The first of numerous Barbie family and friends named Kelley/Kelly was the redhead Quick Curl Kelley in 1973. She was recreated a year later as Yellowstone Kelley.
The Yellowstone doll is rare. In 40 years of collecting, I have seen two loose versions of her, and I own one of them, in poor condition; her hair is chopped off and her arms fall off. (In comparison, I have seen a #1 Barbie twice in four decades, which tells you just how hard to find YK is.)
Ironically, the Whitman paper doll set of her, #1956 from 1975, is easier to locate than the doll itself, but even that paper doll set is pretty rare. There is no indication on the cover that she is a friend of Barbie's, except for the Mattel copyrights. The clothes inside are a mixture of her original outfit, color variations of some 1974 Best Buys, and Whitman creations.
The cover is very different from the glamorous or cutesy Barbie paper dolls, with drawings of Kelley feeding a deer, rock climbing, campfire cooking and watching Old Faithful. I am curious as to why this is the only United States National Park that Mattel has ever used, both past and present. The various parks would make wonderful playsets for the dolls to use, and as far as I know, Barbie and Ken have never been park rangers. I also wonder why Mattel chose to use the name "Yellowstone Kelley," as Yellowstone Kelly (no second "e") is the name of a 1959 western starring Clint Walker. Did Mattel buy the rights to the name?
The other detail I wonder about with this doll is that she has beautiful auburn hair and a deep Malibu suntan. The first Kelley doll was very fair-skinned. Wouldn't someone with red hair out in the country be either covered completely with freckles, or suffer a severe sunburn?
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The Yellowstone Kelley paper doll looks a little underdressed
to be hiking in the forest!
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1974's Yellowstone Kelley is a rare Barbie friend,
and her paper doll set is hard to find.
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Never understood the reasoning behind Kelley's original outfit,
with the red polka dot shirt clashing with the blue and white striped slacks.
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| The blue gown is a variation of Barbie Best Buy 7757 from 1974. |
