Gianfranco™ Ken® Doll | Barbie Collector

Gianfranco™ Ken® Doll | Barbie Collector

The last Barbie Fan Club doll of 2014 is a Silkstone Ken, designed by Robert Best, limited to 3300. He retails for $75 and goes on sale October 1.

Photo is the property of Mattel.

Sweet Talkin' Ken, the Ultimate Boyfriend for Every Occasion.

Nope, I'm not kidding. That's how he's advertised. Isn't it a relief? For $19.99 suggested retail, you can own the perfect boyfriend, too. This is how Mattel opens his promotional flyer:

For nearly five decades, Ken has been Barbie's perfect arm-candy. (...) Now girls of all ages can have the ultimate boyfriend for every occasion with Sweet Talkin' Ken™.

Apparently, he can record up to five seconds of sound in your voice when you press the heart on his shirt. He graciously plays it back to you in his "Ken" voice, a high pitched voice, or the original recorded voice.

Ladies, your dating problems are officially over. We and our daughters can rest assured for the remainder of our lives. I think he'd make the perfect addition to Spy Barbie--er, I mean, Barbie Video Girl™.

If you just can't wait for this doll, he is due to arrive in stores and dealers early January, according to his promotional flyer. Or, for phones with App capability, you might try Talking Carl. He's a huge hit around my house, and is available in the App Store and for Android users, also.

1961 Flocked Hair Ken Doll, Stock #750

Barbie's boyfriend Ken was introduced in 1961 and, for the first year, had "flocked" hair (fuzzy headed). This hair flocking easily rubbed off so Mattel changed Ken to a molded hair model in 1962. The hair colors available that first year were blonde, brunette, and a rare brownette color. Ken had blue forward-glancing eyes, mauve lips, and brown eyebrows.

He was made of hard plastic with a hollow torso marked: Ken T.M./Pats. Pend./c. MCMLX/by Mattel, Inc. He was dressed in bathing trunks, sandals, and sometimes a red and white beach jacket. The trunks were a solid red knit or red cotton with a white stripe up the sides, solid red cotton. The sandals are cork with a red vinyl strap. Other accessories included a fashion booklet, black wire stand, blue foil wrist tag, and a yellow towel (not found with all Ken dolls).

The box liner is in two pieces and is made of cardboard. The box top graphics consist of drawings of Ken in several of his early outfits including Saturday Date, Campus Hero, Tuxedo, Dreamboat, In Training, Terry Togs, Sleeper Set, and Casuals. There are also three drawings of Barbie doll in Enchanted Evening, Friday Night Date, and a coral swimsuit. Note that the black and white trunks depicted on Ken were never produced. Earlier boxes show the black and white trunks, later boxes depict Ken in red trunks. Boxes may or may not be marked as to hair color.

My flocked hair Ken came with his original store receipt from Grant's department store for $1.88 and was purchased on September 14, 1961. If you'd like to add a flocked hair Ken doll to your collection today it will set you back a bit more at about $20 for a nude Ken to approximately $175 for a boxed Ken with all the accessories.