Health & Fitness
Madame Alexander a Brief History
Celebrating their 90th Anniversary we take a look at the history of the woman behind the company and it's growth throughout the years
So I got a rare and, in my eyes, privileged chance to visit Madame Alexander's home base at their new location in Manhattan. Whew, it was beautiful, but before I get to that I want to tell you all about some amazing things I learned about the woman behind the company and of the company itself that we have all grown up with. Alexander Doll Company Inc. was founded 90 years ago by Madame Beatrice Alexander who was the daughter of Russian immigrants. Her father actually ran the first "doll hospital" in America. If you are unaware of what a doll hospital is, well it is just that, a place you can send your precious dolls to get repaired, instead of throwing them away. Young Beatrice use to play with the dolls waiting to be mended and her love of dolls grew from there, along with it being a family trait! Madame Alexander was the first in the toy industry to base a doll on a licensed character, starting with Alice in Wonderland, and leading up to all the wonderful movie and TV show inspired dolls we have grown up with and see today. She was also the first to bring baby dolls into the market as well as to honor living people! Not only that she was the first to introduce a full figured fashion doll Cissy, with haute couture outfits! Take that Barbie!
But Madame Alexander started out small, as all great things tend to do. Before starting her world famous brand, Beatrice and her sisters designed a cloth Red Cross Nurse doll in honor of all those women risking their lives in the war. These girls used the knowledge they had learned from their time with their father and the love of dolls in general to help see their family through the war. By creating a doll that didn't break like the German porcelain dolls at the time these dolls were an instant success! Surprise, surprise! When she first began, her workforce consisted of her sisters and and neighborhood men and women that wanted to make a bit of extra money. Her first designs were made of cloth and had flat painted faces. The next set were the same only their faces were molded with three dimensional features. And it all began where all great things do, in my opinion, in their family kitchen in downtown Manhattan. Their rent was $40.00 a month- imagine that.
Read More....
