A BRIEF HISTORY OF BLYTHE AND HER REINCARNATION
In 1972, the Blythe doll was born. She died later that year.
Mainly because her oversize head and peepers were deemed too scary for children, Blythe's manufacturer Kenner summarily pulled this kooky, big-eyed doll from the shelves, preventing many young girls from meeting her – at least for the moment. One of those little girls was Gina Garan.
Gina moved from the suburbs north of New York City into Manhattan as a teenager, bringing her burgeoning doll collection with her. But among the thousands of 60s and 70s fashion dolls she had already amassed, not a single Blythe lived. Only after a friend described a doll on eBay bearing a resemblance to her did Gina first meet, fall in love with, and begin snapping up these originals, all for about $15 a pop. At one point, she counted over 200 original Blythes among her collection.
For another couple years, Blythe continued to live in relative obscurity, known only to hard-core collectors as a quaint curiosity. But Gina, living the peripatetic life of the young downtowner, moved into her nth apartment and among the detritus left by the former tenant found an old SLR camera. With no formal training as a photographer, she began taking pictures of her favorite doll. The result of this experiment was This Is Blythe (Chronicle Books, 2000), a coffee-table digest that reintroduced Blythe to the world. The book, named Firecracker Alternative Book of the Year for 2001, has sold over 100,000 copies and remains in print.
Mainly because her oversize head and peepers were deemed too scary for children, Blythe's manufacturer Kenner summarily pulled this kooky, big-eyed doll from the shelves, preventing many young girls from meeting her – at least for the moment. One of those little girls was Gina Garan.
Gina moved from the suburbs north of New York City into Manhattan as a teenager, bringing her burgeoning doll collection with her. But among the thousands of 60s and 70s fashion dolls she had already amassed, not a single Blythe lived. Only after a friend described a doll on eBay bearing a resemblance to her did Gina first meet, fall in love with, and begin snapping up these originals, all for about $15 a pop. At one point, she counted over 200 original Blythes among her collection.
For another couple years, Blythe continued to live in relative obscurity, known only to hard-core collectors as a quaint curiosity. But Gina, living the peripatetic life of the young downtowner, moved into her nth apartment and among the detritus left by the former tenant found an old SLR camera. With no formal training as a photographer, she began taking pictures of her favorite doll. The result of this experiment was This Is Blythe (Chronicle Books, 2000), a coffee-table digest that reintroduced Blythe to the world. The book, named Firecracker Alternative Book of the Year for 2001, has sold over 100,000 copies and remains in print.
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