Tressy
The Doll With the Styleable Hair

The American Character Company introduced Tressy to the public in 1964. She was one of the many Barbie-inspired fashion dolls created by eager competitors all hoping to steal Barbie’s (and Mattel’s) crown.

Well, she didn’t quite do that, but Tressy, with her long, luxurious locks, held her own and was very popular. She was different because you could not only style her hair, but grow or shorten it using a winding device controlled with a key and a button on her stomach. Tressy came with white, blond, red, brown or black hair. An African American Tressy also appeared in 1964.

Collectors of the doll say her first incarnation was called a v-legged doll because when she sat, her legs spread out into a somewhat unladylike “v.” American Character fixed this flaw in subsequent models, allowing her legs to be straighter when she stood and sat.
Tressy with the magic make-up face appeared a year later allowing girls to apply and remove makeup and hair coloring. Another version of Tressy called the “mod” Tressy appeared in 1965.

Tressy had a little cousin, Cricket, who with long hair at first but by 1965 also had growing hair. Other dolls in the line were Mary Make-Up, an early doll you could put makeup on and Pre-Teen Tressy, a pudgier, younger girl with growing hair that wound with a knob instead of a key.

American Character sold Tressy dolls or Tressy doll parts (heads) for dolls with other names in several other countries including England, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and South Africa. She may not have been Barbie, but Tressy got around.

—Betty

Links for Tressy Collectors

Tressy Doll.Com is a website for US collectors but features dolls from all over the world.

Tressy and Toots specializes in the Tressy doll sold in the UK for the Palitoy Company but has a host of links to Tressy sites all over.

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