In 1978, history was made. No, it wasn't the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. I'm talking about the introduction of the first blatantly gay doll - Gay Bob. We all knew Ken was gay, but he was a closet homosexual. Gay Bob was the first doll to come out of the closet. Hell, he even had the word gay in his name! Since Gay Bob there has been but a smattering of dolls that allude to the homosexual or transgendered lifestyle. As a doll collector myself I feel I owe it to my readers to delve into the history of transgendered and gay dolls. Thus, here is a brief history of those dolls.
Gay Bob - Information to come
Boy George - The world's favorite gender-bending pop star was so immensely popular in the early 80s that in 1983 not one but two dolls were introduced bearing his likeness. One was a rather strange-looking rag doll, and the other one was a 12" plastic doll in the style of Barbie and Ken. I will try to find a picture of this doll, as I am also looking to add it to my collection. Even Snoopy got in on the cross-dressing craze, when a Boy Snoopy stuffed doll was introduced. I still have mine from 1984. Snoopy is wearing Boy George's unisex Color-By-Numbers white baggy shirt with red numbers all over it. In addition he sports the Boy's black hat with dreads coming out from under it. Very cute, and I will try to upload a picture of it soon.
Drag Queen Ken - Drag Queen Ken is an artist doll, which means it was made not by Mattel but by an individual not affiliated with Mattel. I have only seen this doll once, at a Barbie show here in New York. Made by Paul Smith, the doll is a rooted-hair Ken doll whose original "straight" style has been replaced by a blonde beehive re-root. Ken wears a pink dress and has huge white pumps for his big feet. We all knew Ken was gay, now he's finally coming out of the Barbie Dream House closet. I suspect he had always been envious of Barbie's fabulous wardrobe, and even tried on some of her clothes while she was at work).
Gay Billy - the U.K.'s first openly gay doll. The information below is courtesy of Zenugirl's fabulous site The Plastic Princess Page:
The dolls come in a clear plastic display tube with a suitable background, to which they're attached with a rubber band.
The doll itself is very well sculpted and has flocked hair. Arms and legs move, but are not bendable. The head is stationary. The doll is anatomically correct. Not to
belabour the point, but the phrase "like an elephant" leaps to mind in describing this. The doll is larger that the 12" G.I. Joe and Ken dolls, so you can not purchase
clothes for these dolls and expect to be able to redress Billy, though the accessories for these dolls will certainly be in proper scale for use with Billy.
Inside the package, one will find a little circular that displays the available dolls and also includes postcard so you can receive further information on the
doll and you can write to suggest other dolls you'd like to see.
The interior circular says:
Hi!...meet Billy
With his ready made smile and ever friendly manner, Billy is the
most popular guy around! But as you'll soon discover that's not
the only reason everyone loves Billy. "I'm just your average gay
guy" says Billy, but we all know that Billy really is a star.
He's responsible too and if he had a message to the world it would
be, "Remember, play safe, be responsible, always wear a condom".
Billy doesn't spend all his time in his hometown of Amsterdam, he's
a well travelled guy and he has now come to visit you. If you
haven't already guessed, Billy is gay and totally out and proud.
"I'm here, I'm gay, I'm Billy, now are you going to be a friend of
mine?"
Lots of Love
Billy
In the past, Billy has had the following forms:
Master Billy, Baby Billy, Gay Boy Billy, Sporty Billy, Sailor Billy, Cowboy Billy, Muscle Boy Billy, Slave Billy, Army Billy, San Francisco Billy, Clone Billy, Rubber Billy
Golddust - The World's only drag queen professional wrestler now comes in an action figure, ready for hours of fun. I've always wondered about male wrestling anyway. You just try telling me that men pinning down other men and locking their heads between their legs are 100% straight! Anyway, this action figure is one from the series of World Federation Wrestling toys. The doll is completely gold in color, with Golddust's distinctive facial paint. Like all of the World Federation Wrestling figures, the legs have bone crushing action (all the better to crush opponents' heads with my dear)! It is interesting to note that this figure of Golddust comes with a separate wig. The figure itself looks like all of the other "macho" figures, and has short blonde hair. Is the wig made as a separate piece so that little boys who play with it won't be playing with a cross-dressing male doll if they don't want to? The picture on the packaging shows Golddust in his wig wearing a feather boa. But the figure doesn't come with a boa either! Just think, if it did little boys all over the United States would be getting their first lesson in accessorizing. In any case, Goldust is a controversial figure in professional wrestling. Many people see Goldust getting pounded and thrown around in the wrestling ring by a macho opponent as a metaphor for gay bashing, and indeed it does send the wrong message to all those beer-swilling, pickup-driving, baseball-cap-wearing fans who actually like "professional" wrestling. I actually own this figure (I just couldn't resist!), and will be uploading a picture of it soon.
Wedding Day Dennis Rodman-
That in a nutshell is a brief history of drag, transgendered, and openly gay dolls. If anyone knows of any not covered here please let me know, I'd love to add it to this page. In the meantime, if you collect dolls or toys you might be interested in an organization called Gays and Dolls. Based in Chicago, it is the only on-line toy and doll collectors club for gay and gay-friendly people. I myself am a member. It's a lot of fun and it's free to join.
The doll began life as a novelty in the United Kingdom which was highly customized and sold for around $250USD. Recently, Totem International Ltd (U.S.A) has
taken up the mass manufacture of the doll in the United States and the price of the doll has come down to $50USD.
Marketed in the United States as Billy (tm) The World's First Out And Proud Gay Doll, the doll can be found a gift and novelty stores that cater to gay
clientele.
In the United States, there are 5 versions of the doll that are currently available, including: San Francisco Billy (pictured above), Master Billy (a low level
Leatherman-type), Wall Street Billy (in a suit and tie with pinstiped shirt); Sailor Billy (Not in a military uniform per se, but definitely nautically themed with button
front trousers and sailor hat); Cowboy Billy (jeans, boots, dungarees, cowboy hat).
- Now everyone's favorite cross-dressing, cameraman-kicking, Madonna-bonking basketball superstar comes in a doll! Wedding Day Dennis Rodman is actually the second Rodman doll from Streetplayers. It follows the popular "Bad As I Wanna Be" Dennis doll that came out (no pun intended) earlier this year. I actually bought the first doll as, although I'm not a big Dennis Rodman fan, I think the doll is cool! I bought a black feather boa at a fabric store that I can cut down to just his size! The Wedding Day Dennis doll is the same Dennis doll but dressed in drag. It has red hair, lipstick, and tatoos, and is dressed in a beautiful drop-waisted halter-top white gown with long white painted-on opera gloves. Beneath his gown he is wearing his sneakers and tube socks! Wedding Day Dennis was inspired by an appearance that Dennis made last year at a New York bookstore to sign copies of his autobiography. He showed up in a wedding dress and a lemon-yellow wig. I thought he made a beautiful bride. The packaging of the doll is a take-off of Mattel's Nostalgic Reproduction doll Wedding Day Barbie, and the Wedding Day Dennis doll is very scarce right now due to the lawsuit that Mattel has filed against Streetplayers for copyright infringement (get a sense of humour Mattel!). I heard there was a recall of the Dennis drag doll because of the lawsuit. I was lucky enough to find this doll before it disappeared from the store shelves. I think it's even cooler than the first Dennis doll.
