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Who's That Doll?

1970's

TOPPER TOYS, DAWN FASHION DOLLS

In 1970, Topper Toys produced the first true, 6-1/2" fashion doll. Half the size of Mattel's Barbie, the doll appealed to girls everywhere. She was less expensive, easier to carry, and she had a wide range of glamorous fashions to choose from. Her name was Dawn, and she was the headliner for a series of dolls built around the exciting world of high fashion. Dawn was released with three friends: brunette Angie, redhead Glori, and African-American Dale. Soon other friends were produced; boyfriends came along; more Modeling Agency friends; Dance Party friends; Majorette friends.

This page should help you to recognize a true Topper Dawn doll when you find one. Most of the female bodies--with the exception of Fancy Feet, the Dancing style bodies and a few other exceptions, had slanting twist-and-turn waists, were jointed at the shoulders and hips, and had knees that would click and bend. Heads were set on posts and could turn easily. They also popped off easily, helping little fingers dress the dolls. Thus, many Topper heads have been found on clone bodies, and vice-versa.

Below are photos of the standard dolls:

Each of the dolls, with the exception of the guys, used specific head mold numbers, such as (in Dawn's case) A11A, H11A, P11A, S11A, and so forth. These numbers can be found on the back of the head, just under the hairline. Some head mold numbers are harder to find than others, and the combination of a particular head mold with the hand-painted facial features made each doll unique and different. The girls had rooted hair and eyelashes. The guys' hair is painted on.

Dawn

Angie

Dale

Glori with straight hair, center part, and bangs

Glori with curly hair, side part, and no bangs

Two new friends, and the boyfriends:

Longlocks

Ron with blonde hair (has a greenish cast)

Jessica

Gary

Ron with sandy brown hair

Van

It should be mentioned here that all dolls are marked on their tushes with "(C in a circle)1970 Topper Corp" followed by either Hong Kong, Japan or Taiwan, depending where the factory was located.
All female dolls had head-mold numbers; many had more than one number assigned to a particular doll. The male dolls did not have head-mold numbers. The variety of head-molds used is one of the things that made Dawn so unique. Coupled with the hand-painted faces, each doll took on a unique and singular look.

Following the success of Dawn and her world in 1971, Topper released Dancing version of all of the dolls show above. The Dancing dolls had a mechanism inside whereby the head and hips would swivel when the left arm was moved. The heads did not pop off quite so easily on the Dancing neck posts. Topper also released three of the dolls as "Head-to-Toe" versions. These had short, bobbed haircuts, and came with wigs and other hair extensions.

Majorette Friends

Head-to-Toe Longlocks

Head-to-Toe Angie

Head-to-Toe Dawn

Kip

Connie

Kip has often been confused for the rarer Head-to-Toe Angie. Although her hair is the same dark brunette and her eyes are brown, Kip uses the same head mold as Longlocks, with her eyes glancing to her left.

Below are the five Modeling Agency dolls, who were part of Dawn's studio of models. Each doll came in a glamourous gown with jewelry and a small, plastic portfolio of black and white "photographs". The packaging showed each doll at a photo shoot.

Daphne

Maureen

Dinah

Melanie

Denise

Two of the last dolls made by Topper were Fancy Feet and Kevin (below). They were available only with the Dance Party Stage, or the Double Dance Party Stage. The two battery-operated stages could be set together to expand the dance floor. The dolls had stiff, unbending knees, and were never released as "Dancing" versions. Fancy Feet's body has no twist-and-turn waist. Her torso is a one-piece construction. Her hair is also a lighter blonde than Dawn's, being more of a platinum blonde, like Dinah's. She uses the same head mold as Modeling Agency Denise.

Kevin has often been mistaken for Ron, above. But while Ron parts his hair on the right side of his head, Kevin parts his on his left side. Personally, I think Kevin's face is cuter than Ron's, but perhaps I'm biased.

Fancy Feet

Kevin

During her short, three-year lifespan, Dawn outsold Mattel's Barbie. Dawn had several playsets, including the aforementioned Dance Party Stage. She also had an apartment, a beauty parlor, a hot sports car which would run under its own battery power, a Dress Shop, a Fashion Show, and a Beauty Pageant stage. There were well over 100 fashions sized to fit Dawn, including all the stock outfits which came with the dolls. Sadly, only a handful of fashions were ever made for the guys. Dawn was so popular with little girls that many other companies began producing their own versions of the little 6-1/2" fashion doll. The Dawn Revolution resulted in dozens more fashions made to fit that size doll.

Dawn still shows up at flea markets and Doll Shows. Usually she's mixed in with the larger fashion dolls. Dealers who sell Barbie, Francie and other 11-1/2" fashion dolls often buy them up in lots at estate sales or at auctions. When they find Dawn dolls and fashions, they often sell them off for less than you'd expect to pay on auction websites, simply because they don't know what they have, and they don't care. They're not into miniature fashion dolls. If you look for Dawn on eBay or other auction websites, be prepared to try to outbid collectors who know what they're after. The harder-to-find outfits and dolls go for premium prices. But there's still a lot of Dawn out there to go around. She's still beautiful, even after thirty-five years. Once you begin collecting Dawn, you're hooked.

Now Playing:
"Dawn, Go Away"
by Frankie Valli & the
Four Seasons

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