Over a million Barbie dolls had been sold by 1962, according to a Mattel press release. This is just three years after Barbie was introduced at the 1959 Toy Fair. In an interview with Elliot Handler, one of the founders of Mattel, in 1986, he told me even he was unconvinced that Barbie would be a success.
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Jozef Szekeres is an artistic triple threat: comic-book illustrator, Disney animator, and high-fashion doll designer. It’s the latter, however, that’s his passion and primary focus. The Sydney, Australia, resident introduced his first dolls, the stunning Elizabet and Kolatin Bizelle sisters, in 2003. On the heels of an unplanned hiatus, he revisited his original concept and released the GlamourOZ Doll line in 2020.
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I have quite a few antique dolls from the ABG factory. They are china and bisque shoulder heads, many with molded hair, all beautifully made, probably all made before 1900. You say in your books that ABG produced character heads in the 1920s. Could you be more specific about these later dolls?
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During a nearly 30-year doll-design career, Elizabeth Cooper has unfailingly relied on the same successful formula. First comes inspiration, followed by motivation, perspiration, and when necessary, innovation.
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The fairy tale of The Frog Princess has influenced Russian artists across all media. Maryina...
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Q: I won this stunning 21-inch composition Margaret O’Brien doll by Madame Alexander at an auction. The original owner had purchased the doll new in the original box with the clover wrist tag that said Margaret O’Brien. For some reason, the previous owner discarded the box and the wrist tag but kept the doll in a glass cabinet. Her son had put the doll up for auction. She is flawless, and the dress is tagged Margaret O’Brien. I also have a Margaret O’Brien Madame Alexander doll in hard plastic, and I was wondering when the change from composition to hard plastic occurred?
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Before she became a full-time doll artist, Cindee Moyer was a human resources manager for a manufacturing company in Iowa for 15 years. One of her accomplishments she’s most proud of was integrating refugees into the company’s workforce. At the time, Iowa was processing large numbers of refugees from Bosnia, Vietnam, and Sudan. “Our company was expanding rapidly, so working with the Bureau of Refugee Services, I was able to hire 30 refugees in the first month — and that was just the beginning,” Moyer said.
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The early 1960s were a time of rapid change in the toy world, particularly when it comes to dolls. The doll market included toys designed for children as young as 3 years old up to 14 years, from baby dolls and toddlers — some made to be life-sized, like Ideal’s 42-inch Daddy’s Girl — to adult-figured fashion dolls. But the whole market was in the midst of a shakeup.
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