March 9, 2025, Meeting

Our club has received a certificate from the United Federation of Doll Clubs congratulating us for 50 years  as a member.

Members Jan Irsfeld and Pam Hardy did a program on Madame Alexander and her dolls.  Her father, Maurice Alexander, was born in Russia, but later emigrated to Germany, where he became interested in toy manufacturing. He arrived in New York City in 1891, founding a doll hospital. His daughter, Bertha, also known as Beatrice, worked at the hospital with her sisters, and dreamed of becoming an artist.  She began making cloth dolls, which were sold at the hospital, In 1923, she started the Alexander Doll Company. With the help of her sisters, she created cloth dolls with the idea that the dolls would be playthings for children. The dolls were inspired by stories and literature, including Alice in Wonderland and Little Women. Scarlett O'Hara from the novel Gone With the Wind was her first licensed character doll, and she would create other dolls based on famous people, such as the Dionne Quintuplets and Queen Elizabeth II. Madame Alexander died in 1990 and the company was sold in 2012 to Kahn Lucas, owner of Dollie & Me.

In 1955, Cissy was introduced as the first American fashion doll, with production ending in 1962. Large, (20 to 21 inches), Cissy was beautifully coifed and dressed. But she was a luxury doll; in 1955, a Cissy just her undergarments cost $12.95, which was a bag of groceries for many families.  Cissy was reintroduced in 1995 and became more modern and often edgier, with outfits sometimes created by renown designers. Cissy appeared as everything from queens to storybook characters to pirates. Jan said, however, that when manufacturing was moved to China, the quality of the dolls declined. Jan told the club that one of her favorite outfits for Cissy is the torso dress, which she has recreated in a variety of fabrics. This is a hand-beaded example is one of her creations.

The Cissy on the left models the original black velvet torso dress and belongs to member Bette Birdsong. Her companion belongs to member Sharon Weintraub and wears the "Ribbons and Roses" ensemble from 1956.

Another iconic outfit for Cissy is this 1957 Toreador outfit.

This example of the reintroduced Cissy belongs to our newest member David Craig. She wears a version of the famous Mondrian cocktail dresses created by designer Yves Saint Laurent in 1965 as a tribute to the artist Piet Mondrian. 

The 10.5-inch tall Cissette, introduced in 1957, was a smaller version of Cissy. In this picture, one Cissette wears the famous toreador outfit. Like Cissy, Cissette was reintroduced. Jan said that the doll in the black velvet gown is a newer version of Cissette dressed after a portrait by famed artist John Singer Sargent. 

This Cissy was issued in 1997 and wears the Gardenia Ball Gown. She belongs to member Nancy Countryman.

This regal Cissy, belonging to Jan, was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. 

Nancy brought other examples of Madame Alexander dolls, including this ballerina, 

Winnie Walker with a Cissy-type face, and

Maggie Mixup.

Member Kathie Tovo shared this box of beauties. The smaller dolls are Cissettes, while the other doll is Lissy, issued in 1956 as a more affordable and youthful version of Cissy.

Kathie also shared two larger examples of Alexander dolls. The baby on red and white is a big (and heavy) child, while the other is a scarce Barbara Jane doll issued in 1952 and dressed as Alice in Wonderland. 

Member Jenell Howell displayed this sophisticated Sheri Lewis doll,

as well as this stunning Cynthia. issued in 1952.

The little girl so pretty in pink is a composition McGuffey Ana belonging to member Sylvia McDonald. The sweetie in stripes belongs to Bette. She is a "Quiz-Kin" issued in the early 1950s and has buttons on her back that allow her to nod her head "yes" or "no."

Another composition version of McGuffey Ana belonging to Sylvia.

Myrna shared these Lissy and Elise dots in matching nifty nautical outfits. Myrna told the club that Alexander often offered the same outfit in different sizes.

Member Kenneth Reeves brought  "Tess," a Cissette dressed in an elaborate Victorian ensemble.

He also shared this doll by artist Susan Wakeen representing the storybook character Rapunzel.

 

Helping Out. . . .

