Doll News Summer 2017 - 45

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or the doll industry, "the next big thing" tends to
drive the business. Moving from cloth dolls of the
1920s into a newly developed composition in the 1930s -
the composition dolls made by Madame Alexander in the
late 1940s became much more reﬁned. In particular, beautiful costuming
became a strong focal point unique in the doll industry. Madame would
do a series of extravagant 1940s portrait dolls that were showpieces for
retailers and announced her success to her competitors. Even with the
manufacturing limitations of World War II, the Alexander Doll Company
still designed and produced beautiful dolls for the high end of the market.
The end of the war years would bring dramatic changes in both
technology and the economy. Plastics used for products of war were
harnessed for making dolls and toys. Alexander moved quickly to this
new product to help reﬁne it for her companies use. Plastic was an all-out
commitment to the future, and she would work directly with DuPont to
correct some of the production problems in using plastic for her company.
With this same commitment, Alexander switched most of their production
from composition to hard plastic in 1947. This same corporate participation
and technology used Nylon and Saran for the wigs for dolls and new
synthetic fabrics. One of these was newly introduced nylon tulle that was
also developed by DuPont and bought in all colors by Alexander. This
durability was also an important link to the ongoing commitment Beatrice
Alexander made towards dolls that are play friendly and indestructible.
The booming economy was another key component that drove the
engine of success of post-war America. One of the areas of the world stage
that found a new home was fashion. New York City was now front and
center in its newly found international status. Paris haute couture was coming
back to life and found a new world of adoring women longing to move
on and embrace this new vision created by Christian Dior and the Paris
fashion houses coming back to life. To capture this fashion phenomenon
on a fashion doll, there needed to be a doll with the right proportions.
Everything about the "New Look" ﬂooding the runway, fashion magazines,
and retailers required speciﬁcs like a pinched waist, emphasized bosom and
a natural shoulder. The doll speciﬁcally created to become this model was
"Cissy." Based on the concept of the French fashion dolls of the 1800s with
beautiful costuming, hats, shoes and accessories to go with her. Introduced
in 1955, "Cissy" was just the right doll at just the right time. Her success was
propelled further with the launching of ads with Yardley of London that
gave "Cissy" national and international exposure.
One of the dramatic changes of introducing the 20-inch fashion doll,
"Cissy," was that she came in only one size. The previous doll industry
standard was to offer each doll in multiple sizes. In 1957, a little sister to
"Cissy" was introduced in a smaller size of 16-½ inches. "Elise" was often
the shadow doll for "Cissy" and wearing the same costuming. "Elise" has
a more demure quality in both her persona and her price points, which
was another important marketing feature of the doll. Ideal's "Revlon Doll"
did come in a range of sizes and price points, with rooted hair that was
both washable and styled. Rooted hair on vinyl heads was the weak play
point of the beautifully wigged and coiffed "Cissy" and "Elise." While the
mechanics of "Cissy" and "Elise" are superior, the issue of their hair did
not perform as well as the vinyl doll and rooted hair used by competitors
who aggressively promoted this feature and focused on a mass market.
In 1957, the same year that Alexander introduced "Elise," 10-inch
"Cissette" was presented to compete in the other extreme of the fashion
doll phenomenon. The miniature version of the fashion doll was also
gaining popularity. Madame Alexander would typically offer "Cissy,"
"Elise" and "Cissette" in the same costuming or with the same extra
outﬁts. Ideal had their 1958 introduction of a 10-inch "Little Miss Revlon,"
which rounded out the fashion dolls from Ideal. The large fashion dolls
enjoyed a massive wave of success from 1955-1958, but the smaller sized

dolls would ultimately win the day. Mattel's 1959
introduction of "Barbie" would completely change
the fashion doll market. A little bumpy the ﬁrst year,
"Barbie's" size, price points and TV marketing on
the newly introduced and hugely popular children's
programing on home television sets (an innovation
itself partly due to the new concept of consumer
credit) were an all points hit. "Barbie" was again the
right doll at just the right time.
The fashion doll trend had moved on, and the
larger 20-inch dolls were not what children wanted
in this new decade. "Elise" however, got a career
boost from this industry adjustment. In 1963 "Elise"
got to be the glamor doll of the line. Her bigger
sisters "Cissy" and "Jacqueline" were retired from
Alexander, and "Elise" received star treatment.
"Elise" however, also received mold and size tweaks,
and by 1963 grew to 18-inches. In 1962-1964 she
received the ﬁrst face change. In the early 1960s,
she would also come with a new vinyl head called
"Marybel," and known by collectors as a "Marybel
faced Elise."
While "Elise" did enjoy much of the same
fashion as 'Cissy," she had one category that she
excelled. As a ballerina, she was a real industry
star. Part of this success was the unique jointed
ankle mechanism "Elise" had that allowed for
three settings. For street dresses and gowns, "Elise"
had two styles of high heels - a stiletto and a more
demure kitten heel shoe. For ballet, she had the
appropriate ballet slipper and was able to assume
any number of positions to enhance her appeal
as a ballerina. Ballet had come into mid-century

"Elise" 1964 18-inch in a very rare hounds tooth suit
and red Italian straw hat and red stiletto shoes.
DOLL NEWS * UFDC.ORG

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Summer 2017
