Dancing Cheerleader and Scrambling Quarterback dolls were made by Horsman in 1967. They were officially licensed by the two major league football organizations at the time – the American Football League and National Football League. (The two leagues merged in 1970.) The dolls were dressed in team colors with the logos on the Cheerleader’s sweater and on the Quarterback’s helmet.
The dolls are 6 inches tall and made of vinyl with a key wind mechanism in their backs. They have painted brown eyes glancing slightly to the left. The Cheerleader has rooted dark blonde hair and her right hand is molded to hold the team’s pennant. The Quarterback has painted hair and his right hand has a hole in it through which the football is attached on a plastic peg. Their outfits are flocked fabric without edge finishes. They close in the back with a single donut snap. Their shoes are mounted on a plastic disk which helps to keep them stable while they move. I haven’t seen one in action, but I’m guessing it’s more of a vibrating shuffling than a “dance” or a “scramble.”
The Dancing Cheerleader and Scrambling Quarterback were sold in display boxes which are shrink wrapped. The back of the boxes list the teams in the same League, but both dolls were available for both leagues. These dolls are sought after by football fans and collectors as well as doll collectors and collectors of wind-up toys.
The Dancing Cheerleader is pretty much the same doll as Horsman’s Mini Dancer, except that Mini Dancer doesn’t have her right hand molded to hold an object.
You can download and print out this PDF file which has front and back designs for two dolls to embroider – Little Boy Blue and Little Bo Peep. At full size they are about 12″ tall, but you can also print them to fit whatever paper size you have.
Beatrice Alexander Behrman, or “Madame Alexander,” as she became known, grew up in the doll business. As the daughter of Maurice Alexander, a Russian immigrant who opened the first doll hospital in this country in 1895, she learned to appreciate the beauty of dolls from her early years. Her father’s teachings stayed with her into adulthood, and seeking a professional and artistic challenge, she founded the Alexander Doll Co., Inc., in the 1920’s. She went on to become the leading lady of the doll industry as she guided a company famous for the beauty and high quality of its dolls and their clothing.
Alexander’s cloth Oliver Twist doll is 16″ tall and was made in 1933-34.
Early Alexander dolls were cloth and composition. They had big hits in the 1930’s with their licensed Dionne Quintuplets and Sonja Henie composition dolls. During this period they also introduced characters from literature, including the Little Women series and McGuffey Ana. In the late ’40s, they turned to hard plastic and their Margaret and Maggie face dolls were the epitome of the well-dressed little girl.
From the very beginning, Madame Alexander focused on producing the highest quality, most beautiful doll clothing in the world. The same molds were used over and over again, with the costume and hairstyling creating the character of the doll.
Photos of Alexander-kin dolls courtesy of eBay seller your-favorite-doll.
The 8 inch Alexander-kins were introduced in 1953, and became the Alexander Doll Company’s most enduring product. Many were sold under the name Wendy or Wendy Ann. A year later a walking mechanism was introduced. From 1956 to 1965, the dolls were produced with jointed knees.
L to R: Cissy, Elise and Cissette dolls by Madame Alexander
Alexander initiated the modern era of the fashion doll with the introduction of Cissy in 1955. In the company’s catalog for that year, Madame describes her as “A Child’s Dream Come True.” Elise, a doll with jointed ankles to enable her to wear low or high heels, was introduced in 1957, and in 1959, 10 inch Cissette joined her “big sisters” as Alexander’s newest fashionable lady. All of these dolls had extensive lines of extra clothing and accessories which could be purchased.
In addition to the high-heeled dolls, Alexander produced some of their most enduring child dolls in the 1950s. Babies Kathy and Little Genius were produced in several sizes, and little girl Kelly was dressed in beautiful, classic styles. The Little Women dolls that had always been big sellers for Alexander got an update with the introduction of pre-teen Lissy.
Chatterbox (L) was a 24″ battery-operated talking toddler made in 1961 only. Bunny (R) was 18″ tall with an adorable expression. She was produced in 1962.
In the 1960s, Alexander introduced a number of new dolls with unique head molds, including Brenda Starr, a slim teen fashion doll to compete with Mattel’s Barbie, and Coco, a new 20 inch high fashion doll. While these dolls had a fairly short production run, the company also introduced some new faces which would become classics in their line. The 21 inch Jacqueline doll was one of these. Initially a representation of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, the mold was later used for the Portrait Series of lady dolls which were produced for decades. 14 inch Mary Ann and 12 inch Janie, both little girl dolls, became mainstays of the company’s line as well.
Also in the 1960s, the International Series using the 8” Alexander-kin molds were introduced. They became Alexander’s most popular line, and are still being produced today.
Tyrolean boy & girl (1966-72) from the International series.