These big beautiful Bru reproduction is on her way to the United Federation Of Doll Clubs (UFDC) to be a "helper" at the upcoming annual convention. This donation by our club will be used to raise funds for UFDC. At the convention, the helpers are put on display and attendees buy raffle tickets and place the tickets in a box in front of the items they hope to win. This one-of-a-kind doll was created by Lillian Chiko Vandermast (7/29/1928-1/24/2013). She grew up in New Jersey, but moved to Texas in 1955. Lillian called Austin home until the late 1970s, when she and her husband retired and moved to Cedar Creek, Texas. Lillian's love of doll-making became her passion in the late 1970s. In the early 1980s, she established Lill-Len Dolls and traveled to doll shows across the U.S. to display her art, winning many ribbons for her creations. She became a certified Master in porcelain doll-making.and crafted every aspect of her one-of-a-kind dolls, from pouring, firing, refining, painting, and assembly, to the original costume. 

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February 9, 2025, Meeting

The theme for this meeting was Valentine's Day, and members were invited to bring dolls dressed in pink or red, or that otherwise invoked the holiday.

Guest David Craig brought three examples of resin ball-jointed dolls by JAMIEshow USA, first introduced in 2009. He told the club that he admires the fashions from the 1940s through the 1960s. This doll's wig is attached by magnets, so that her hairstyle can be easily changed.

David calls this doll Violet, his Southern belle.

Most JAMIEshow dolls are 16 inches tall, but this is a 12-inch model was made for one year.

Member Sylvia McDonald brought this Black baby doll designed by artist Pauline Bjonness-Jacobsen. She told the club that she bought this doll to replace her childhood Amosandra, a Black baby doll created by the Sun Rubber Company in 1949 as a tie-in to the popular radio program "Amos ’n’ Andy.” Unfortunately, these dolls' soft rubber skin hardened and deteriorated over time. 

Sylvia also shared this doll by Madame Alexander called "Sweet Kisses for Grandmother."

This Madame Alexander doll, "My Heart Belongs to You," issued in 2001, belongs to member Myrna

 Loesch.

Member Pam Hardy displayed this Madame Alexander doll called "Sunday Best." She said that the doll reminded her of her childhood when her grandmother would get her all dressed up for church. 

Member Sharon Weintraub shared a quartet of comic couples. This pair has a timely Valentine's Day message, as the lady warns her beau, "Be good and if you can't good, be careful." Sharon explained that this was a fairing. Fairings were small inexpensive bisque or china pieces, often given as prizes or sold as souvenirs at fairs, made in Germany from the mid-1800s through the early 1900s.  

The other pieces were bisque novelties by the German firm of Schafer and Vater. 

Member Bette Birdsong brought this early example of a Ginny doll, appropriately clad in a red dress with a lace heart.

She also shared this vintage Valentine's candy box bedecked with a doll. Bette told the club that this box was a gift from a friend.

Member Jan Irsfeld displayed this Dollikin wearing a ravishing red gown designed by Jan.

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Member Elaine Jackson shared these two little hand-carved wooden dolls. One wears a blue dress adorned with little lovebirds; she was made by Ukrainian artist Marina Savchuk. The doll pretty in pink was created by Bruce and Fung Hicks.

Member Nancy Countryman brought a trio of dolls dressed in red. There was this Barbie in a bead-encrusted gown, 

this Madame Alexander doll called "My Heart Belongs to You," and

this cute cloth doll from Budapest.

Member Jenell Howell shared this all-original composition Patsykins, part of the Patsy series by the American doll company, Effanbee.

She also brought this Mary Hoyer doll with tagged clothing. Mary Hoyer began business in 1925 with a yarn and craft shop in Reading, Pennsylvania where she designed knitted clothing for infants and children. She later started selling a slender composition doll with patterns so that customers could sew or knit a wardrobe for the doll. At first the dolls were purchased from the Ideal Novelty and Toy company, but in 1937, she started using dolls designed for her. The composition, and later, hard plastic dolls, usually, but not always, are marked with Hoyer's name. Jenell said that although Hoyer sold doll pattern books in her shop, she also sold some ready-made doll clothing, like this tagged outfit. 

