Cosmopolitan Ginger

Photographs courtesy of Karen Kilburn

Name: Ginger

Made by and When: Cosmopolitan, 1950s

Material: Hard plastic

Marks: Unmarked

Height: 8 inches

Hair/Eyes/Mouth: Black wig styled in a short flip with bangs/amber-colored sleep eyes/closed mouth with painted red lips

Clothes: All original red plaid dress, red straw hat, white socks, red vinyl Mary-Jane-style shoes, red vinyl personalized “Ginger” purse

Other: Ginger is a head-turning walker; when her legs are moved in a walking motion, her head turns from side to side.

Note that the featured doll wears a dress similar to the one drawn on the cover of the Little Golden Ginger Paper Doll book by Kathleen Daly, which was published by Simon and Schuster on January 1, 1957.

Cosmopolitan and other doll companies manufactured 8-inch dolls to compete with Vogue’s more popular Ginny doll. Cosmopolitan and the other competitors often used the same manufacturer to produce their dolls. Black versions were made in fewer quantities than their white counterparts. According to the Doll Reference website, “The Cosmopolitan Doll Company of Jackson Heights, NY USA was founded by Kathryn Kay, a former sales representative for the Vogue Doll Company. They produced a large number of hard plastic and vinyl dolls during the 1950s.  They are probably best known for their Ginger doll who was produced from the same plastics manufacturer – Commonwealth Plastics, as Vogue’s Ginny doll.” [https://dollreference.com/cosmopolitan_dolls50s.html] 

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