June 7, 2026, Meeting

Elaine Jackson explained that her program was about two dolls in our collections; one that we wonder why we still have it and the other we would keep even if we had to give all our other dolls away. Her two examples were this Peruvian llama herder (Elaine gave him his little llama) and the wooden cowboy. She said that the llama herder has a ceramic head and a cloth body. Another club member, Jenell Howell, had acquired him when she purchased a doll collection and despite his traveling to several doll shows with Jenell, no one purchased him. Elaine was helping Jenell pack up her booth after one such show and Jenell gifted him to Elaine. Somehow, he is still in her doll cabinet. 

This cowboy however is the one doll she would always keep. Carved by Austin artist Nancy Grobe, he is all wood, even to his cowboy boots. Her husband had ordered him from Nancy some 40 years ago as a Christmas gift to Elaine. He even commissioned Nancy to dress the doll.

Sharon Weintraub told the club that this fashion doll by Francois Gaultier was her first French doll when she was a beginning collector. The doll has a repaired shoulderplate and was dressed by Ann Campbell, who was an early member of the club. Sharon said that she had traded her childhood Chatty Cathy and Madame Alexander Wendy dolls for it (both dolls and their wardrobes were in excellent condition because Sharon did not care much for dolls as a child). However, as Sharon became a more knowledgable and advanced collector, the doll is no longer one of the highlights of her collection but, for some reason, she is still there.    

On the other hand, Sharon said that this French type all-bisque doll is one she would always keep. Sharon told the club that her mother had always wanted to do to a doll auction and in 2013, when Theriaults held one in Dallas, Sharon and her mother made plans to go. Sharon had reserved a hotel room in Dallas and she and her mother would drive there and stay the weekend. However, on her way to pick up Sharon, her mother had a car accident. Although she was unhurt, the car was totaled. Sharon rushed to the scene and told her mother she would cancel the hotel reservation. Instead her mother insisted they were going and would take Sharon's car. So they went and her mother had a wonderful time. When Sharon was reluctant to bid higher on this doll, she told the club that her mother grabbed the bidding paddle out of her hand and held it up, resulting in the winning bid. 

Jenell told the club that actually she really likes this all-original 10.5-inch Toni doll by American Character, but that the doll just does not fit with the rest of her collection and Jenell has never found the right place for her in the doll cabinets.

This all-original Number 1 Barbie by Mattel is however the one doll she can always find a space for. She purchased the doll from her original owner. The owner's father was in the military and had brought it to her from Japan when she was a little girl.

Bette Birdsong told the club that she had always wanted a bebe from the French firm of Schmitt et Fils. To purchase this dog, Bette said that she traveled two days and nights by train. She loves the doll's fat, funny cheeks.

On the other hand, she found this black ramp walker doll at a doll show, It is missing its arms and she bought it with the idea that her husband would carve her new ones, but that never happened. 

Myrna Loesch would always keep her childhood Cissy by Madame Alexander. The clothes were made by her mother. Myrna told the club that her mother would bribe Myrna to take a nap by offering to make her new outfits for her dolls while Myrna slept.

However, she is not as enamored with this French S.F.B.J. 60, which has a cracked face, an oddly-made  body, and painted footwear. 

Sylvia McDonald said that this Käthe Kruse represents all the dolls she loves. This example dates from 2004.

Sylvia told the club that this little infant doll with a hard plastic head is far less special, although it has a sweet face.

Nancy Countryman brought her two childhood dolls, which were hand-me-downs from older cousins. She made the dress for the smaller doll.

David Craig brought this lovely lady. He told the club that after Mel Odom, the creator of the Gene doll line, retired, the dolls were re-introduced by JAMIEshow in 2013 as resin ball-jointed fashion figures. This is Madra and she has a magnetic pate, allowing her wig to be easily changed. David said that he loves the JAMIEshow clothing and accessories, which recall his favorite fashion era of the 1950s-60s.

David was not even sure how he ended up with this doll, Gigi by Ashton-Drake Galleries. He says that the doll just doesn't "speak" to him.

