DOLLS

It may be the 85th anniversary of Alexander Doll Co., but for company president Gale Jarvis and vice president of sales David Morgenstern, 2008 has been another year to challenge themselves—building on the quality tradition that is synonymous with the company’s name while pushing into new territories.  “You have to outdo yourself every single year or else your collectors are disappointed. It’s nice that it’s the 85th year, but we didn’t work any harder this year because [of that],” Morgenstern says. “We have to work harder because our collectors are expecting more and more of us every single year.” 

Gorgeous Gowns, Pretty Pinafores, Sleek Suits—Everyone’s a Winner as Alexander Doll Company’s Designers Pull out all the Stops in the Company’s 2006 Line.

When the gals and guys who know which dir­ection hems are heading get together for Fashion Week, they are thrilled to discover new names and outrageous outfits. There’s a heady feeling connected to revealing a never-before-known designer and unusual label. But the fashionistas truly revel in ab­sorbing and applauding the well-known, well-established classics. They clamor for Chanel; give ovations to Oscar de la Renta; and drool over Dior. 

When it Came to Style, Variety and Quality, No One Did it With Quite the Creative Flair as the Madame!

Just hearing the name of Madame Alexander brings immediate images into the thoughts of doll collectors. “Other” dolls sat side by side in the dime stores and grocery stores of the land, but not the Alexander dolls. By the 1940s and 1950s, they were so exclusive they were displayed in their own glass cases in the doll section of big department stores. These were dolls with the higher price tags. These were dolls made for “looking” … not playing.

The Enigmatic Appeal of The Lonely Doll is Renewed by a New Biography of the Book’s Creator and the Alexander Doll Company’s New Edition of the Storybook Character.

Dolls are rarely in the limelight in my upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan. So I literally stopped short when, early in the autumn of 2004, I passed one of my favorite bookshops, Ivy’s Books, and saw an old felt doll, a teddy bear and a group of Dare Wright’s The Lonely Doll books filling the front window. Peering more closely at the quirky display, I quickly realized its impetus: the publication that month of a biography of Dare Wright by Jean Nathan, which had already been generating press attention in publications like The New York Times and Vogue magazine. Nathan’s book, The Secret Life of the Lonely Doll (Henry Holt), sat in an antique birdcage in the center of the display.

An Achievement Award Highlights The Alexander Doll Company’s Past, Present and Future.

Popular wisdom has taught us that it’s not where you start, it’s where you finish. In the case of Bertha Alexander, born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 1895, her final destination was a far cry from the steaming tenements, rickety pushcarts and hardworking immigrants that surrounded her childhood. When she passed away in 1990, she had lived a life full of creativity, ingenuity, accolades and ac­complishments. Married to a supportive husband, Philip Behr­man, and the proud mother of a daughter, Mildred, Bertha had basked in the respect and affection of her family, and of the entire world. For you see, Bertha Behrman was known internationally as Madame Beatrice Alexander.

With All the Passion of Their Russian Souls, Alexander and Marina Royzman Make Beautiful Dolls Together.

Back in 1967–the “summer of love”–the Beatles were asked to contribute a song for a televised Our World concert. Surrounded by balloons and heart-shaped signs, Lennon and McCartney harmonized and rhapsodized how “All You Need is Love.” The performance, which was broadcast globally into villages and valleys, tried to lay the groundwork for international peace and understanding. In Russia, in the town of Odessa, two young people were deeply affected by the Liverpool lads’ urgings. Young Alexander and schoolgirl Marina were touched by the singers’ refrain of love as a potent healing tool.

The Extensive Summer Wardrobe Created by Madame Alexander Represents Some of the Loveliest and Most Fashionable Doll Clothing of the 1950s.

The 1950s were nostalgic times of peace and tran­quility in America. World War II and the Korean War were over and millions of Americans married and moved into houses in new suburbia. Rock and roll was infiltrating the teen­age population and clothing, especially for women, became highly fashionable, often mimicking the haute couture of French designers. Whether for school or church, little girls always wore dresses, and like their moms, they add­ed accessories such as white gloves, hats and dress shoes. Stores like Marshall Field’s even sold matching mother-daughter dresses so that little girls could feel as elegantly well-dressed as their moms.