Sindy Our Pedigree Girl Of The 60's

In 1978 Luis Marx, part of the Dundbee Combex Marx group of companies, which had owned Pedigree since 1970, decided to release Sindy to the American public. Luis Marx was a well established company and manufatured all sorts of toys for both boys and girls. But just like Tammy, that girl next door image was not to the tastes of the majority of American children, prefering the 'film star'/ Fashion model looks of Barbie, Sindy only lasted four short years and was phased out after Wesco took over her distribution in 1981.

However, we have Marx to be thankful for for the lovely, and highly collectable Gayle, Sindy's 'African American' friend. Gayle was also boxed with just 'Sindy's friend' printed on the box, and no actual name. Also released was a black basic bodied Funtime Sindy and a Wild west Sindy complete with jeans, check shirt, neck scarf, fringed waistcoat and chaps, and a cowboy hat.

Sindy also had a range of scenesetters, most of which we were already familiar with in the UK, the Eastham kitchen range included the hob, sink, eye level oven and washing machine, no wall cupboards or base unit was provided. There was a slight colour difference to the USA range as well, it was a more muted mustard colour. One thing Marx did add, was a refridgerator, a typical American double door one, very much like the ones so popular today with folk.This was also in mustard. Sindy's georgian dining room was the same as the UK's only with a change to the colour of the chair 'cushions', which were burgundy rather than green. Her bathroom consisted of the basin, bath and shower, no toilet, poor Sindy ! This was in a very nice blue with yellow towels.  The bedroom consisted of the bed, wardrobe, dressing table and bedside table, the only difference was the logo used on the furniture, and the shade of the bedside lamp, with was trimmed in blue, rather than pink lace, which makes perfect sense as the bed was in the familiar blue linen. Sindy's horse was from the Louis Mark range already availble and just 'altered' for Sindy with it's familiar tack, this horse was lovely and had movable legs which also bend at the knees.  She lived in her four room cross shape house, second edition UK one. And she drove a blue jeep style 'car'.

 The Style book announced Sindy...' Hi....I'm Sindy, Now that we're friends, lets share my world. Sindy was a blonde active Sindy, she wore a pretty tiered dress in light cotton, in a dark background spinkled with salmon, biege, gold and cornflower blue flowers. Cream lace trimmed the neckline and the tier at knee length. The sleeves were short puff sleeves. This was not as old fashioned as we all like to think, and a similar style dress can be seen in the movie 'Saturday Night Fever'. Worn off the shoulder, as this one can be to. Sindy's shoes were cream court shoes. This outfit was later used in the UK in 1981, issued on a basic body Sindy and entitled 'Springtime Sindy'.

 Here is a comparison of the Marx Sindy, on the left, and the UK Sindy on the right, both actives.

 'Sindy's Friend' or 'Sindy's Friend Gayle' depending of which box you bought her in, was a stunning addition to the Sindy range, and sadly and strangly, never introduced in the UK ? She is a very  popluar collectors item today. Again, an active body was used. Gayle's dress was a tad old fashioned for the time, but very colourful and really set off her dark skin tones beautifully. A crisp white cotton blouse with a turtle neck and short puff sleeves was worn under a red pinafore dress covered in white, yellow and royal blue daisy style flowers, with a sprinkling of fresh green leaves for good measure. This outfit never appeared in the UK. Gayle wore white court shoes. Both Sindy and Gayle here were bought mint in box, and were also sold in Canada, one of the style books being in both English, and French.

Sindy was released with 14 fashions, no more were added during her reign, and maybe this didn't exactly help her win over the American public, as Barbie had new and exiting up to the minute fashions every year, just like Sindy in the UK. USA Sindy's fashions were all UK ones, but with different names, or simply numbered. The named outfit were all prefixed with 'Lets go/have/get or take....a very clever marketing ploy as you really wanted to go shopping with Sindy, or riding, or get your beauty sleep together etc.....Descriptions of these outfits can be found in the relevant sections on this site, ie. Lets go shopping would be in 'Who wears the pants?'...'Lets get our beauty sleep' would be in 'Pyjama party' etc....

 'Lets Get Our Beauty Sleep' ( UK.. Misty Blue.. 1977 ).

 ' Lets Get Married' ( UK..Beautiful Bride..1978 ).

 ' Lets Go To The Ballet' ( UK..The outfit Active Sindy was resleased in in 1977 ) Unlike the UK Sindy, this outfit also came with a cute little pink shoe 'case' for Sindy to carry her ballet slippers in, a really nice finishing touch.

 'Lets Have A Dinner Party' ( UK.. Night Spot..1977 )

 'Lets Go Shopping' ( UK..Sunshine Girl..1977 )

 'Lets Go Riding' ( UK..Riding Out..1977 )

  'Lets Take It Easy'

 'Go Anywhere Series' 44201  ( UK.. Rock n Roller...1979)

Setting the scene in the USA was a little different to that of the UK, as already mentioned, here are some of the differences in Sindy's furnishings....

 Sindy's sofa, named 'Love seat' ! was made in maroon hard plastic, a very traditional wing design with a deep 'buttoned' back, a lovely edition to any Sindy collection.

 ' Armchair' was just that ! It matched the Loveseat and was a really 'cosy' armchair for Sindy to relax in after a 'busy' morning of shopping on Fifth Avenue.