Meet The Go-Go's!

MANY years ago, when I was but a wee flea-market picker...still a little girl, I found a Dawn Doll at the flea market for a very low price.. probably under a dollar.  I LOVED her to pieces, and played with her a lot,  but this being the days before the internet, I had no idea who she was or where she came from, just that she was super-cute and fun to play with.  Shortly after, I found another one... dressed them alike in cheap outfits from dollar store dolls, and those were my only two Dawn dolls for many years.

Eventually, somehow I found out she was called DAWN and made by a company named TOPPER.  I picked up Dawn dolls whenever I saw them for cheap.  Over a decade after my first Dawn, I purchased a Dawn Doll ID book.  This book had an extra section on Dawn-like dolls and clones, and that's how I met "THE GO-GO's"  (The ... improper apostrophe ... is theirs.)  Though there were only tiny pictures, I thought these dolls were super-unique and interesting, and I decided I would keep an eye open for them at the sales and flea markets.

PROBABLY ANOTHER DECADE passed... and I finally found my first Go-Go doll at a flea market!  Since then, I've picked up a few more, and since there's not a whole lot of information on them out there, I thought I would do a little post about them.

My still-growing Go-Go's Collection.

These dolls are very cute and honestly, extremely high-quality.  I think they are super-underrated and totally awesome!

The photos on the box don't exactly match the actual dolls produced.

Here's the card from the back of every Go-Go's box.  The dolls were sold on their stands, in a plastic tube on a colorful plastic base, with a different backing card for each doll.  I don't know how or where these dolls were advertised and sold.. but to me.. they seem more like a trendy little thing a tween or teen could display in their room and less like a toy.  They were able to be displayed nicely in their tubes without being taken out.  Their quality and design is more display like and less play-like in my opinion.

These dolls pre-date Dawn by a few years.  Rare items related to them that I have confirmed existed are 1.) Carded Go-Go's original outfits (definitely sold in Germany, unknown if sold elsewhere) and 2.) A box set with one doll and multiple (but not all) outfits (ebay image shown below.)

So I'm really just rambling on here, let's get down to some pictures!

Here is "The Swinger."  She was the first Go-Go's doll that I found.  I dug her out of a box next to a giant spider!  That's how much I wanted her, lol.  She is complete with her stand, shoes, and jewelry.  Her face is faded out a little though.

Her beads seem to be glass, and her bracelets are plastic.  The necklace is one strand of beads wrapped around her head twice.  She has rooted saran-like hair (most of the other dolls are wigged, not rooted.)  She is marked "DELUXE READING (c) 1965" on her head.  Her body is unmarked.  Her features are very delicately painted!  (NOTE:  This Blog states that the rooted-hair dolls are a rarity and others were sold wigged.  I can't say for myself since I only have this one "Swinger" doll.)

Would you believe her TINY dress has a TINY zipper?  I never would have known from pictures online and in books.  It's really nicely made for such a TINY doll.  The zipper is marked "NBK."

Her dress (which is sort of a satiny-knit material.. maybe tricot) also has a nice tulle underskirt to give it shape.  She wears white, lace-trimmed, tricot panties underneath.

Her stand, which is clear hard plastic, is marked "1070 0404 7"

Her box picture makes it clear that she likes to dance!  I love the different fonts for each character.

Here is Private Ida.  She is a secret agent or spy!    She is WIGGED, not rooted, and her hair feels like mohair.  She wears a coat, belt, white lace-trimmed panties, and boots.  Mine is missing her hat and briefcase.

Here's her backing card... oooh mysterious!  Her marks are the same as "The Swinger," and her boots are both marked "HONG KONG"

These dolls all have the same body.  They barely have any boobs, just barely curved chests.  Basically genderless bodies with a butt!

Unlike many dolls with wires inside from this era, such as Mattel's Tutti, they don't seem to turn green from the wires inside.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Her eyes have a "Number One Barbie" look to them, eh?

Here is her picture on the card.  I love how the "I" is dotted with an "eye!"

