Today we adopted a nodder doll from Aston Hotels. LIsa Kimura, director of marketing found one of these for us from their Hula Girl campaign back in the 1990’s. Similar to “bobble head” a nodder doll has a spring mechanism located toward the bottom of the nodder that allows the hula skirt to move rather than the head as in the bobble head. Most nodders have magnets on the bottom which were placed on cars in the 50s that had metal dashboards; even I am too young to remember them!!
The exact origin of the nodder or bobble head doll is unknown. Early nodders or bobbleheads depicting animals were sold by street vendors as novelty gifts for children. The production of modern day bobble head dolls began in the early 1960s and 1970s. But bobble head collecting did not start until the late 1980s. The quality of these dolls was not very good and many are found today with cracks and chips. Many of the originals were damaged and then destroyed.
