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If You're Serious About Small Vintage Dolls, This book is a Must-Have:



 

THE TODDLES YEARS
Photo: Ebay

As WWII approached, Germany was no longer an acceptable source of supplies, so Mrs. Graves hired a sculptor, Bernard Lipfert, who had created the heads for Effanbee's popular Patsy, Patsyette, and Baby Patsy lines, as well as Ideal's Shirley Temple.  If you have noticed that Vogue's Toddles looks a lot like the Effanbee dolls, this is the reason why.

Mrs. Graves decided to make the new doll with a new material, composition. Composition, a special process related to papier mache and today's "masonite" or composition-board, didn't shatter the way porcelain bisque did. It was also less expensive to manufacture. From 1937 until 1947-48, all Vogue Dolls were made of composition. 

During the WWII years, when resources for manufacturing were tight, Vogue also used a cute 8-inch composition doll called Toddles from the Arranbee (R & B) Company. 

Photos: Ebay
The Arranbee (R&B) Toddles 

At first these were marked R & B on their backs. Later ones had the Vogue mark. Mrs. Graves introduced a "sold separately" clothing line for Toddles, which greatly increased her popularity.

Photo: Ebay
Composition Vogue Toddles from 1943 

  There were Toddles "Spin-Offs", too. This is a rather crudely made unmarked Toddles-Type composition doll.
This is an Ebay listing for a Black Toddles Type. I don't know if it was marked or not. To the best of my knowledge, Vogue did not make a Black Toddles, but I may be wrong.

Toward the end of WWII, manufacturing was forever changed by the emergence of that exciting new material - PLASTIC! With plastic, dolls could be made with greater detail and much greater durability (practically indestructible!) at no extra cost.

ginny painted eye .jpg (9249 bytes)    Photos: Ebay
In 1948 the new hard plastic 8-inch Vogue doll emerged. Looking much like the old Toddles, she had painted eyes and straight legs. 

NEXT: A NEW DECADE- A NEW DOLL