Dorothy Hamill (Ideal)

Dorothy Hamill
Ideal
1977

We can't help but think that the reason behind a Dorothy Hamill doll was to somewhat push Barbie out of the spotlight. Why buy a blonde haired, non working woman who seems to revel in her own beauty, when you can and should buy a doll based on a real working girl who fought her way to the Olympics in 1976 to become the gold medal champion?

That may not necessarily have been the premise behind the doll, but we still think it.

Well, as we said, Dorothy Hamill was the gold medal champion of the Olympics in 1976 for ice skating. She then went on to become the champion of the world in that same "sport". After her continued success in the Olympics, Hamill joined up as a headliner for Ice Capades (1977 to 1984). She would eventually buy the franchise in 1993, but then sold it in 1995.

Due to her success and popularity, she was voted and tied for first place with Mary Lou Retton in 1993 as the most well known athlete in America - Beating out the likes of Michael Jordon, Joe Montana and many others. The contest included the names of 800 athletes in total.

But, what about this 1977 doll from Ideal? We've already given our opinion on how that came about. Opinions of origins aside though, it's a pretty fantastic item - Especially if you're into doll collecting. The included Olympic medal has got to be one of our all time favorite accessories included with any packaged doll. The detail on it alone is superb.

 

That's just cool how much detail they got into that! Especially in 1976. Kudos to Ideal for a job well done.

Featured in the package was also an ice skating rink. However, before you get too excited about this, it's not really a rink. Instead it's a round plastic stand. You put the doll on it, then with your hand push the stand around, and Dorothy will spin and spin as she moves across whatever surface you're pushing her on. The included instruction booklet also depicted numerous poses to put the doll in to showcase real ice skating moves.

The doll also featured its own line of clothing - All of it ice skating related. Three individual outfits were produced and released. They were released under the tag line, "Star Performance Outfits".

Show Stopper*Rehearsal Warm Up*Swirling Snow Flake

From the obscure to the most popular, we try to dig them all up here at The Toy Box. We hope you've enjoyed our look at Ideal's Dorothy Hamill doll from 1977.

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