Barbie’s Little Sister Kelly
Presented
to the Busy Gals Doll Club
of Jacksonville, FL
15 February 2003
By Kerry Coleman
The
name Kelly has been around Barbie’s world for a while, beginning with Quick
Curl Kelley, 1973-1976 and Yellowstone Kelley in 1974.
She was 11 ½”, with a TNT body and used the Steffie face mold.
She was a “friend of Barbie”.
The
name next appeared in 1991 in as Flower Girl Kelly and in the Wedding
Day Kelly &Todd Gift Set. She
used the future Stacie head and body mold.
She was not part of Barbie’s family and there was no explanation given
on the box as to who she was, although found later on a Mattel trivia card, her
partner, Todd, is said to have been Alan’s “cousin”.
Finally,
in 1995, Kelly was introduced as a new sister joining the Roberts Family!
She was estimated at being between 2 and 3 years of age due to gift sets
such as “Potty Training Kelly” and “Eating Fun Kelly” which came with a
high chair. Her “title”
as “Baby Sister Kelly” was changed to “Sister Kelly” when Krissy
appeared as the infant sister in 1999.
There
are 3 basic head molds for Kelly – closed mouth, open mouth and teeth.
The teeth mold confuses some people into thinking there is an extra head
mold because sometimes the teeth are painted white, and other times they are
painted with the lip colour. There
is a rumour of an ethnic Kelly mold recently released, but it has not been
substantiated. There are only two body types – regular and action with
jointed knees. The jointed knee
body is found on the Olympic Kellys and the “Growing Up” Kellys.
Kelly
has lots of friends – the most “famous” being Tommy, Ken’s little
brother. Tommy was introduced 2 years after Kelly, in 1997 in
the “Big Brother Ken, Little Brother Tommy” set.
Here
are the “Little Friends of Kelly”: Becky,
Belinda, Chelsie, Deidre, Desiree, Jenny (Julie), Kayla, Keeya, Liana, Lorena,
Maria, Marisa, Melody (Susie), Nia, Nikki, Ryan, and Tamika (Tabitha).
Ryan was introduced 2001 as a friend, but now we all know that he is
actually the son of Midge and Alan. In 2000, the title “Little Friends of Kelly” was
replaced with “Kelly Club”.
Kelly
and friends have been coming out for practically every holiday:
Valentines, Easter, Halloween and Christmas. There are family sets with her sisters, sets with just her
and Barbie, and sets that pair up both her and Tommy in storybook costumes.
The last Olympics provided us with a slew of “action” Kellys in
Olympic costumes for different sporting events.
Other sites:
http://www.crosswinds.net/~kattisdolls/kelpics.htm
http://www.tabloach.com/kellyhome1.htm
http://www.manbehindthedoll.com/TOMMY.htm