So - I'm sure that I probably at least made mention of some of the toys that I grew up with here in my blog at one time or another, but I was just reminded of a certain one the other day.
Jimmy Fallon had Kyra Sedgwick on his show and she got to talking about how much loved those little Troll dolls. And Jimmy loved them, too! You remember them...the little yellow/fleshy skinned guys with huge frizzy wild colored hair and the funny little grin?!?
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| Notice the gemstone-less belly button! |
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Well, it turns out that there is quite a history behind these things. The Troll dolls were originally known as Leprechauns, and were also known as Dam dolls, Gonks, Wishniks, Treasure Trolls and Norfins. We only ever called them Trolls. They were a huge fad from 1963 through 1965. Their popularity faded out for awhile, but surged again for brief periods in the '70s, '80s and '90s and were made by a bunch of different manufacturers.
They were originally created in 1959 by a Danish fisherman and woodcutter named Thomas Dam - Hence the "Dam dolls" name. He couldn't afford a Christmas gift for his youngest daughter and so he carved the doll from his imagination. How cool is that? These dolls that we all grew up with all came from him making a toy for his daughter!
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| Some of the clothes that the Troll dolls wore |
We used to play with them - somehow it was ok for us boys to playing with "dolls" since they were
Troll dolls! We had clothes for them... we brushed their wild and colorful hair... we really did play with them. Kind of weird now that I think about it. But - it was a part of my growing up, it was a cool thing of the '70s (although I think I really did this more in the late '60s); and it's neat to look back on them now!
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| A boy Troll and girl Troll - It was all determined by colors |
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It seems like I couldn't find many pictures of the older ones. The newer ones have gemstones in their belly buttons. Did you all have Troll dolls growing up?
29 comments:
Had one. With red hair about 12 inches long. I took him in the pool and his hair came unglued.
I never did have any of these but my friend had a couple. I do have to admit that they did kind of scare me a bit though. It's nice that you had such fun playing with them. It was interesting reading about the history of these dolls.
These puppies DO have staying power! They seem to always pop up one or two times during each decade!
I STILL have some trolls! My BFF who lives in NYC (I live in NC) sent me a birthday troll on my b-day a couple of years ago. One Christmas I sent her a pair of Christmas troll earrings. They were dressed in green and had red hair and were small enough to fit on earring wires. I actually got myself a pair, too! We played with them when were about 9 or 10, and as the years rolled by, we found it funny to find trolls and troll things to send to each other!
My sister bestowed her beloved troll do to me. The original ones weren't called trolls. Anywho I loved that goofy thing... I was 5 or 6...
¿What were they originally called?
Hi, Anon!
...and thanks for the extra upside down question mark! :)
I didn't know this, but found it on Wikipedia :
A Troll Doll (Danish: Gjøltrold) is a type of plastic doll with furry up-combed hair depicting a troll, also known as a Dam doll after their creator Danish woodcutter Thomas Dam. The toys are also known as good luck trolls, or alternatively gonk trolls in the United Kingdom.
Of course there's a lot more on the page about them, but now I know what they were originally called! Thanks!!
I have about 100 of trolls different decades and different sizes but all are my cute babies
Ha haz I love those little faces and the cutest hair they have. They have started to pop up even in 2018
Yeah... I think that they'll probably be around forever!
They were not called trolls when I was growing up. They were not called any of those names on Wikipedia. For the life of me I can remember. I’m losing sleep over it! Help!
Well - I can't say that I remember any specific name for them - be it Troll Dolls or something else... but either way - they were a lot of fun in their own way.
I believe the ones I bought as a kid were called Wishniks (3" or so tall, not counting the hair). They were manufactured by a company named "Uneeda Doll Co.". But my oldest one (over 50 years old) does not have the "Uneeda" company stamp on the back, or the lucky horse shoe markings on the bottom of the feet, as some of my others do. I do have a larger troll (about 6", not counting hair), and that one is marked "Uneeda Wishnik" on the back, but has no horse shoe markings on the bottom of the feet.
