GigglesGiggles is an Ideal doll. My sister acquired this doll from a local doll show for half off of a half off sale. We do not believe that her clothes are original and she was missing her shoes. (WE DON'T HAVE A PICTURE OF HER OUTFIT) Her hair appears to have been cut and she has an ink stain on her forehead. The hard plastic around the shoulder joint is broken. Access to the interior of the doll is through 3 screws.
Giggles is 18 inches tall and was produced from 1967-1969. Her body and legs are plastic while her arms and head are vinyl. Giggles does not require batteries or winding to operate. When you pull her arms back and forth in an exaggerated clapping motion her head moves, causing her eyes to roll back and forth. Simultaneously she makes a giggling sound. The giggling sound results from a vibrating weight drawing air through a reed inside a chamber covered with a rubber diaphragm. She is featured in the 1967 Sears Christmas Wishbook. Here is the info: Only at Sears GIGGLES with Funny Kit $9.99 Tee-hee tee-hee tee-hee - Stick on a funny face, press her hands together . . GIGGLES laughs and laughs and so will you (shows pictures of 3 masks that you can put on her face) This little moppet will tickle you silly. She cocks her head, rolls her bright blue eyes, gigles, giggles and giggles. With funny kit she's a real ham wearing kookie sun glasses, nose, eyebrows and smiles made of adhesive felt. Elfin face framed by long blonde hair to wash and comb. 18 inch vinyl body. She wears bright mod knit and sandals. Stock number 49N3140 Shipping wt. 3 ls. 4 oz. $9.99 So it sounds like the mask accessories were exclusive to Sears! I also found Baby Giggles in the 1968 Sears Christmas Wishbook - she was sold for $8.97 and she giggles by moving her left arm up and down so they must have decided that was a better way to do it. The head movement and giggle feature are all described exactly the same as for Giggles. Below are pictures (taken from a posting on eBay) of what an original Giggles with box and instructions would have looked like. I found two useful web sites. This site talks about Giggles repairs: http://www.ehow.com/how_7847468_repair-giggles-doll.html
This one is by a Giggles collector and talks about her accessories as well as the various Giggles dolls that were produced: http://site.playpaldollpages.com/Daphnejean-Giggles-Page.html Patent US3494323 describes the mechanism for making the doll giggle. |
Figure 4 - The Ideal doll mark and the year (1966) is visible on the back of the head. The inner working of the doll are apparent. The arms show some wear and discoloration at the shoulder joint. Moving the arms causes the head to rock/tilt which causes the eyes to roll. Movement of the arms also causes the spring with metal mass to oscillate. This is turn causes the piston to move in and out, drawing air through a reed, making the doll giggle.
Figure 7 - We followed the recommendation of a website and replaced the diaphragm with a piece of material cut from a plastic bag. The doll giggles but not very well. We feel that a better material would be a piece of balloon or vinyl glove. The body seams are visible. The body had either been opened before or the glue failed. A number of plastic locating pins were broken off.
Figure 9 - A close-up of the neck mechanism. The inner white piece has a slot that is rotated relative to the slot on the outer skin color piece. The two are held together by two rivets that act as pivot points. The combination of offset slots and the pivots cause the head to rock/roll when the doll's arms are moved. The rivets were too loose and dabs of super glue were used to keep them from popping out again.
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