manwithanagenda's review
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Ideal's Tammy: The Doll You'll Love to Dress was one of the more significant competitor's to Barbie in the 1960s. That she never stood a chance is obvious to us now with our jaded hindsight. The Tammy doll was touted as a modern teenager, but her body proportions were little different from the chubby baby-women dolls of the 1950s. Worse, she was given a family. Unlike Barbie, whose parents had the decency to stay out of sight, providing her with additional siblings as market-research demanded them, Tammy's parents were dolls you could buy. So, too, were her younger sister Pepper and older brother Ted. All members of the Turner family have big ol' lollipop heads, too, which distracts from the otherwise fine quality of the accessories you could purchase for them.
Tammy had just about everything that Barbie had, so it shouldn't have surprised me to find that in 1964 - just as Mattel was discontinuing it's line of Barbie novels with Random House - Ideal had Whitman Publishing put out two Tammy novels. The first of these two, 'Tammy: Adventure in Hollywood', has Tammy jetting off from her vague midwestern town to spend the summer with her poor, rich cousin and her jet-setting parents in Hollywood. Along the way we all learn a little something about self-esteem and the perils of a life performing for the big screen.
I think Alice Wellman, the writer of this book, definitely read some of the Barbie novels and aimed to one-up Mattel's Famous Teen-Age Fashion Model Doll. While the story and its characters mostly stay within the bounds of propriety, there are some definite grey areas to character behavior. Tammy has some definite physical feelings for an unscrupulous 20-year-old actor and no one seems to be bothered by them. The man, though known to be financially insolvent and quick with a lie, is clearly a suitable escort for a 16-year-old girl. In general, almost everyone with prolonged contact with Hollywood is found to be wanting in character, but Tammy has to figure this out for herself so she can return to the boyfriend back home in Harrison who insists that she "not change."
Tammy
Next: 'Tammy: Adventure in Squaw Valley' (yikes)
Tammy had just about everything that Barbie had, so it shouldn't have surprised me to find that in 1964 - just as Mattel was discontinuing it's line of Barbie novels with Random House - Ideal had Whitman Publishing put out two Tammy novels. The first of these two, 'Tammy: Adventure in Hollywood', has Tammy jetting off from her vague midwestern town to spend the summer with her poor, rich cousin and her jet-setting parents in Hollywood. Along the way we all learn a little something about self-esteem and the perils of a life performing for the big screen.
I think Alice Wellman, the writer of this book, definitely read some of the Barbie novels and aimed to one-up Mattel's Famous Teen-Age Fashion Model Doll. While the story and its characters mostly stay within the bounds of propriety, there are some definite grey areas to character behavior. Tammy has some definite physical feelings for an unscrupulous 20-year-old actor and no one seems to be bothered by them. The man, though known to be financially insolvent and quick with a lie, is clearly a suitable escort for a 16-year-old girl. In general, almost everyone with prolonged contact with Hollywood is found to be wanting in character, but Tammy has to figure this out for herself so she can return to the boyfriend back home in Harrison who insists that she "not change."
Tammy
Next: 'Tammy: Adventure in Squaw Valley' (yikes)
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