Play Mitzi For Me: 1961 Reliable Barbie Clone
I met this lady at the Value Village in Kitchener this weekend. I fell in love with her blonde bubble cut hair, her red felt Jackie O suit and her impeccable makeup and manicure.
I did a little research and discovered that her name is Mitzi, that she was made by the Reliable Company of Canada and she is one of the earliest Barbie Clones. When Barbie debuted in 1959, the couldn’t keep her on the shelves, so department stores approached toymakers like Ideal and Reliable (who made the Canadian version of Mitzi) to come up with a lookalike. Mitzi was discontinued in 1962.
I believe the clothes are original — check out her lacy pink underpinnings below. The insouciant dolly is missing her shoes, though.
Lovely. I would have to add, however, that it was the Ideal version of Mitzi that came to be when Barbie demands couldn’t be met. Between Reliable and Ideal Mitizi dolls, “which came first, the chicken or the egg?”
Can you let me know if this doll has nipples as the doll I have has
No nipples.