By the mid-1970s only Montgomery Ward and Sears were still selling genuine Mattel Ken clothing through the Christmas catalogues. The other stores sold their own cheaper ‘clone’ clothing, sometimes in combination with a genuine Ken, but mostly independently. There were several different-looking male clone dolls produced in this period, but the classic Mod era Ken was now being widely copied and would continue to appear right into the 1980s.
BOB SCOUT BY KENNER
Kenner were clearly inspired by Mattel’s Brad (see the 1970 Boys section) when they produced the head for their Bob Scout doll.
The Spiegel catalogue pictures a classic clone with red hair and a beard, apparently their new Don. I’ve not yet found this doll packaged as Don, but the pictures below show the same doll packaged for the Italian market as Marco. Note that in the box illustration he’s wearing the outfit referred to as Campus Casual on the Gary packaging shown in the section Mod Clones & Clothing.
FRANK, UDO & TONI (US & EUROPE)
Frank & Toni were sold in the US and Europe during the 1970s, though as the packaging is not dated it is impossible to give exact dates. Udo seems to have been sold only in Germany. Frank can vary quite a lot, with different hair and skin colour, body parts, even different heads, but all these dolls were almost certainly produced by the same factory in Hong Kong. I have also seen Frank clothing packaged with French writing. For earlier Toni and Frank outfits, see section Mod Clones & Clothing.
This Kent doll is packaged identically to Frank, but the writing is in English, so he was obviously sold in English-speaking countries.
The blonde Toni below is especially interesting as he is wearing Mattel’s beach outfit from the 1970-71 Talking Ken. The doll next to him is bizarrely called Tomy – presumably a Hong Kong spelling mistake for Tony
BOBBY ORR BY REGAL TOY LIMITED
Regal Toy Limited in Canada packaged two different dolls as Bobby Orr in 1975, though neither of them look anything like the blonde Ice Hockey champion. Like Joe Namath (see section Mod Clones & Clothing), Bobby Orr is one of the few celebrity/sports dolls to be given several separate fashion outfits. Note how the doll on the reverse of packaging is a generic brown-haired doll.
Some of the extra Bobby Orr outfits were obviously sold in Italy too, for the male doll Charly.
FRED BY PLASTY (GERMANY)
The first rooted hair version, called Fred Star, appeared in 1974, and was obviously inspired by Mattel’s Mod Hair Ken. According to the Petra catalogues both the painted hair and the rooted hair versions were available until 1977 at least. Around 1976 a third doll, Super-Fred, was introduced. He had flocked hair, was more action figure-like and clearly based on GI Joe/Action Man.
Below is just a very small sample of the outfits available for Fred from 1974-1977. The numbering of the outfits is quite bizarre, as each year similar or identical numbers were allotted to totally different outfits. Most years had a single clothing line, but from 1975-77 Fred had two clothing lines, the regular one plus a ‘Men’s Shop’ line.
(YOUNG SWEETHEARTS) MICHAEL BY MATTEL
In 1976 Mattel released this Michael doll, who looks like a younger version of The Now Look Ken. Four matching his ‘n hers outfits were released in conjunction with these dolls though, as Michael is much skinnier, his clothes do not really fit Ken.
(SUNTAN) ERIC BY IDEAL
Eric is the boyfriend of Tuesday Taylor, and the first male doll to come complete with a terrific personality! He was only produced for two years, and I don’t believe he had his own clothing range. The first two Erics are both dated 1976 on the reverse of card. Suntan Eric is from 1977.
