Cabbage Patch Kids
The original dolls were all cloth and sold at local craft shows, then later at Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia.
Coleco Years
The dolls attracted the attention of toy manufacturer Coleco, who began mass-production in 1982. The Coleco Cabbage Patch Kids had large, round vinyl heads, (originally of a different, hard plastic), and soft fabric bodies, and were produced from 1982–1989.
After Coleco went bankrupt, the Cabbage Patch Kids were later mass produced by other companies, including Hasbro, Mattel, Toys R Us, and currently Play Along. Mattel started producing them after cancelling production of My Child dolls.
At the peak of their popularity, the dolls were a must-have toy for Christmas.
Parents across the United States flocked to stores to try to obtain one of the Cabbage Patch Kids for their children, with fights occasionally erupting between parents over the hard-to-find dolls. In later years, Coleco introduced variants on the original Cabbage Patch Kids, and derivatives of the original line of dolls continued to be marketed.
Hasbro Years
Hasbro took over the rights to produce Cabbage Patch dolls in 1989, and Hasbro continued to make dolls with gimmicks, such as dolls that played kazoos.
Some of the more popular doll lines to come out under the Cabbage Patch Kids name, were the "Birthday Kids", the "Splash 'n' Tan" Kids, and the "Pretty Crimp and Curl" Dolls. Hasbro gradually began making the dolls for younger children, leading to smaller and smaller dolls.
Although Cabbage Patch dolls were still one of the best selling dolls, Hasbro never really revitalized the Cabbage Patch market. In 1994, Mattel purchased the rights to the dolls.
Mattel Years
Mattel took over Cabbage Patch dolls from '94 to about 2003.
However, the dolls are not limited to cloth bodies--they can be made of all-vinyl, being a more durable play doll. The dolls are generally 14" or smaller, and most of them had a "gimmick"--they play on water-toys, swim, eat, or brush their teeth.
Some lines that were memorable were the updated 'Kids line, of basic cloth dolls with birth certificates, the OlympiKids for the 1996 Olympics and the line of Cabbage Patch Fairies. Mattel had the license to produce the line during the 15th anniversary of the Dolls mass-market debut.
Today, Play Along, a Jakks Company, now produces the traditional 16-inch 'Kids as well as Babies and newborns. SN&C was responsible for originating the name, graphics and Legend of the Cabbage Patch Kids — all created by SN&C president Roger Schlaifer and wife/partner, Susanne Nance Schlaifer.
After SN&C sold its exclusive rights back to Roberts' company, rights to the dolls were acquired by Hasbro and a succession of other toy companies. Soft and cuddly.
Talking Cabbage Patch Kids
A notable extension to the line was the "Talking Cabbage Patch Kid", equipped with a voice chip, touch sensors, and an infrared device for communicating with other such dolls.
The touch sensors enabled the toy to detect when and how the toy was being played with in response to its vocalizations, e.g. the doll might say "hold my hand" and give an appropriate speech response when the touch sensor in the hand detected pressure.
A more remarkable effect occurred when one doll detected the presence of another through its IR transmitter/receiver. "I think there's someone else to play with here!", and then to initiate simple conversations between the dolls themeselves with enough randomness to sound somewhat natural.
The product success was limited; some reasons offered at the time were the high price of the item ($100 or more); the need to have multiple dolls to take advantage of the full conversational effect; for some people the spookiness of having dolls converse with each other without human intervention; and the limited play value of a talking doll over its silent counterpart.
Babyland General Hospital
Babyland General Hospital is the soi-disant birthplace of Cabbage Patch Kids located in Cleveland, Georgia.
Roberts converted an old clinic into a facility from which to sell his dolls, originally called "Little People." The facility is presented as a birthing, nursery, and adoption center for premium Cabbage Patch Kids, in going with the theme, the people who work there dress and act as doctors and nurses caring for the dolls as if they are real children. Although the initial fad surrounding the dolls has largely died down, Babyland General is still heavily trafficked by diehard fans, tourists, and curiosity seekers.
Controversies and hoaxes
One line of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, the Cabbage Patch Kids Snacktime Kids, was designed to "eat" plastic snacks.
The mechanism enabling this was a pair of one-way metal rollers behind a plastic slot and rubber lips, and the plastic snacks would exit the doll's back into a backpack. The dolls were popular in Christmas 1996 and voluntarily withdrawn from the market by agreement between Mattel and the Consumer Product Safety Commission in January 1997 after several incidents where children got their fingers or hair stuck in the doll's mouth and safety warnings from Connecticut's consumer protection commissioner, Mark Shiffrin. This set of circumstances created a brief meme that was exploited for its comedy value by, among other things, standup comics and the cartoon Pinky and the Brain.
Cabbage Patch Kids were later parodied with the typically grotesque Garbage Pail Kids trading cards.
The parody led Xavier Roberts to sue Topps, the maker of Garbage Pail Kids, for trademark infringement. The parties eventually settled out of court, with Topps agreeing to redesign the cards so that the artwork would not resemble Cabbage Patch Kids so closely.
Among Cabbage Patch Kids urban legends are that owners sending dolls to the manufacturer for repairs are issued death certificates, and that the dolls were designed to desensitize the public to the appearance of mutated children born in the aftermath of a nuclear war.
Timeline
1978 - First "Little People Originals" are delivered by Xavier Roberts, who incorporates Original Appalachian Artworks, Inc.
1981 - Coverage of the dolls' popularity in Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and Atlanta Weekly.
1982 - Original Appalachian Artworks, Inc.
signed a long term licensing agreement with the licensing and creative development company, Schlaifer Nance & Company to create a new brand for their Little People, soft sculpture property. Schlaifer signed Coleco Industries to produce the dolls in August 1982.
1983 - Cabbage Patch Kids were introduced with great fanfare at the International Toy Fair in NYC.
The CPK record produced by the Chapin Brothers for Parker Brothers' music, went Gold and Platinum.
1985 - Cabbage Patch Kids low-sugar cereal and real children's diapers were introduced.