Cricket

Cricket is made by American Character Toys Inc. and one of Skipper's competitors.

There are two main versions of this doll.

The first version is sold in 1964 and is promoted as Tressy's little cousin. This version has long, straight hair and bangs. She wears a white plastic headband and comes with white Japan flats and a white plastic stand. Stock number: #1414. Though some sources state that she comes with blonde, red or brown hair, I've only seen blondes.

At first Cricket has brown eyes that look to the left and straight legs (version 1A).

Later the same year she is sold with turquoise-blue eyes wich glance to the right and straight legs (version 1B).

Still in 1964 the doll changes a little and Cricket now has blue eyes and "poseable" legs (version 1C), also, her make-up is different. 1A and 1B dolls are rare, 1C dolls htf.

Cricket #1C:

Cricket #1B:

Found in Cricket's box:

Cricket #2 is designed much like #3, but she has a "growing" hair function. She's available starting 1965 (probably until 1969), her stock number is #1415. This version is now promoted as Tressy's little sister. A few of the first Cricket #2 dolls are sold in boxes just like Cricket #1's box. All others have their own boxes.

Cricket #2 comes with a white hair ribbon with a bow. She has a button on her torso (just like Tressy) you need to push to make a strand of her hair grow. A key is also needed to reverse that function. Cricket has an "American Character" marking on her neck. Her price is 4.50 US $.

Like Cricket #1 dolls, Cricket #2 dolls also come dressed in a white ballet outfit. They can be found as blondes, brunettes and redheads.

Back in the 60s American Character Toys Inc. licenses European Toy manufacturers - such as "Schildkröt" in Germany, "Bella" in France and "Palitoy" in England - to produce Tressy and family dolls for their country. These dolls differ from the originals. In Germany, Cricket is called "Babsy", in France her name is "Snouky" and in England she's called "Toots". All these dolls are well made made and have the growing hair function.

First picture: Cricket and Toots dressed in their original fashion

Second picture: Two Skipper dolls wearing the same fashion:

Doll to the left: Toots dressed in "Bowling Beauty" with her adorable accessories.

Doll to the right: Cricket dressed in "Fan Club Fun" - british version with "Toot's scrap book" instead of "Cricket's scrap book":

Cricket Gift Paks

There were three gift paks for Cricket. One of the sets was called "Cricket's deluxe travel trunk": The booklet shows a blue Cricket case which contained a Cricket doll in "Party Pretty". The case was also found in the USA with a Cricket doll dressed in her ballet outfit. Also included was the fashion set "Kitchen Cutie". The outfit came with a lot of lovely accessories, such as a cake tin and a "Kitchen Ideas" book.

The names of the other gift sets were: "Cricket and her hair glamour kit" and "Cricket and her fashion shop".

In France, the same sets were available and were called: "Snouky and her hair glamour kit", "Snouky and her fashion shop" and "Snouky's deluxe travel trunk". These gift paks were probably not available in the UK for Toots, and in Germany for Babsy (not confirmed).

The gift paks were made in Hong Kong and are very rare.

Cricket's Deluxe Travel Trunk (collection of Patrick McGovern):

Cricket's Fashions

TO BE UPDATED SOON:

In the booklet, Cricket's wardrobe is classified into "playtime clothes", "daytime clothes" and "party clothes". The following outfits are pictured in the booklet (you can see them on Snouky's page).

It looks like Cricket and Snouky share the same booklet and stock numbers - only their names were exchanged. German Babsy had her own booklet (along with her sister Gaby and her sister's friend Kessy) and her clothes had different stock numbers and German names. I couldn't find a Toots booklet yet. It looks like Toots had the same fashion sets like Cricket, however, some of them had different stock numbers. It is possible that Toots and Babsy had some additional outfits which weren't available for their international counterparts.

There were some more fashions for Cricket which weren't mentioned in her booklet, for example "School Days". #14150 ( regular version: red, rare version: blue).

Playtime clothes

#14155 Hootenanny, 1.50 US $

#14200 Kitchen Cutie, 2.00 US $

#14107 Mad Music, 1.00 US $

#14101 Ship Ahoy, 1.00 US $

#14157 T.V. Time, 1.50 US $

#14202 Winter Weekend, 2.00 US $

Daytime clothes

#14102 Windy Weather, 1.00 US $

#14100 Fun and Fancy, 1.00 US $

#14108 Shutterbug, 1.00 US $

#14156 I Love You, 1.50 US $

Party clothes

#14154 Theatre Time, 1.50 US $

#14204 Honey Bun, 2.00 US $

#14153 Sugar 'n Spice, 1.50 US $

Clothes not shown in the booklet, but mentioned on the last page:

#14152 Fan Club, 1.50 US $

#14105 Just Pals, 1.00 US $

#14106 Happy Hobby, 1.00 US $

#14201 Bowling Beauty, 2.00 US $

#14103 Sweet Treat, 1.00 US $

#14104 Party Pretty, 1.00 US $

#14203 Happy Birthday, 2.00 US $

Following you can see the back of a fashion packaging for Cricket, which shows outfits nots pictured (and some of them not even mentioned) in the booklet, for example: School Days, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!, ...

Below you can find the following Cricket NRFB fashions not shown in the booklet (some more outfits are pictured on the pages of Cricket's international counterparts):

Fan Club Fan (incl. Cricket's Scrap Book)

Happy Hobby (incl. a paint brush)

Just Pals (with the doggies in black and white)

Party Pretty (with Happy Birthday card)

Sweet Treat (with ice cream cone)

Bowling Beauty (inlc. bowling trophy and bowling pins)