 

October 12, 2025, Meeting

Jan Irsfeld gave a program on goddesses, celestial, movie, and royal, using examples from her collection of Cissy dolls by Madame Alexander. She explained that Madame Alexander was fascinated by powerful and successful women. Peeking out in the far left corner is a Cissy, dressed by Jan, representing  Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh who reigned in the fifteenth century B.C.E.; she qualifies as a goddess because the pharaohs were considering living deities. The dolls on the table represent more modern goddesses of the silver screen. Starting from the left, the luscious lady in white represents Hollywood, while the others are Madame Alexander's  interpretation of actual actresses; Grace Kelly in icy blue, Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara, Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Taylor.

Elizabeth Taylor models a hand-beaded gown designed by Jan.

Alexander also created many queens. This is an all-original Queen Elizabeth II.

Elizabeth I is represented by a Cissy dressed in authentic Elizabethan garb by Jan. Next to her is "Royal Reception" by Alexander.

French queen Marie Antoinette in her original bejeweled and embroidered gown by Alexander.

In opera, a "diva" is a celebrated female singer, and the word is derived from the Italian for goddess or divine. This Cissy represents Madame Butterfly from the famous opera by Giacomo Puccini.

However, this sassy swashbuckler is more devilish than divine. . . .

Jan shared two more scintillating Cissy dolls, including this flamboyant flapper. . . 

. . . and her favorite Cissy, reduced nude from an Austin doll shop, whom Jan has since restored and elevated to a goddess.

Elaine Jackson shared this wooden Hitty, currently the queen of her Hitty House, carved by member Elaine McNally. 

Jenell Howell brought this goddess of the night, Evangeline Ghastly by Robert Tonner.

David Craig had an earlier example of the eerily beautiful Evangeline. 

Another Tonner doll belonging to David is Ellowyne Wilde, ready for trick or treating in a Halloween outfit made for her by a friend of David's.

Bette Birdsong brought another movie goddess, a Gene doll designed by Mel Odom. In keeping with the season, Jenell shared this Sasha in fall colors.

Sharon Weintraub displayed a trio of little bisque fairies by the German firm of Hertwig and Company, noting that fairies were the subjects the fairy queen and the elfin court.

She also shared this bewitching bisque witch. Witches were thought to worship Hecate. Hecate was originally a Greek goddess, who was the protector of liminal spaces and borders, such as thresholds and doors, and was associated with the night, the moon, and magic. 

Myrna Loesch displayed this doll dress created by the Milwaukee Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). The W.P.A., which operated from 1939 to 1942, provided work and job training for thousands of unemployed Americans during the Great Depression. While the W.P.A. created large public works such as roads, parks, and schools, it also operated handicraft projects aimed at teaching women skills such as sewing. The Milwaukee W.P.A. handicraft project produced dolls designed to be used as teaching materials in schools, as well as for children in hospitals or as Christmas gifts for children on the relief rolls. This dress was designed to be worn by a cloth doll.

 

September 14, 2025, Meeting

Sharon Weintraub did a program on wind-up carnival dolls by Zaiden Toy Works, including demonstrating working examples from her collection.  In 1922, Zaiden advertised a variety of mechanical dolls, including a doll who “shakes and shimmies to beat the band,” a doll who reproduces the “Hula Hula dance,” national dolls waving the flags of their respective counties, a Spanish dancer with castanets, a Salvation Army lass shaking a tambourine, and a nurse rocking a baby in her arms. David Zaiden was granted at least seven patents for mechanical dolls and toys between 1921 and 1922.  Zaiden advertised that its dolls were made of the “famous Zaiden Wood Fiber Compound, with high celluloid enamel finish.” When found in good condition, the dolls have a smooth shiny finish.

