Since I first made this page and uploaded it in May of 2009, something happened! Somebody found a bunch of these dolls never removed from package! A member of my Yahoo group mentioned that they found listings for these dolls on ebay and so I hunted down the listings. One problem, ebay search didn't bring up any results under "stretchy", "stretchie", "stretch doll", "stretch doll ideal" or anything else. So I had to go to the ideal doll category and go through pages and pages of listings until I found them. They were listed properly, so I can't imagine why ebay search didn't bring them up. My perseverance paid off. I contacted the seller who stated in the auction text that "this doll was so rare, they don't even know how it was spelled". Since Oh My Dolls is the only website to mention her at all, and that was something I mentioned on my site, I knew he'd found me! What luck! And so.......... the mystery clears just a bit. Her name is indeed STRETCHIE!!!!!!! And yes, I have pictures! Keep reading. At the end of the old page, I added the NEW INFO and PHOTOS!!!! :-)
Here is the old text:
"Here is a doll that few people seem to remember or know anything about. I've never seen her in any books and I have never seen one come up on ebay.
Meet Stretchy! Or was it spelled "Stretchie"? I don't know, but nobody else does either!"
Name: Stretchy (might be wrong name or spelling, but I believe I am right)(was wrong! Its Stretchie)
Year: 1972 (no information on how long this doll was available; date is on doll)
Manufacturer: Ideal
Information and description: This unusual doll came in the carry cases pictured below. Although THAT carry case belonged to me in childhood and I used it over the years to carry everything from my Dawn dolls to my 1977 Magic Hair Crissy's wigs, my original Stretchie doll is not the one pictured. I had one with reddish brown hair, not blonde. I don't know what happened to my childhood doll, but the blonde one I have now came from a thrift store in Queens, NY about 1998 or so. I knew immediately what she was and was glad to spend a dollar for her.
Her checkered outfit more or less matches her hair and so did my doll's dress with the reddish-brown hair. I don't know how many years these dolls where available and I would imagine they weren't as successful for Ideal as the Flatsy dolls were, but I liked them a lot as a kid.
Note that eventually, the accordion plastic stops being able to completely contract and I'd imagine you might end up with a doll who has one very long leg and one less long. They have very posable arms and legs when the doll is not stretched out too much from play. The one I feature on this page is in very good condition, but notice that she looks even in the second photo where she is all stretched but in the bottom photo, where I contracted her, you can see that some of the folds don't work in the arm that is towards the camera. Still, she is very functional and in great shape. This doll's hair was not in its original set, so I put it in a ponytail and used my own ponytail holder that matched the outfit. I chose a replica Goody brand "click-clack" as we used to call them.
I would ask no less than $15 for her in an auction. She is not for sale, though.
I've done searches for this doll and nobody seems to have any information about her and I've found no pictures. I searched for her by name, variations of the name, and by description (accordion plastic white legs, etc) and "1972 stretch doll by Ideal". If you know anything about this doll and would like to provide more information for this page or have one and would like to add pictures of your doll to this gallery page, you can send me an email to my gmail account. The name is ohmydolls3.
My childhood Stretchie case with a doll I'd found in a thrift store in around 1998 (or maybe 1996)
The back of each Stretchie case had these molded "laces". The cases are all the same except for color.
July 2010 Update
As I said at the top of the page, somebody found this page and I found him and now, I am proud to add some of the only photos I know of anywhere of the Stretchie dolls.
I never actually knew there were different varieties of Stretchie dolls back in 1972. When I discovered the blonde one featured above, I was surprised and thought, "Wow. There was a blonde one?". I figured other styles and colors were possible, but had never seen any. As of this writing, I know now that there are at least four different Stretchies and each one is different. They all have different color hair, different dresses, different color "pocketbooks" and different graphics on the package card. Given the lack of info to be found, I'd say this is more info than I ever knew before, but what I do not know is whether or not there were more varieties than this and whether or not any were Black/African American, or any other ethnicity. There were two Black/AA Flatsy dolls by Ideal (Trixie Flatsy and a mini). I would imagine if there is a Black/AA version of Stretchie, she'd be extremely rare.
Of the four dolls that I now know exist, we have a pale blonde with blue eyes who comes in a spring green colored case, an auburn doll with dark eyes and an orange case, a yellow blonde with dark eyes and a bright pink case, and finally a brunette doll with dark eyes and a purple case. I would love to collect them all!
So a BIG "Thank YOU" to Jeff Skinkus, known as ebay seller BMKMGNT. You can look him up under that name on a seller search to see what he has listed currently. He can also be contacted at his yahoo email address: ottojello. When I contacted Jeff and explained that it was my site he'd found and that I would love to feature his Stretchie photos, he was very agreeable. I was also able to buy my childhood auburn haired Stretchie from him NRFB!!!!!!! I would love to take her out but I just can't. How could I destroy something so rare? Even though I really would love to play with her.
Without further ado, here are some of the only photos of Stretchie that I know exist, starting with my childhood doll! I took these photos when she arrived. Isn't she cute!
Notice the card attached to the case. The outfit seems right but the hair is wrong and she color is wrong. I wonder if like Flatsy, Ideal made or intended to make neon color hair Stretchie dolls?
I LOVE the MOD look of the blue eyed doll in the spring green case!
Oddly, the yellow blonde doll with dark eyes is the only one of the four that has the correct picture on her card. That's her hair, her clothes and her eye color. One must wonder why all the others are so different than the doll in the case with the exception of the clothing. Notice each photo of the cards shows the correct clothing, but not the correct hair and eyes. I guess we will never know.
I love the purple case! Notice again, the drawing is the right clothes, but this doll doesn't have pink hair!
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