side of the front, white collar and cuffs. Center is high-waisted with solid brown, button-down top and brown-and-white houndstooth skirt. Right is pink herringbone tweed-look coat.
Reference Side Kick, It’s a Date, and Shoppin’ Spree.

Usually Paper Tammy dressed to the beat of her own drum, with some of that same fun-loving spirit as her cousin from across the pond, Sindy. (Where is Paper Sindy, by the way?)

Six Tammies in a row, kind of paired off, on the red crayon background. The first two have an elbow jutting out to either side and their legs crossed, kind of mirroring poses. They are from two different sets. One wears a blue jumper over aubergine turtleneck and tights, one wears a powder blue suit with matching hat, long wide white collar and blue-and-white-striped top or inset panel. Next two are facing in toward each other with arms hanging at their sides. One wears a red kneelength pencil skirt, a white sleeveless top with blue polka-dotted tie at neck (reference Barbie's Crisp 'n' Cool, almost) and red polka-dotted scarf; the second wears a maxi skirt in red, tan, and green plaid, a long sleeveless green top with pink flower brooch, a hairband of the same green with two pink flowers, and pink shoes. The final pair are copies of one doll, mirrored to face inward toward one another. Both have teal headbands. One wears a red A-line skirt, long red top with red-and-white-polka-dot cuffs, Peter Pan collar, and tie at neck, along with the white fishnets and Courrege boots used for the Op Art look. One wears a yellow skirt and suspenders over green-and-yellow stiped tutrleneck and tights with yellow Mary Janes.

Tammy’s little sister, Pepper, joined her in many of the paper doll sets, but none seem to feature Glamour Misty, the fallen woman/femme fatale/nightclub vamp who stepped in when most of Tammy’s family mysteriously disappeared. Does a whiff of Misty’s perfume linger on Paper Tammy’s more siren-ish 1965 looks?

Two Tammies mirrored again to face outward from each other, each with an elbow out. Left wears a black cocktail dress with possible velvety texture, matching black closed-toe heels with ribbon decoration, black headband with bow at the side, and one medium-length white glove with the other held in that hand. The second wears a floor-length acid green gown with mermaid silhouette and oversized self bow at neckline with jeweled buckle over the knot, opera-length white gloves, a glittery green purse, and her red headband (I didn't find a head covering corresponding to this gown). In the background are some repeated gold starbursts that adorned one paper doll set.

Quite the evoluation over eight paper dolls sets spanning four years. But the trail goes cold after ’66, around the time 3D Tammy also retired from public life.

Where to next? This is our most recent post about Barbie clones and rivals. The most popular post in this category covers friends’ and rivals’ penthouse apartments. The most popular post overall on this site concerns shoes. We also played with Barbie paper dolls once or twice. Or head up to the table of contents for a wealth of options.

sheathsensation

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