The Mystery of The Floral "Black Francie" Swimsuit

 

A few weeks ago, I bought a lot of clone-type dolls in an auction.  I like clones, and I was having fun going through the stuff that came with them. 

One doll stood out a bit.. her swimsuit looked... familiar...

"Oh neat!," I think, "It looks like "Black Francie's" swimsuit!  Neat!"

So, I got to googling, and low-and-behold, several websites were claiming this swimsuit was a rare variation of Black Francie's original swimsuit.

Now, believe me, I would LOVE THAT TO BE TRUE.  I would LOVE to own a rare and impossible-to-find Francie swimsuit.  I would love to tell you that I found an impossible-to-find Francie swimsuit in a $17 auction.

However, I can guarantee you this cute swimsuit is NOT A MATTEL PRODUCT.

This is a clone swimsuit.  Is it made to look like Black Francie's swimsuit?  100% definitely yes.  Is it made by Mattel?  100% definitely no.

I'm going to tell you how I know, since other websites that picture this swimsuit do not give any additional information.  Let's learn all about the MYSTERIOUS, ULTRA-RARE, BLACK FRANCIE, FLORAL SWIMSUIT.

- First of all, this swimsuit is only referred to online, by uncited sources.  It doesn't appear in Joe Blitman's Francie Book, not even the vaguest mention.  Mr. Blitman is arguably the world's most Franci-est expert on Francie.

- It doesn't appear in Sarah Sink Eams's Barbie Clothing Book, maybe the most complete Barbie fashion book ever written.

-  Heck, it doesn't even appear on Mattel's Website.

-  This swimsuit has SNAPS.  Francie's swimsuit has BUTTONS WITH LOOPS.

-  The straps are different.

-  In my opinion, Francie's swimsuit is more of a boy-short bottom, while this is more of a brief.

-  IT IS DEFINITELY NOT TAGGED FRANCIE.  Francie's swimsuit is tagged.

-  The quality is not like Mattel's.

ANYWAY, so where did this swimsuit come from?

The clone I found it on is a "Made in Hong Kong," type, possibly PEGGY ANN.  Was it her original swimsuit?  Maybe.  I haven't found one in package to prove anything.

Was this swimsuit ever sold on a African-American / Black doll like Francie?  Maybe.  It's possible some company made a knock-off type doll to compete and copied the swimsuit too.  Again, no in-package examples have been found.

Enjoy a few more pictures of this cool swimsuit:

The doll I found it on, probably a "Peggy Ann" or Peggy Ann type.

Front view, off of the doll.  The fabric is very cute.  It's not poorly made, but it's not up to Mattel standards.  It's quite fragile and not sewn very well.  The red part is definitely cotton.

 

ANYWAY... mystery... sort of solved?  It's not a Francie swimsuit, but I'm intrigued to find out where it came from.

If anybody out there knows, please let me know!  If anyone has an example mint-in-package, PLEASE help let's solve this mystery for good.

PS. Since we're talking about Black Francie, I'd like to remind you that Black Lives Matter.  Please support social justice and equality in your community.

You Ought To Know Peteena!

So this isn't really a Barbie-themed post, but you have to meet my friend Peteena!

Here's lovely Peteena, the brainchild of Hasbro in 1966.  Peteena is part dog.. part fashion doll...  a true fashionable French Poodle through-and-through.

She came wearing a green and yellow polka dot bikini, and had a wardrobe of a variety of mod and sporty outfits.  

I'm not sure who thought she was a good idea, for by all accounts she was a total flop.  However, despite her short time on the market, she's become very popular with collectors today, and she's pretty scarce and minty examples of she or her outfits can command high prices.

I'd wanted a Peteena for a long time, but I never had any luck finding one, until I got her in a box lot full of mostly junk at a doll auction last autumn.  Yay!

Here she is!  As you can see, mine isn't in the best of shape.  Her hair is a little matted.  Her vinyl is a little discolored.  And she's missing one set of eyelashes.  Her nose is chipped.  Not to mention she's missing her tail.  Peteena's tail was removable to aid in dressing her... so most dolls no longer have their tail.  This is par for the course, most Peteenas are in rough shape when they do show up.  

Peteena's shown here wearing Ideal's Tammy's outfit Walking Her Pet from 1964.  It's a really cute outfit... with lots of sweet details.  Most of Tammy's clothes fit Peteena pretty well, but as you can see the skirt is a little long on her.  (She's 9" tall compared to Tammy's 12".)

The heart charm on the sweater is marked "Japan".  Several of Tammy's outfit had this heart charm.  The other side has a floral design.  It's often missing from the jacket.

It also had an oversized purse.  Tammy's clothes were nice quality, but the accessories often weren't as accurate or well-scaled as Barbie outfits.  This purse is big enough to be a laptop bag (before laptops!) on both Tammy and Peteena.  But it does really open and the chain strap is a nice touch.

Here's Tammy's goofy-looking unnamed dog, which I guess can hardly be considered weird, since he is being walked by Peteena.  The dog is filled with wires and is very bendy, but doesn't look much like an actual dog.

But then again, neither does Peteena.

Walking Her Pet for Tammy included these items:

-  Red leather-like skirt that snaps closed in the back.

-  Blue-and-red wool sweater with pocket flaps made out of same fabric as skirt.  Gold medal heart marked "Japan" hanging from right pocket.

-  Red vinyl purse that really opens on gold medal chain

-  Red shoes marked "Japan"

-  Bendy white dog with brown ears, red tongue, silver tinsel flecks.

-  Leash with gold chain, red handle

-  Red scarf (not shown.)

I hope you enjoyed this quick look at Peteena and a nice Tammy Doll outfit.

PS.  The title of this article is a tribute to Titina, a silly song from the 1920s. :)