Cinderella doll (1950s)
Queen Mother of American
Doll makers
Madame
Alexander
by: Roy Nuhn
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As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper,
April, 2005
In the early years of the 20th century, decades before there was Barbie, there was Madame Alexander and all of her superstar storybook, celebrity and character dolls. Madame Alexander, considered by so many fans and doll enthusiasts as the queen mother of American doll makers, and the company she founded to lovingly produce unique and beautiful handcrafted dolls, reigned as the industry's best during most of the last 100 years.
Madame Alexander's dolls never carried low-price tags, nor dwelled on discount store shelves. Retail prices during the 1980s and '90s, for example, averaged between $80 and $100 - and, still, buyers always outnumbered the dolls available. They continued to be sought and cherished for their quality; wonderful faces - innocent faces with pouting lips, sweet chins, and angular eyebrows; and spectacular, detailed costumes and accessories.
Until her personal story became well-known, avid buyers and early collectors of Madame Alexander's treasures believed she was of high French birth and that her dolls were made in Paris by skillful artisans.
But this was only a fable.
Beatrice Alexander Behrman was born in 1895, daughter of a Russian immigrant who opened and ran New York City's first "doll hospital." Artistically inclined since early childhood, Beatrice won a scholarship to a French sculpture school, but parental resistance forced her to forego the opportunity.
Until the beginning of World War I, in 1914, most of the dolls sold in this country came from Germany. This was also true of all toys in general, as well as paper novelties such as greeting cards.
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When wartime halted this importation, Beatrice and her three sisters began fashioning handmade cloth dolls for sale in their father's store. These dolls had three-dimensional faces, so very different from the, flat-faced dolls than being sold. Their clothing was of better quality and design than the competition. The dolls were a phenomenal commercial success.
In 1923 Beatrice became Madame Alexander and established her now-famous doll company. In old-time nursery rhymes and fairy tales she found models for her earliest dolls. The first big sellers were Alice, taken from the pages of the Lewis Carroll novels, Cinderella and Peter Pan. Other storybook favorites included Alcott's "Little Women," and Robin Hood.
Most of Madame Alexander dolls came in l4-inch and l8-inch sizes. The earliest had cloth bodies. The charmers later offered hair made of yarn. In 1946, composition was the material used: and in the early 1960s, vinyl.
A runaway hit was Scarlett O'Hara from Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. This debuted two years prior to the blockbuster motion picture premier. After the film's release in 1939, however, Beatrice negotiated with M-G-M Studios for rights to do other dolls, such as Melanie, from the movie.
Royalty dolls, notably of England's teenage Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, in the 1930s, always sold well. Nearly 40 years later, wedding dolls of Prince Charles and Princess Diana continued the theme.
Another source of inspiration began in the 1920s and blossomed over the next two decades. This was America's Sunday color comic strips. Little Orphan Annie, first made in the
1920s, led the parade, soon joined by Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oyl, and Gravel Gertie and Sparkle Plenty from "Dick Tracy."
The various Dickens' novels were another font of doll ideas. Sparkling among these were Little Nell, Tiny Tim, and David Copperfield.
Shortly after the birth of the Dionne Quints in 1934, Madame Alexander contracted with their government-appointed guardians to make and sell dolls based on the famous five sisters. This was to be her biggest success. By the end of the decade production of Dionne Quint dolls topped the one-million mark.
During those same years, a line of dolls was developed based on Kate Greenaway's Victorian-era drawings of children. Also going to stores was a "Little Colonel" dolls derived from the best selling book. This was a few years before Shirley Temple starred in the hit movie based on the same novel.
A bit later, in the 1940s, Margaret O'Brien dolls, as well as those of Jane Withers and Sonja Henie, delighted little girls and their mothers.
At the age of 93, in 1988, Beatrice Behrman sold her Madame Alexander Doll Co. to a local New York City firm. Two years later she passed. The new owners failed to compete in the modern world of mass-production doll and electronic toy selling, and against the tidal wave of cheap foreign imports. The Harlem, New York City, firm went bankrupt in 1995 and was purchased by Kaizen Breakthrough Partnership, a joint venture of several investment funds and companies. The rescue worked and Madame Alexander Doll Co. managed to become successful again and keep yet another generation of children very happy.
Collectors, too, also rejoiced in the continuation of the venerable company and the outpouring of more collectible dolls.
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CURRENT VALUES OF SOME MADAME ALEXANDER DOLLS (Based on near-mint condition, with all
clothes & accessories) Cissy, 21-inch.............................................................. $850 |
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