Madame Alexander

Dolls of Madame Alexander are highly prized throughout the world and are an 85 year tradition of fine quality and innovation. Beatrice Alexander retained control of the company for most of her lifetime, selling it in 1988. Her legacy was a vast number of dolls which have been prized for their attention to detail and history. The Company , started at the onset of World War 1, began by making Red Cross dolls , made from cloth which she and her sisters created in the kitchen of their New York home. With starting capital of $1600.00 she started the Alexander Doll Company in a Manhattan gallery. Influenced in part by the Lenci dolls of Italy, Hers became a resounding success. Although quite unusual for a woman to start and run a company in that part of the century, she had inherited quite a work ethic from her father , who ran a doll shop where she grew up. Impressed with the aura of Madame Lenci of Italy , she decided to improve her image by calling herself Madame Alexander. In the 20’s her husband Philip, began the daily operations of the company freeing her to develop ideas for new dolls. She had a talent for being able to provide ideas for new dolls to fit the times. During the depression her “Alice In Wonderland” doll became a huge success as were the dolls of “Gone With The Wind” as well as the re-release of “Alice” when the Disney movie appeared in 1933.

Dolls based on celebrities such as the Dione quintuplets, Queen Elizabeth, Sonja Hennie and Margaret O’Brian became a huge success. Dolls with jointed knees for walking and elaborate costumes soon followed. Jointed arms, elbows and necks soon followed. In the early 50’s Madame Alexander dolls won 4 awards from the Fashion Academy of New York. In the early sixties , Philip died and she recruited her son in law and grandson to help run the company. Although the company had a few disappointments such as dolls of Gidget, Brenda Star and Marlo Thomas of “that girl” fame. By the 80”s the dolls began enjoying great success as collector items. They were being made of porcelain and added dolls of Hildegard Gunzel and Robin Woods, designed as a line of play dolls for the Company. The company was resold in 1995 and has continued to this day to produce high quality and elaborately costumed dolls.