NK OG GINGER - ELLER UNEEDA-GINGEREN
NK AND GINGER - AKA THE UNEEDA GINGER
Har man haft lejlighed til at se det sidste Ginger-katalog udgivet i Sverige (1961), har man måske undret sig over, at dukkerne ser lidt underlige ud. Det er der en god forklaring på! Jeg har været så heldig at få fat på en af disse dukker, og hun er fint mærket Ginger i nakken, men ansigtet er ikke Gingers, kroppen endnu mindre! Faktisk ligner hun til forveksling den dukke, firmaet Uneeda producerede og solgte, dels under eget navn som en Janie, dels som en Kellogg's kupondukke. Det var noget af en overraskelse! Og hun er ingen enlig svale, for jeg har skaffet endnu en, til en ven i USA, endda i original æske. Der er højst sandsynligt tale om en speciel svensk forteelse; Ginger har måske været så populær en artikel for NK, at man ikke har ønsket at skulle stoppe legen, da Cosmopolitan ikke længere kunne levere varen, og har i stedet truffet aftale med en anden leverandør. Det er i hvert fald en mulig forklaring. Men dukken er jo altså mærket, og min vens dukke lå i en af de sædvanlige Ginger-æsker ... Måske det er Cosmopolitan selv, der har leveret denne Uneeda Ginger? Det mysterium får vi nok aldrig opklaret. Andre leverandører var der i det hele taget mange af i NK's Ginger-sortiment.
Der blev solgt kopitøj til Ginger under navnet Peggy. Der var efter sigende også en Peggy-dukke; jeg så engang en på Tradera, hun var helt i hård plast og lignede i et og alt Gigi fra A&H Doll Corporation. Her bliver jeg dog lidt i tvivl, for det lader også til, Gigi blev solgt under eget navn i Sverige; jeg har i hvert fald en kopi af en svensksproget brochure over hendes tøj. I denne brochure angives en anden eneimportør end NK, så om dukken, jeg så på Tradera, faktisk i stedet var Gigi, er ikke godt at vide.
Gingers babydukke-lillesøster fra NK er heller ikke den rigtige Baby Ginger, ikke engang den, der blev solgt som kupondukke af Kellogg's. Den babydukke, NK solgte, er mærket Pamette, hun er derfor fra Fortune Toys, Inc., som også lavede Ninette, Jeanette og Pam. Meget tyder på, at Cosmopolitan og Fortune Toys var tæt knyttede til hinanden, der er også så mange lighedspunkter i tøjet til Ginger og Pam, at Fortune-tøj ofte sælges som umærket Ginger-tøj.
Desuden blev der især efter 1958 solgt tøj til Ginger (og Little Miss Ginger) i Sverige, som kun kendes fra de svenske kataloger, ikke fra de amerikanske. De første år med behørigt mærke og korrekt tryklås, siden uden mærke og med anden tryklås. De senere produceret af hvem?
Der er stadig meget at finde ud af for hvem, der har lyst.
Anybody who has had the chance to study the last of the Swedish NK Ginger catalogs (from 1961) may have wondered that the dolls look a bit odd. Now I know why! I had the good fortune to get hold of one of these dolls, and she turned out to be marked Ginger on her neck all right, but her face and even more so her body is totally different from Ginger's. In fact she seems identical to the doll produced by Uneeda and sold as their own Janie or as a Kellogg's advertising doll. What a surprise! And it's not just this one single doll. I also got a boxed one for a friend in the US. Ginger was BIG in Sweden, and a possible explanation could be that NK was not willing to give up on Ginger when Cosmopolitan was no longer able to deliver the goods. So NK found another manufacturer to buy dolls from. This might easily be the case. But on the other hand: the doll is marked, and my friend's doll was boxed in one of the usual Ginger boxes ... Maybe Cosmopolitan somehow was responsible for getting this doll on the Swedish market? We may never get a solution to this mystery. But again, it wouldn't be the first time NK contracted with other suppliers for Ginger-related items.
Clothes were sold under the name of Peggy. There is also said to have been a Peggy doll; I once saw a tradera auction for a Peggy, she was all hard plastic and was so similar to Gigi from A&H Doll Corporation. But at the time Gigi was marketed in Sweden; I have a copy of a Swedish catalog of Gigi clothes, and this catalog states another sole importer than NK. Maybe the doll I saw on tradera was in fact Gigi, not Peggy?
Ginger's baby sister from NK is not the real Baby Ginger, either - not even the variation sold as a Kellogg's advertising doll. The doll sold by NK is marked Pamette, so she seems to be from Fortune Toys, Inc., who also manufactured Ninette, Jeanette and Pam. Cosmopolitan and Fortune Toys seem closely connected, e.g. many Pam and Ginger outfits are almost identical, and those from Fortune are often wrongly sold as untagged Ginger items.
Furthermore, not least after 1958 we see a lot of outfits for Ginger (and Little Miss Ginger) that are not documented in the US. The last US Ginger catalog is from 1958, but the last Swedish one is to my knowledge from 1961. The first years these outfits were tagged and had the proper snaps, but the later outfits are untagged and have a different snap. I wonder who made these dresses?
Sådan ser dukken ud; dette er min vens dukkeThis is what the doll looks like; this is my friend's doll
Og min egen dukke ses ved at klikke på billedet/And my own doll can be seen by clicking on this picture:
