Success for the troll camequickly, and
before the first factorywascompleted,
productionhadoutgrown thespace.Ahuge
orderwasplacedwith Illum, the largest
departmentstore inCopenhagen, and
soon tourists to thenorthwere taking the
unusual littledollsback tohomesaround
theworld.
In 1962, apairof the trollswasgifted
to IngeDykins, aDanishwoman living
inMiamiwhowaspresidentofgiftware
firmScandiaHouseEnterprises. Shewas
instantlyhooked.Asshe told
TheMiami
News
in 1964: “People thought Iwascrazy
tosell thoseugly little things. Ikepton
trying, though, and introduced themat the
InternationalToyFair inNewYorkCity.
Theorderswe receivedwerebeyondour
wildest expectations.”
In the firstyear,Dykinsbought
US$100,000of trolls fromDamThings, and
in 1963 they importedUS$1millionworth
of the“ugly little things”.That sameyear,
theUSToyAssociation listed theDam troll
asToyof theYear, andBettyMiller, the first
femalepilot to flysoloacross thePacific,
formally introducedhergood luck troll,
Dammit, toPresident JohnFKennedyat
theWhitehouse.
Tocopewith the increaseddemand,
DamThingsgaveaFloridaproduction
company,RoyaltyDesignofHialeah, the
exclusive license toproduce trolls in theUS
(alongside licensed factories in theUK,New
ZealandandGermany),andbymid-1964
ScandiaHouseEnterpriseswassellingover
US$100,000of trollseachmonth–more
than37,000dollseachday.By theendof the
year, salesofDam trolls in theUSpassed the
US$2millionmarkand trollswere themust-
have itemoneverychild’sChristmaswish
list.With that,arelic fromNorsemythology
becameoneof themostenduring iconsof
20th-centurykitsch.
Trollswerebigbusiness forDamThings
andScandiaHouseEnterprises, and itwas
onlyamatterof timebeforemyriad
copycatproductsbeganpoppingup in the
USmarket.As theaforementioned
»
Clockwise from left
⁄
BettyMiller, thefirst
woman tofly soloacross
thePacific, andher troll,
Dammit, inherplane;
Miller introducesher troll
toPresidentKennedyat
theWhiteHouse; an image
froma 1964piece in
Life
magazine titled“The
Trolls TakeOver”
“A relic fromNorsemythology
becameanenduring iconof
20th-centurykitsch”
040\
n
