Teeny Betsy McCall, 8 in., by American Character, 1958, is all hard plastic with jointed knees. She first appeared as a paper doll in McCall’s Magazine in 1951. There were patterns for her outfits and I made this from one.

This 14 in. high heel teenager has a face like the Teeny Betsy McCall standing beside her. She has a hard plastic body, vinyl head, and is marked “R 15 V” on her lower back. I found a photo and detailed description that identified her as an American Character 14 in. Betsy McCall, 1958. The dress was made from McCall’s Betsy pattern #2255.

Several years after finding this doll undressed, apparently with no marks, I thought I knew who she was – a 14 in. hard plastic Mary Hoyer from the 1950’s. Recently upon closer examination, I found the mark R&B under her hair and identified her as Nancy Lee by Arranbee. I made her dress from one of the sewing patterns in the book, Mary Hoyer and Her Dolls. Mary Hoyer was a designer of knit and crocheted fashions for children. She had a mail order business to sell her patterns and supplies. The idea of adapting similar patterns for dolls proved to be very successful. The dolls and their patterns were sold through needlework magazines.

The Ginny dolls of Jennie Graves continued to be popular from the 1940’s into the 1950’s when hard plastic and later vinyl was preferred. This was the first hard plastic Ginny I got and it was a walker. They seemed to become cute and cuter over the years.