The 1966 outfits are the most collectable and expensive of all, but not quite as well-cut as the earlier stuff. As well as having basic collars, the shirts for Summer Job, Seein’ the Sights, Best Man and Here Comes the Groom only have one snap, rather than the usual two. Still, there are some great outfits here, though finding them is becoming increasingly difficult. This isn’t helped by online sellers listing fake and clone items as genuine Ken, so be very careful before spending a lot of money.
For more information and many more detailed photographs see THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
THE ENSEMBLE PAKS
TIME TO TURN IN #1418
TV’S GOOD TONIGHT! #1419
JAZZ CONCERT #1420
The trousers are unique to this outfit, made with the same cotton twill type fabric that Mattel also used for the Seein’ the Sights and the Best Man trousers, with a similar, loose cut. The shirt has a total of six buttons, one of which fastens with a rouleau loop at bottom.
SEEIN’ THE SIGHTS #1421
Some period advertising shows Seein’ the Sights with a red tie, but despite even being shown like that in the Barbie booklets and Mattel catalogues for 1966, this was not part of the set. The tie is not mentioned in the written description in the Mattel ’66 catalogues, it does not feature in all US (or in any European) advertising, and I’ve yet to find a tie in a NRFB version. In fact, notice how the shirt is displayed on purpose with an open collar. The tie either belonged to a prototype version, or was merely used as a ‘serving suggestion’, much like the extra clothing often shown with Campus Corduroys. The jacket is identical to that from Summer Job, just in different fabrics. And as with Summer Job, this shirt only has two buttons.
SUMMER JOB #1422
KEN A GO GO #1423
The Ken A Go Go shirt has a total of eight buttons: six down the front and one on either side. The ‘Beatles’ wig is very difficult to find, but unfortunately not particularly convincing. The outfit looks much better displayed without the wig. As with many of Ken’s more expensive accessories, there are occasionally fake wigs sold online: the genuine wig can be seen in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
BUSINESS APPOINTMENT #1424
This outfit is the one most often sold online with fake accessories. Close-up photos of the genuine hat and gloves can be seen further down the page, and in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
BEST MAN #1425
The genuine bow tie is made of the same fabric as the cummerbund. The bow tie originally came with a regular rubber band, which usually perishes, even when kept MIB, so any bow ties sold online with white ‘knicker’ elastic are almost certainly fakes (see further below for more information). The cummerbund has red elastic at back. The trousers are made of a cotton twill, with a distinctly different piping down the leg from Ken’s regular Tuxedo trousers. See THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK for more details about this outfit.
The shirts from Best Man and Here Comes The Groom can be found with silver or clear pearl buttons. Either they originally came like this, or the silver paint was accidentally removed through washing and/or bleaching. Certainly the NRFB versions I’ve found so far all have shirts with silver buttons.
HERE COMES THE GROOM #1426
Some versions of Here Comes the Groom came with a variation dark grey waistcoat, which can be seen in THE ORIGINAL KEN® BOOK.
The tailcoat has been found in Japan with a variation fabric.
MOUNTAIN HIKE #1427
The sweaters which came with Hiking Holiday and Mountain Hike have no labels, so genuine shorts all have a Ken label sewn inside. Note too that the genuine shorts fasten with zip-and-snap (most clone shorts have snap only).
THE ALLAN TRAVEL CASE
In Europe a variation travel case was sold with Allan on the front. I’ve found it featured in French, German, Dutch and Scandinavian booklets and catalogues from 1966-1968. They are marked ‘Made in France’.
The earliest European advertising shows a case with a variation design. Allan is shown on the left, with the two names and ‘Made in France’ on the right. In 2023 one of these cases appeared for sale on a Swiss auction website. I bought the one shown below in 2024 in Sweden. The Swiss version had the white cardboard drawers, but mine does not. Beyond a flattening of the plastic in that area, there are no signs the drawers were ever there (usually when the drawers are removed, the glue leaves terrible stains). These versions were then either super rare early releases, or prototpyes which were sent to the various European countries for promotional photos and were then handed on to children to play with.
The German and Swedish Barbie booklets for 1966 with Mattel’s own advertising show the variation ‘prototype’ Ken & Allan case. The Dutch toy catalogue and the later Mattel catalogue from 1968 show the regular version.
BOOKLETS & CATALOGUES
The Wards catalogue mixed up Jazz Concert and Seein’ the Sights.
Rather than disappoint customers (or lose business) by admitting they had sold out of an ordered item, Montgomery Ward would ship a similar replacement item, with a covering note. The note on the early-1964 version of Casuals (below left) is curious, as this Ward logo first appears on their catalogue covers in 1968 – by which time Ward were no longer selling these original Ken items through the catalogue.
Mattel also produced European booklets and brochures but, rather than using illustrations, the European versions had photographs. The titles of the outfits are often quite different. For example in German Here Comes the Groom is called Auf der Rennbahn (At the Races).
The German advertising below uses revamped sets from Mattel’s advertising brochure above. Both ads feature Ken as groom (though wearing Best Man). One location appears to be some kind of fashion salon, but a wedding couple at an airport (?) seems a little odd.
The Scandinavian brochures use the English names for all outfits, except for Ken in Switzerland.
The Danish brochure below is for Barbie og hendes venner.
The French Jouets 66 catalogue below left refers to Allan as Barbie’s boyfriend and Ken as Francie’s fiancé.
The 1966 Ensemble Paks were available as follows*:
TIME TO TURN IN 1966-1967.
TV’S GOOD TONIGHT! 1966-1967.
JAZZ CONCERT 1966-1967.
SEEIN’ THE SIGHTS 1966-1967.
SUMMER JOB 1966-1967.
KEN A GO GO 1966-1967.
BUSINESS APPOINTMENT 1966-1967.
BEST MAN 1966-1967.
HERE COMES THE GROOM 1966-1967.
MOUNTAIN HIKE 1966-1967 (Sold until 1968 in Europe).
*Based on information taken from US, Japanese & European Barbie booklets 1966-1968, Mattel Toy catalogues 1966-1967 and Mattel Employee Order Forms 1966-1967.
COLLECTORS BEWARE!
As collectors are prepared to pay high prices, many online sellers claim they have rare items or outfits which, on closer inspection, are clone or even homemade clothes. The Best Man outfit is a prime example, as there were several similar clone outfits produced. Someone even listed a white clone pullover (exactly like the one shown below) on Ebay as a “rare Mountain Hike variation”, and actually sold it (after many bids!) for a huge amount of money. Fake Business Appointment hats and gloves are regularly listed as genuine. Rival brands like Totsy, Premier and Shillman produced masses of similar clothing and accessories (see section Early Clones).
The genuine Business Appointment hat is a Homburg. It is oval with a wide brim, made of soft felt, and has a thin hatband. The piece for the head is like a half-sphere, with a single, elongated dent in the top. This is the only true Mattel hat.
The newspapers below are all genuine Mattel, but belong to completely different outfits and decades.
The Best Man bow tie is made of the same fabric as the cummerbund, and came with a regular thin rubber band, like all genuine Mattel neckwear from 1962 on (see directly below). This usually perishes with age, even with NRFB versions, so the genuine bow tie is almost never found with the band still attached. Clones can easily be spotted by the white ‘knicker elastic’ used. They are also usually longer than the genuine Mattel tie, and made of a cheaper, slightly brighter fabric.
* See section Vintage Clones.