In 1944 I received a 10 in. Little Shaver mask-face cloth doll. This doll was just too perfect so I never changed her outfit, even though it had snaps. Her little friend is a figurine in her image found recently.
Category Archives: 1940s
Dolls from the 1940s
Tiny Betty Doll
This is the 8 in. Tiny Betty (1943) I received in the 1940s. By using different hair and clothes, this doll mold was used to make many cute characters like Carmen Miranda. Can you see the resemblance?
Carmen Miranda
Alice In Wonderland Doll
I went on to receive additional Madame Alexander composition dolls. One was a 14 in. Alice in Wonderland (1946). Her blue dress has faded a little over the years.
McGuffey Ana and Flora McFlimsey
In the 1940s, my sisters gave me two 13 in. composition dolls McGuffey Ana and Flora McFlimsey, with wardrobe. These dolls were so beautifully dressed that I kept them that way. Both had human hair wigs. Flora was a redhead with freckles.
Madame Beatrice Alexander 1895-1990 was primarily a fashion designer and her doll clothes were perfection. To this day the Madame Alexander label means excellence.
1940s Carmen Miranda Doll
Carmen Miranda
Sometime in the 1940s I received three Madame Alexander dolls. My brother, soon to be drafted into the Army, gave me a 7 in. composition Carmen Miranda doll. The real Carmen was a popular singer, dancer, and comedienne in the movies.
1940s Shirley Temple Doll
More recently, I found an 18 in. composition Shirley Temple doll from Ideal, circa 1940, at a flea market. She was wearing only a housecoat. Again, the original mohair wig was hard to style. I’ve heard that the real Shirley Temple had 55 curls. Could that be true?
Fashiondol Doll in Satin Brocade
Fashiondol doll in satin brocade dress.
Shirley Temple…Early 1940s Clothes
The Shirley Temple doll from 1939 and the clothes my mother and sister made for them in the early 1940s are now stored in my cedar chest: a wool coat with a real fur collar and matching hat, a two-piece black taffeta party dress with wool embroidery and, impressively, a wool snowsuit and hat to match my own.
Dressing the Mannequin Doll
It was a long time, four children and two house moves later that the mannequin doll came to mind. I had to have one! Fortunately I found my first Fashiondol doll in a small collectables store in Gloucester, Mass. Then another one on E-bay. I now had two dolls to dress in 1940’s clothes.
The 1940s… Mannequin Doll
When I went shopping with my mother in a department store during the 1940’s I was fascinated by the doll-like mannequins on the counter. The dolls were wearing miniature versions of adult size fashions the store was selling. I wanted my mother to ask if she could buy one of those mannequin dolls! All the dolls I knew of represented children. Did I sense that adult fashions had an edge over most of my doll clothes? It was during WWII when she gave me a mannequin doll “learn-to-sew” kit. It proved to be too hard for me so my mother tried to make something pretty from the pattern but had no luck. Later on, when I had gotten married and left home, I forgot about the mannequin doll and didn’t take it along with my other precious dolls.