The 1970s and ’80s saw Alexander staying the course, with few innovations, producing the beloved babies and children, characters from classic literature, and ladies in Portrait gowns that had always done well for them.
Beatrice Alexander sold the company in 1988, and passed away two years later.
In the 1990s, the company went through a challenging period. They were the last of the major doll manufacturers still located in the United States, and had difficulty competing for collectors’ dollars. In 1995 the company was sold to an international banking group and production began to be moved overseas.
In the 1990s and 2000s, many of Alexander’s classic dolls were reintroduced, some as reproductions of the original styles, and others with a new modern look.
Beatrice Alexander was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame in 2000.
The company has changed hands a few more times in recent years, and is currently owned by Kahn Lucas, a girls’ clothing manufacturer.
Today the Madame Alexander Doll Company specializes in baby dolls for children, including Huggums and Pussy Cat, first introduced in the 1960s, and a line of Lee Middleton babies; and collectible 8 inch and 10 inch dolls using the Alexander-kin and Cissette molds.
Advertising dolls provide an interesting look at the history of consumer products in America. Who remembers Force cereal, Blatz beer or Fletcher’s Castoria? But through their advertising and trademark characters, these products will live forever.
Most advertising dolls are made of cloth, simple “pancake” dolls with one piece for the front and one for the back, stitched together and stuffed. Some, like Freckles the Frog pictured above, were printed on fabric and sold by the piece, to be stitched and stuffed at home. But there are advertising dolls of all materials, including vinyl, hard plastic, composition and even cast iron.
The Four Types of Advertising Dolls
The most popular and familiar type of advertising doll promotes the company’s trademark character. This might be Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flakes cereal; the Campbell Kids for Campbell’s Soup; or Aunt Jemima for the pancake mix made by Quaker Oats.
Campbell Kids dolls have been made in many different materials over several decades. This pair of 10″ vinyl dolls dates from 1971.
Another type of advertising doll is the licensed doll. This doll, like Ideal’s Little Miss Revlon or Toni by Ideal and American Character, incorporates the name and concept of the product without actually being used in the company’s own advertising.
Polly Pond’s Bride Doll is 24″ tall, with a stuffed vinyl body and soft vinyl head. Her lovely creamy skin tone suits her role as an advertising doll for Pond’s Cold Cream. She was made circa late ’50s or early ’60s.
A third type of advertising doll is the premium doll, which is used by the company to sell product (“Send in 3 boxtops and 25 cents”) but otherwise has no connection to the product. One example of this type is the Fun Fair clown offered by Kelloggs in 1973.
Kellogg’s Little People premium dolls were offered in 1970. They are two inches tall and made of wood, with felt and fabric details and clothing. Left to right: Cabellero, Oriental, Robin Hood, Red Riding Hood, Friar Tuck.
A fourth type of advertising doll, and the hardest to find, are the dolls that were not made available to the general public, but used solely as display pieces in stores. One example is the RCA Victor “Sellin’ Fool” doll made to be displayed in RCA dealerships in the ’20s. The doll was based on an illustration by Maxfield Parrish and is very hard to find today.
Westinghouse “Cozy Glow Kid” is papier maché and measure about 13 inches tall. He was likely a store display made to advertise the company’s space heaters, and dates to the 1920s.
Advertising dolls are still being sold today, although they are far more likely to take the form of plush animals than dolls.
The World of Barbie Fashions by Mattel, Book 3 is dated 1966. It includes Color Magic and Twist ‘n Turn Barbie dolls; Casey; and Black and White Francie dolls. Several of Barbie’s 1600 series and 1400 series outfits are pictured, along with the 1700 series Color Magic outfits. Francie and Casey’s 1200 series outfits and Fashion Paks are illustrated. The back cover offers a subscription to Barbie magazine.
This booklet came with American Character’s Tressy, Mary Make-up and Cricket dolls in 1965. In this year, Cricket finally got her own growing hair feature, and was marketed as Tressy’s little sister (previously she was called her cousin.)
In November of 1967, Mattel rolled out a new promotion in magazines across the country. The Million Dollar Christmas Sweepstakes included a seven page ad with a cover page; five full color pages of dolls and toys; a list of participating stores; and a lucky number coupon to take the store to see if you were a winner. Each winning coupon, verified by a store employee, could then be mailed in to receive a $100 gift certificate for Mattel toys from the store.
My copy is from Family Circle magazine, so the print quality is not as good a some others I have seen. But what you see below are high resolution scans of the dolls that were included.
Magic Attic Club dolls were produced by four different companies between 1994 and 2004. They were the first competitors to the American Girl dolls but never realized their full potential. For more information on Magic Attic, visit the Just Magic site.
Mam’selle Gear Get-Ups were a separate line from Pedigree’s regular clothing for their Sindy, Paul and Patch fashion dolls. These six catalog pages from 1966 show illustrations of these hard to find outfits.
