Famous 1950s Ginny doll has local connection

Contributed Article

 DEXTER — Do you remember those wonderful hours playing with your Ginny doll — changing her outfits, having a tea party with her own set of dishes and putting her to sleep in her own Ginny bed?

 Come visit the Ginny dolls now on display at the Abbott Memorial Library in Dexter and take a walk down memory lane.

 Ginny dolls, created by Vogue Doll Company owner Jennie Graves — and named after her daughter Virginia — made their debut in 1948.

 What started as a cottage industry in Somerville, Mass., Vogue Doll Company eventually employed 100-200 home sewers to make Ginny’s clothes.

 Dexter’s own Millie Batson was one of those sewers, and she remembers getting the pre-cut pieces in a cardboard box the size of a suitcase. Instead of an instruction sheet, the box included a completed sample which Millie used as her guide

 The Ginny doll, designed to look like a toddler, was gradually replaced in the toy box by the long-legged, fashion-forward Barbie doll.

 Vogue Doll Company was sold to Tonka in 1972 and later to Dakin; but the look and quality of the doll and her clothing declined as manufacturing was sent overseas.

 In 1995, Ginny was rescued by noted dollmaker, Wendy Lawton, who restored her to the original 1950s look and Ginny is now enjoying a comeback.