HE’S A DOLL!™ – Mattel copyrighted this line to introduce Barbie’s boyfriend Ken in March 1961, through the trade magazines Playthings and Toys & Novelties and at the American International Toy Fair in New York. The first Kens were issued with red shorts (with white stripes down the sides) and sandals, towel, wire stand and booklet. The earliest promotional images show him in black and white trunks, matching the original Barbie swimsuit. This version was not commercially produced, though all 1961 Kens came in a box which features him wearing black and white shorts on the cover. According to the April issue of Playthings, Ken was officially available to dealers from June 1961. The original TV commercial, using prototypes, can be seen on Youtube.
He was made in Japan and came with crew-cut flocked hair in various colours. Officially there are three versions: brunette (very dark brown to black), blonde, and the version known as a ‘brownette‘ (mid-browns ranging from sandy to dark reddish brown). Every kind of blonde from lemon to ash, straw and strawberry has been found, but most ‘variations’ are simply the results of ageing. The original flocked hair Ken is arguably the most beautiful Ken ever, but sadly came with one major design-flaw: his flocking simply couldn’t withstand intensive play or washing. For this reason Mattel were eventually forced to discontinue him, and by Christmas 1963 had completely replaced him with a new-look Ken with painted hair.
For more information and many more detailed photographs see THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
KEN #750 (blonde and brunette)
All flocked hair Kens were packaged with one card insert at the shins and one at the neck, and had a cellophane bag covering the head to protect the hair. This bag may look a bit spooky, but they are now highly prized by MIB (mint in box) collectors.
Some Kens have perfect matt complexions, while on others the plastic has either gone shiny all over the face, or pink and chalky around the jaw. Their hair ‘cut’ also varies between a straight hairline which goes down to the temples at right angles, or a more convex hairline curving at the temples. The eyebrows also vary greatly in shape and colour. These Kens can even differ in size and stance. In fact, I’ve studied countless flocked hair Kens, and have never seen two which looked identical.
All 1961 blonde and brunette Kens came with a pink booklet, a yellow towel and sandals in a cellophane bag, and they wore the same wrist tag. Close-up photos of these can be seen in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK).
THE ‘BROWNETTE’ KENS
The brown-haired versions were only sold in the first year. The term ‘brownette’ is generally used to describe these Kens, but, as far as I know, is not an official Mattel trademarked name. The order catalogues from 1961 which feature Ken, such as Montgomery Ward, Aldens and Spiegel, all only show this brown-haired version. The only exceptions (like the Western Auto Fall Winter 1961-1962 catalogue) show the original prototype. Sears do not feature Ken in any of their catalogues from 1961, and JCPenney did not even produce mail order catalogues until they took over the General Merchandise Company in 1963. However, collectors have found ‘brownette’ Kens with price stickers on the boxes from JCPenney, Sears and many other stores all over the US, so they were obviously not sold exclusively through any one store.
‘Brownettes’ have a different style of face paint, with (usually) pale brown eyebrows, and a white crescent or dash inside the pupil (unlike the regular flocked hair Kens, which have a white dot in the iris). I have also seen versions with and without a painted scalp under the flocking. Very occasionally there are exceptions found. Mattel obviously experimented with Ken’s look in the first year, and flocked haired Kens, including ‘brownettes’ have been found with heavier dark brown eyebrows (see example in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK). An example of such a Ken can also be found in the 1961 Aldens Christmas catalogue. The ‘brownette’ Kens came with their own unique wrist tag and a slight variation booklet, which can be seen below, and in detail in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
KEN #750 (‘brownette’)
THE RED TOWEL
The ‘brownette’ Ken appears with a red towel in at least three contemporary catalogues: the 1961 Aldens Christmas Book, the 1961 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalogue, and the Mostow Co. Yearly Wholesale catalogue No.149. This means the red towel was also not exclusive to any one store. However, only about a quarter of the ‘brownettes’ I’ve found for sale originally-packaged over the years seem to have come with a red towel. I know the Kens directly above came with regular yellow towels, as I bought them from the original owners. I have found two differently shaped red towels, both of which can be seen in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
The two ‘brownettes’ below left illustrate how flocked hair Kens can vary in size and stance. The brunettes show slight variations in hair colour. However, notice how the face of the lighter-haired Ken has changed, especially around the jaw, so it is possible that his hair colour has also been affected by some ageing process.
UNUSUAL HAIR COLOURS
The most common question I’m asked by other collectors is whether an official ‘Titian’ flocked hair Ken was ever released. So far in all my research there has been no proof: not a single catalogue features, or makes a mention of, a red-head Ken, and no box has yet been found with ‘Titian’ or ‘Redhead’ printed on the box lid end. The few that have occasionally appeared for sale as redhead Kens were either reflocks, or the flocking looked extremely dubious, as if some ageing process had altered it (like the one below left). Kens with regular face paint but unusually light brown hair (like the ones below middle and right) are also always damaged in some way, and are certainly just regular blondes or brunettes, which have just been affected by age and aggressive play.
