January 14, 2024, Meeting

Member Jenell Howell did a program on doll designer Joseph Kallus. 

She said that she was inspired by member Elaine Jackson's collection of segmented composition and wood character dolls. Jenell explained that George Borgfeldt and Company in 1912 contracted with Rose O'Neill to produce dolls and figurines based on her Kewpie characters and the company advertised for a sculptor to make a model. Kallus, a 17-year-old student at the Fine Arts College of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, submitted a plaster model and was hired to design the dolls. This began Kallus' long and creative career in doll design. When WWI disrupted the import of German bisque dolls, he founded the Rex Doll Company in 1916 to produce composition Kewpie dolls that were distributed by Borgfeldt. Rex Doll also made composition carnival dolls that were distributed by the Tip Top Company. Two years later Kallus received his first copyright for his design of Baby Bundie. 

Kallus became president of the Mutual Doll Company in 1919, which produced not only composition Kewpies and Baby Bundie dolls, but also Bo- Fair, Dollie and Vanitie, which had specially designed joints. He resigned from Mutual in 1921 and the next year established the Cameo Doll Company, which existed until 1982 when Kallus assigned all his properties to Jesco, Incorporated. Cameo produced Kewpies for Borgfeldt, as well as Baby Bo Kaye and the comic strip character Little Annie Rooney.  Many of the dolls and toys created by Cameo through the late 1940s had composition heads and segmented wood jointed bodies. Examples of these unusual and creative dolls include Joy, Pinkie, and Margie. Kallus also designed dolls for other companies, such as Felix the Cat for Schoenhut and Pinocchio for the Ideal Novelty Toy Company, cartoon characters such as Popeye and Betty Boop, and even company advertising mascots, such as the Hotpoint Man.

In 1944, Rose O'Neill died and Kallus was assigned the rights to Kewpie, and later to Scootles and Ho- Ho. Over the years Kallus would license, or attempt to license, Rose O'Neill designs with companies such as Strombecker of Chicago, Milton-Bradley, Incorporated, and American Character Doll Company, but Kallus was difficult to work with, demanding and litigious.

 In 1976, thieves broke into Kallus' home and stole his original models for Kewpie and other dolls, as well as other materials. By the 1980s, Kallus was struggling to protect his Kewpie patent from companies and individuals making unauthorized copies. In 1982, he started negotiations to sell the rights to Kewpie to Jesco, but on June 26th, he was fatally struck by a vehicle while crossing the street. Kallus' daughter completed the transfer. The following year, Jesco started making Kewpie dolls. 

Jenell brought this bisque Kewpie. The Kewpie started Kallus' long career in dolls. 

This example of a composition Kewpie by Cameo was the childhood doll of member Sylvia McDonald. The doll is wearing a dress crocheted by Sylvia's grandmother. Sylvia members her parents struggling to restring her beloved doll with a strip of rubber from an old tire inner tube.

Two all composition examples of Scootles, another Rose O'Neill character, made by Cameo. These dolls belong to Jenell.

Examples of Felix designed by Kallus for Schoenhut. One belongs to member Bette Birdsong and the other to Sharon Weintraub.

Kallus designed this Pinocchio, as well as other Disney characters, for Ideal, as well as Knickerbocker. This example belongs to Jenell. 

Two examples of the Margie with segmented wood joints. The doll in blue belongs to member Myrna Loesch and the red clad doll was shared by Elaine Jackson.

This is Pinkie, who belongs to Elaine.

Elaine also brought this example of "Sunny Sam," a "Flexy" doll designed by Kallus for Ideal. His arms and legs are bendable springs. 

This "Kewpie Gal" also belongs to Elaine. She was issued by Milton Bradley under contract with Cameo in the 1970s.