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.

 

January 8, 2023, Meeting

Member Sharon Weintraub did a program on "Weird, Wacky, and Ugly Dolls." She explained that while we tend to think of dolls as beautiful, with phrases such as "dolly face" or "she's a real doll," doll companies also created dolls that many would consider odd or ugly.  She shared a number of examples from her collection. This automaton is by Leopold Lambert and entitled "Bébé et Polichinelle." Made in the 1890s, when the automaton is wound, the little girl lifts and lowers her broken polichinelle doll as she turns her head and raises her left hand to "wipe" tears from her eyes. The character head, with squinting eyes and wide-open wailing mouth, is Mold 211 by Jumeau. 

This wicked witch, complete with many molded warts, is "Hexe," created for Cuno Otto and Dressel by Simon and Halbig as part of Dressel’s portrait doll series from 1898 through 1903. Other dolls in this series include the Farmer, Rip Van Winkle, and Uncle Sam, as well as historical figures from the period, such as Admiral George Dewey and Admiral William Thomas Sampson.

Another witch doll, with a hooked nose, wrinkled face, and painted fangs, made by the German firm of Hertwig and Company. She is dressed in her original outfit. Hertwig also offered this doll as part of a set, with two all-bisque children representing Hansel and Gretel. The little china boy is front of her is a mysterious oddity. He is molded into his chair and when a metal lever is moved in the back of the chair, he jiggles his head and arms.

This peddler doll with her basket full of tiny antique items has a German papier mache head of the type made from the 1870s through the 1890s. The head represents an elderly woman with a large hooked nose, a wide grin exposing two teeth, and wire eyeglasses. Such heads were also used for characters such as witches and Mother Goose.

The taller monkey is of early composition covered with brown mohair and his smaller companion is an all-bisque monkey. Although unmarked, Sharon stated that they were no doubt of German origin

This early all-bisque doll is two toys in one, as his hat is also a whistle.

Another unusual male all-bisque doll, this man appears to be dressed as a character from the traditional commedia dell'arte. His hands are pierced, there are loops on each foot, and another hole in the brim of his hat, suggesting that he could be strung as a simple marionette. Sharon thinks that he may have been intended to be part of a child's toy theatre.

This pair of unusual early bisque nodders features a naughty boy in a dunce cap sticking out his tongue at his primly dressed sister.

The popularity of Rose O'Neill's Kewpie doll introduced in 1913 sent German companies scrambling to create their own Kewpie-inspired dolls to try to cash in on the Kewp craze. This well-fed trio are "Happifats" dolls designed by Kate Jordan and produced by George Borgfeldt in Germany from 1913 to 1921. They were produced in three sizes of all-bisque dolls as well as a version with a composition head. Happifats were also produced in Japan and companies like Shackman made reproductions as well. The German dolls have the finest bisque and decoration and often carry a stamped “C” for “copyrighted” on the sole of one foot. 

 The little horned imp was no doubt another German company's creative answer to the rather angelic Kewpies. He has cloven hoof feet and even a tiny goat tail. The other doll is HEbee SHEbee designed by Charles Twelvetrees, a prominent illustrator of the 1920s who specialized in drawings of cute children, often with humorous captions. E.I Horsman introduced HEbee SHEbee in 1925 both in bisque and composition. The boy and girl dolls are identical, except that SHEbee has pink shoes and while HEbee wears blue ones. 

These grinning or grimacing girls were designed by Jeanne I. Orsini in 1920. The all-bisque dolls were made in Germany and distributed by George Borgfeldt. The unusual right hand with the extended pointing finger is unique to these dolls.

Jenell Howell shared her recent find, a Trudy doll with three faces. Trudy was introduced in 1946 by the Three-in-One-Doll Corporation and was designed by Elsie Gilbert. She has a composition head and a cloth body.

Elaine McNally brought this German doll dressed in its original Shaker costume.  Founded in the 1740s in England, the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second was a Christian sect that became known as the "Shaking Quakers" because of the dances and movements they made during worship services. A number of Shaker settlements were established in the United States beginning in the 1780s. The Shakers were known not only for their unique dress, but also for their fine arts and crafts. Shaker woman and girls dressed dolls in traditional Shaker costumes to sell to the public as souvenirs. 

Inspired by her find, Elaine created her own version of Shaker dolls. The larger doll she calls "Sister Flora." The dolls are cloth with paper clay faces. 

Elaine Jackson brought this trio of dolls created by Jane C. Furbee (1891 -1978). Little is known about this doll artist other than she started making and dressing dolls in the 1940s. The two taller dolls are wood and cloth and the one in the violet dress has a cloth tag stating that she is a "JanFer Woodee Doll."  The little girl is carved completely from wood and dates from 1970.

Kenneth Reeves shared this picture of his three R & B (Arranbee) Littlest Angels. He stated that the girl in the white dress with tiny pink flowers was made by R & B in the mid 1950s. The redhead in the center is Li'l Imp made by Vogue in 1959 and 1960 using the old R & B molds. The one in pink on the right was made by Vogue in 1963, again using the old R & B molds. He said that 1963 was the last year of production of Littlest Angel using the old R & B molds.