...I think that a bigger 6" Troll might be a little scary. I'd hate to wake up and see that staring at me (cue the Psycho shower scene music)... :)
I still have some. Plus the newer ones my kids had. Have one on my frig.
Love this chat about Wishniks I have two minis stamped made in Korea on the bottom of the feet
My first troll had black hair. I gave him a haircut...it never grew back...can't imagine why...
Good thing these things didn't get insanely rare and valuable, or you'd be holding him and crying at your childhood antics. :)
I was born in 1962...oh how I remember these Trolls...I loved them...I would give anything if I still had some so I could pass on to my 5 yr old granddaughter. She is Troll crazy.She has Troll everything...even her new comforter my son got for her.Thanks Thomas Dam for invented the Troll.
Anyone have a Jumbo Troll Eskimo Doll? About 12" tall. White 'fur' jacket and pants, edged in lavender color (hair-like) "fur.". Bought at May Company in North Olmsted Ohio around 1964-5.
Sorry, haven't seen this - or even heard of it.... good luck getting any info on it... :)
I still have mine wish I could share a picture
I have a few trolls do they have markings on feet.. I bought them from second hand shop a bag full these I'm sure are what I had back in the 70s ..thankyou for advice jx
I remember these dolls as Wishniks back in the 60's-70's
They were called Iggys
I have been collecting these things 40+ years. They helped go through a divorce and a hard part of my life. I have over 500 of the dolls. About 75% are Russ as that was what I started collecting in 1986. Rather spending money on other things I would purchase stroll at the toy store that was next door to my work. I mean just looking at them those brown eyes and that ear to ear grin before you know it you are smiling back at them and you go on having a good day. That's why I bought them. Soon people who knew me would give them as bday gift Christmas or just because I had become a collector. As time went on and I received ones that weren't Russ or I found one in a thrift store that wasn't Russ and I just had to have it the collection grew. I try to stick to Russ but it is so much fun when you come across an old Dam or Norfin or wishnik troll. It's funny I have them all displayed in my home . It's quite extraordinary to see them all together. I have them set up somewhat ingroups yet all together. There is the soft cloth pajama babies different sizes and ones not in there jammies but dresses and trousers. There is occupational ones that includes any thing from a Dr to a pizza delivery guy to police man to a ballerina. There's the holiday trolls from new years to Christmas. I even have the bride and groom with ring bearer and flower girl. The bride and groom if course was on the wedding cake when I remarried. Lol. So yes I'm a collector and love all of my 542 dolls and counting.
Wow! Sounds like you should be in the Guinness Book of World Records! How cool that you've been able to collect so many, and so many different ones, too! I'm glad that they make you happy, and with 542 of them around, you must be very happy! :)
You should think about photographing, documenting all of them - I'm guessing the list would be very impressive. Thank you for sharing this on my blog, and I hope you continue to love and enjoy them all... even as you are able to add more in the future!
I was born in 1959 in Montana. We called them Ratfinks. But I couldn't find anything on the internet that called them by that name. Our school desk tops opened up like a suitcase laying flat. We would sneek them in and keep them in our desks.(no toys allowed in school, of course).
Wow, JK!
Thank you for your very informative, interesting and educational response to my post. I'll be honest - the info I put into the original post was just the result of me doing web research. How very interesting about the larger original Troll Dolls as opposed to the smaller ones that - I assume - most everyone associates with the name. I'll have to admit that I never came across any info, pics or posts of those larger Troll Dolls... it would be great to see a picture of one... I'll have to see what I can find on the web with some further research.
I'm so sorry that Troll-y deteriorated and ended up being thrown out. So cool that you saw him up in the Christmas Tree, too... I can imagine that it was pretty magical!
Again - I really appreciate you taking the time to share all of this!
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