A March 8, 1922, advertisement by Zaiden featured seven dolls, which it declared are only part of the company’s “Sixteen new mechanical numbers.” One doll was dubbed Salvation Nell” and dressed in a Salvation Army uniform. This example has a one-piece composition head and torso and lower wooden arms and metal hands, but the upper arms, hidden under the dress, are simply flexible wire. When wound by a key jutting out of her lower back, Nell vigorously shakes her tambourine. Originally Nell turned in a circle as well but the loosening of her legs over the time dampened her dancing ability. The doll’s name may have been inspired by the popular song, introduced in 1913, entitled “Salvation Nell”-- There’s a girl of sweet seventeen, always has a tambourine. Heavenly grace, heavenly face, ‘neath a bonnet with “Salvation” on it. Every fellow living in town thinks she’s mighty swell. Every night they gather around sweet Salvation Nell.

Zaiden used this same mechanism for other models, including this “Nurse Girl,” who, instead of playing the tambourine, rocks a little baby doll. The ad called her “The mother of them all.” 

On March 13, 1922, Zaiden filed an application for a patent for a “mechanically operated dancing doll adapted to perform rhythmic movements in simulation of Eastern and South Sea Island dances.” The mechanism allowed the doll to appear to roll her belly while simultaneously shimmying her chest. One version of this doll was sold as “Bimbo,’’ a South Sea dancer. The name may have come from the popular 1920 song, “My Little Bimbo Down on the Bamboo Isle,” with the chorus, “I've got a Bimbo down on the Bamboo Isle, She's waiting there for me, beneath the bamboo tree. She's got the other Bimbos beat a mile. She dances gaily, daily, Oh! She plays a mean ukulele.” Bimbo must have been a popular product, as she its found in several sizes and skin tones. 

The same mechanism appears in this doll in a Middle-eastern outfit. It came with the remains of her original box which dubbed her “Turkish.” 

On May 9, 1921, Zaiden filed for a patent for mechanical doll that would shimmy her hips in simulation of the Hawaiian hula. In the example, a rod through her hips shimmies, shaking her fringe skirt,

Other companies produced hula dancing dolls, such as this example by Progressive Toy Company. In this doll the skirt is fastened to a ring that raises and lowers the skirt as it shimmies.

 

Sharon noted that few of these dolls survived, especially in working condition. They were cheap carnival

prizes and typically were discarded when their mechanisms jammed or their composition began to flake.

Continuing the carnival theme, Myrna Loesch shared this bright blue poodle, a childhood gift from her father. She told the club that her father was the auditor for the local county fair that took place in the city park and brought it home to her from the carnival. Myrna said that the little bisque flapper doll in the pink boa was made inn Japan and she brought it because it looked like the type of doll people won at a carnival. 

Sylvia McDonald brought the clown doll, made by the company Show Stoppers. 

The little girl in pink belongs to Pam Hardy. She is a hard plastic Muffie doll by the Nancy Ann Storybook Doll Company. Pam told the club that as a child she saved her money so that she could buy this doll.

David Craig shared this lovely lady by JAMIEshow USA, which is wearing a bathing outfit that belongs to a Gene doll. He told that club that this model is called Edie.

Bette Birdsong brought this wind-up crawling baby.

Jenell Howell shared this vintage Ginny wearing a cute outfit known to collectors as the "pencil dress."

She also brought this set of comic nodders made in Japan. Originally, these nodders were made by the German firm of Hertwig and Company, which called them "lachender junge" (laughing boys). The Japanese entered the bisque doll and novelty market during WWI when German toys were embargoed, often directly copying German models, and continued through the period between the wars. The Japanese knock-offs were of poorer quality than the original German pieces, but they were also a lot less expensive and the spread of 5&10 cent stores through the United States offered a ready market for the cheaper Japanese goods.

Ann Meyer shared this Raggedy Ann doll that was made by her daughter's grandmother. 

Jan Irsfeld brought this Cissy doll that she had found nude in a doll shop shortly after she moved to Austin. Jan told the club that she fell in love with the doll's face, but has never been able to identify the model. She made the dress, which is a copy of a Cissy dress she saw in a catalog. 

Nancy Countryman brought a variety of dolls. The male doll in the back is Malibu Ken by Mattel. The doll in the pink hat is composition. Nancy said that the two plastic dolls with the elaborate hats remind her of Carmen Miranda. The cloth doll in green may be from India.