January 12, 2025, Meeting

Member Sharon Weintraub did a program on German male bathing beauty figurines, whom she called "beach beaus." She told the club that German companies did make male bathing beauties, but in far fewer numbers than their female counterparts.

Sharon said that many beach beaus appeared as comic figurines. Posing proudly by a small vase or match holder, this male bather stands over the caption “Gaze on me Girls.” He is from the firm of Schäfer and Vater, founded in 1890. Underneath he is incised underneath with Schäfer's crowned sunburst mark and "9593," as well as stamped "Made in Germany.”

 

Also by Schäfer is this pair of real swingers. Sharon told the club that  their legs are hinged with wire, so that they can swing back and forth. 

Sharon called these two mature beach beaus nodding acquaintances, as their bisque heads bob up and down. The man in blue stripes is incised on the back edge of both his head and robe “9273," while his companion is similarly marked “9274."

Sharon noted that not all beach beaus were comic characters. This pair of bisque vases feature a man and a woman dressed in matching red and white bathing attire. She had the bathing beauty preparing to dive in her collection for many years, but later came across the male mate at a local estate sale.

Sharon told the club that in 1879, Italian artist Odoardo Tabbachi created a marble sculpture entitled "La Tuffolina" (the diver), featuring a voluptuous bathing beauty in a graceful diving pose. The statue was so popular that many German porcelain companies produced their own adaptations of Tuffolina in both bisque and china and in a wide variety of sizes. The metal stature is a bronze copy of the original Tuffolina. Next to her is a very scarce male version of La Tuffolina (Sharon suggested that he could be called "Il Tuffolino"). He is 22 inches tall and incised under his base "No. 302" and “3."

Sharon told the club that these two handsome beach beaus are by the German firm of Hertwig and Company. The company, founded in 1864, produced a wide variety of products in "portzellan und feinsteingut" (porcelain and earthenware), from utilitarian household wares to artistic figurines, dolls, and novelties. The beau in black and red is of china  and is stamped "Germany" and incised "544, " while his brother is of light-weight earthenware, and, in addition to the "544" mark, is incised underneath "16." 

This standing beach beau is of precolored bisque with loop jointed arms. There are holes in the soles of his feet for the supporting rods of a stand and "Foreign" is stamped in black on the sole of his left foot.  Sharon explained that in 1890, the United States Congress enacted the McKinley Tariff Act, which required that items imported to the United States be marked with their country of origin. The use of "Foreign" was initiated as a way to comply with the Act, as well as subsequent laws enacted by other countries. The "Foreign" mark not only indicated that an item was manufactured for export, it could be used to avoid marking the originating country's name on a product when there might be some tension between it and receiving country. Sharon attributed the figure to the German firm of Hertwig and Company, which made extensive use of precolored bisque. She said that she suspected that with the jointed arms and the holes in the feet for a supporting stand, he was intended to be dressed and displayed, most likely as a groom. However, she has dressed him in swim attire created from a scrap from an antique wool bathing suit.

Sharon said that this beach beau was created by the German company of Galluba and Hofmann, founded by Hugo Galluba and Georg Hofmann in 1891. She noted that while this firm is renown among collectors for its beautiful bathing beauty ladies, Galluba made at least one male counterpart. He is superbly sculpted with detailed musculature and has a golden tan. Under his left thigh he is incised with "80423 P.P." 

Member Myrna Loesch shared this mustached man doll with a bisque head and articulated wooden body. He appears to be stamped "SS" on his back and resembles dolls made by artist Sherman Smith.

Member Jan Irsfeld brought a bowling beauty instead of a bathing beauty. This felt and cloth character doll may be by either Klumpe or Roldan, two Spanish doll makers who produced a wide variety of souvenir and comic caricature dolls beginning in the 1950s.

Guest David Craig shared this ball-jointed doll by the Phoenix, Arizona company of D.A.E. Originals.  David told the club that he really likes the fashions of the 1950s and 60s. 

Member Pam Hardy brought this French S.F.B.J. doll. In 1899, French doll makers, including Jumeau,  formed an alliance named Société Française de Fabrication de Bébé and Jouets, using the mark "S.F.B.J." SFBJ used Jumeau molds for some of its dolls.