Here's the TOMBOY!  I misplaced her glove and she is missing her bat.  I think she might be my favorite.  She wears a shirt, with paint splotches on it, which snaps with one snap.  Her jeans snap closed in the back as well.  No panties underneath!  Her harder-plastic hat is literally STUCK INTO HER HEAD WITH A STRAIGHT PIN.  Her hair is a WIG and glued on.  Her marks are the same as the other dolls.  Her shoes are the same as "The Swinger," but she may have been sold wearing other shoes.  She has a bit of wire on her wrist, which I assume originally wired her bat to her hand.

Her face is really something!  Such a cute expression with black eye and freckles.  Her wig hair is unusual.  It may be some weird synthetic or may be mohair.  I really can't tell.  It's very soft.

I have found her top loose at a sale, but I have no proof it was ever sold that way.

Here's her original backing card.  Note that the "completely flexible" picture is different than on Private Ida's.  I love how the exclamation mark is a baseball bat and baseball!

I took her to a baseball game once.  Gosh, I really miss baseball games!  Hopefully this quarantine will be over someday and we can go to baseball games again.

As you can see, she was sold with a bat, but since I don't have one, I don't know what it was made out of, wood or plastic?  Look at how different her hat is on the box.  I'm not sure if she was ever sold with red shoes like in the picture.  Mine has one blue shoe.

Here's "Hot Canary," again, SUPER well made.  Her dress is satin, and again she is wigged, not rooted.  Hair feels like mohair, but could be synthetic.

Such an expressive face!  I don't know who sculpted these dolls, but major props to him or her.  They are beautiful, especially considering how tiny they are.  The beads, again seem to be glass.  The necklace is sewn onto her neck.  The hair beads are fastened into her hair with a brass-like piece of metal.  Her hair is in a fairly elaborate updo.  I can't see her marks under her wig, but you can assume they are the same as the others.

What a great face!

Again, a tiny "NBK" zipper in the back.  Mine is missing her shoes and her microphone, and as you can see, the wires are sticking out of her feet pretty badly.  If she ever had panties, she doesn't anymore.  But maybe she never did, since her dress is so tight.  The tulle at the bottom of her dress is the kind of quality that is hard to get these days!

Here she is with her microphone, and apparently she had a bracelet, too.  I don't know what her shoes were like!

Here is COOL CAT, a total beatnik!  Bet she plays down at the local coffee house.  She wears a terry-cloth sweater which closes with a hook and thread loop.  Her green knit skirt also closes with a hook and thread loop.  She's missing her shoes.  The guitar is a replacement.  If she ever had panties, they're missing.

My doll's hair is in quite a state... it's a wig, feels like mohair.  Pictures of other people's dolls would suggest that mine is missing some hair.  Again, I love that face!  Her marks are the same as all the other dolls.

Here you can see more what her guitar should look like.  Also, the FONT IS SO GREAT.  Her hair looks totally different on the box though.

Here's "Brenda Brush," spotted some time ago at a doll auction.  I don't currently have one, but I have just ordered one, so when she gets here I'll fill you in on some more information about her!  (Like not sure if wig or rooted.)

I'm trying to fill in the rest of my collection!

Here's an often-lost paper that was in with the dolls... showing how to use the doll and her stand.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE:

If your doll is not on her stand.. DO NOT KEEP HER IN HER TUBE / BOX.  The soft leg plastic will melt into the plastic tube and it can RUIN the packaging, and harm the doll.  Store the tube separately and FAR AWAY from any squishy doll bodies.

Otherwise, these dolls seem to hold up pretty well, and though they're somewhat hard-to-find, I've never really seen them in "VERY POOR" condition.

Sadly, no male dolls ever joined the line, but Topper had a similar line called TOPPER TIGERS.  These were little army dolls, sold in the same kind of tube.  Maybe you could put them in some hip Dawn doll clothes and they could hang out with the Go-Go's.

That's about all for now!  I hope you enjoyed the pictures. :)