FEET MARKINGS
Some 1961 flocked hair Kens, including ‘brownettes’, have differently-shaped feet from all others, with more careful detailing to the toes. The markings also differ: JAPAN is stamped very small across the width of the sole of the right foot. All other Kens from 1961 have JAPAN stamped large along the length of the sole. Photos of both versions can be found in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
PATENT STAMP
All 1961 Kens were stamped on the bottom with the Ken logo and Mattel copyright, dated 1960. (According to the website trademarkia.com, a U.S. federal trademark registration was filed for KEN by Mattel Inc., El Segundo, CA 90245- 501 on Monday 17 October 1960).
THE 1961 BOXES
The box lid front and sides remained mostly the same during 1961, but the ends came in several versions. All versions of the 1961 box can be seen in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
Most Ken boxes made in Japan have a small stamp inside the box lid, with ‘K’ and a number. My own collection contains boxes stamped with numbers ranging from K1 to K284. I have no idea what these stamps refer to exactly, though would be grateful to hear from anyone who does know: contact@somethingabouttheboy.com.
THE WIRE STAND
All original Kens from 1961-67 came with a wire stand or “pedestal”.
BOOKLETS & CATALOGUES
The first hint that a boy doll could be in the pipeline is through the Barbie Game, advertised already (for a spring release) in the January 1961 issue of Playthings Magazine. The game features four prospective boyfriends for Barbie – including Ken – who can all be seen here. The Ken doll is first introduced to Barbie fans through the 1961 Barbie Club Newsletter.
The earliest pictured versions of the actual Ken doll I have found are from Mattel advertising and promotional material from March 1961. He is shown wearing black and white striped trunks – which were not commercially produced. The Mattel 1961 Annual Report shows a later prototype, which also features in the Mattel Dolls 1961 catalogue. This one is certainly closer to the final Ken, but note the pink towel. The Spiegel catalogue also shows a pink towel, but the written description states “Towel not incl.”, which presumably means that the pink towel was never commercially available.
Despite his official trade launch in March, Ken was not available to dealers until June (see Playthings magazine from April 1961 below).
The Barbie & Ken booklet which came with the ‘brownette’ version is not dated on the cover, but is otherwise practically identical to the regular one, with just slight differences to the printing and colouring. Both show the same generic illustration of Ken and have no mention of hair colour. It is missing part of Ken’s description, which (as it ends half way through a sentence) is presumably a printing error. Either that, or it was because some ‘brownettes’ really didn’t come with a towel (as alluded to in the Spiegel catalogue below).
Ken does not appear in any 1961 store catalogues until Christmas (at least I’ve discovered none so far), and they all feature ‘brownette’ Kens only. The only exception is the Western Auto Fall Winter catalogue, which shows the original prototype, and has no mention of hair colour. The Spiegel catalogue shows Ken with a pink towel. However, the written description states “Towel not incl.”, which presumably means that the pink towel was never commercially available.
For the first couple of years Ken was occasionally pictured with bendy arms, an artistic licence which sadly didn’t do him any favours.
Annual catalogues, as well as Spring Summer and Fall Winter catalogues usually only show items from the previous Christmas. Hence the 1961 version of Ken with white-striped shorts and towel appears in several catalogues from 1962. Note however that they now show regular blonde and brunette Kens.
The only exception is shown below, from 1962 Monroe catalogue (also packaged as the Mostow catalogue for 1962). It shows all three versions of Ken (‘brownette’, blonde, brunette) as clothing models. However, the main picture shows a blonde Ken holding the rare ‘brownette’ red towel, and the written description also states that the Ken being sold is blonde. It is possible that this Ken was sold with a red towel (making it extremely rare indeed), but it is equally as possible that the Kens and accessories were mixed up during the photo shoot, and that this blonde Ken was accidentally given a red towel for the photo only (i.e. the actual blonde Kens sold came with a regular yellow towel). The Majestic catalogue for 1962 also states that the Ken for sale is blonde.
The 1962 Fall Winter Spiegel catalogue states that Ken comes “With Swimsuit, sun glasses”. This was probably just an error, copied from the Barbie description.
THE REPRODUCTIONS
Mattel have produced several reproduction vintage dolls and gift sets for the adult collector. The brunette flocked hair Ken was first reproduced in 1991 for his 30th Anniversary, as a porcelain doll. The 45th Anniversary version from 2006 is a slightly more faithful reproduction, with a version of his original box and the 1961-style beach outfit and towel. A similar brunette was also issued in 2009, wearing Tuxedo, as part of the (Barbie 50th Anniversary) Wedding Day gift set, and again in 2011, wearing his 1961-style beach outfit as part of the (Ken 50th Anniversary) My Favorite Ken gift set. This same brunette Ken also appeared in 2011 (inside an Iron Man style robot suit) as Chogo-Ken by Ambush, a Platinum Label collector piece, limited to 25 boxed sets. A reproduction of the blonde flocked hair Ken (wearing Dreamboat) was issued in 2006 as part of the Friday Night Dream Date gift set, and in 2021 in his original 1961 beach outfit to celebrate Ken’s 60th birthday. A reproduction of the ‘brownette’ Ken (brown hair but regular style face paint) wearing Touchdown was issued in 2008 as part of the Campus Spirit gift set.
