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Ideal Novelty and Toy
Company began in 1902 to 1938 at which time they changed the name
to Ideal Toy Company. They originally produced teddy
bears, by the 1930's they had created some of their best known dolls; Shirley Temple, Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin, as well as
supplying dolls to other doll manufacturers. They were
first in their industry to make hard plastic dolls after World War
II. Their dolls are made of; wood, cloth, composition, hard
plastic (Patent #2252077), vinyl and magic skin and are considered to be very good
quality.
In 1982 the Ideal
Toy Co. was acquired by the CBS Toy Co., which later went out of business.
Here's some of the
dolls we have found made by Ideal 1902-1949:
| 1914 Uneeda Kid, 14
or 24" tall, & 1916-1917 Zu-Zu Kid, 15
1/2" tall, cloth stuffed body with composition head,
molded hair, painted or sleep eyes, closed mouth, both were
advertising dolls for National Biscuit Co. He wears
beige rompers under his yellow fisherman coat and hat,
Zu-Zu advertising doll for ginger snaps, wore a printed yellow clown costume
with brown stars & pompoms and pointed cap. Unmarked
or marked: Ideal inside a diamond. |
1914 Uneeda Kid,
16"
|
| 1918 Liberty Boy
or Dough Boy 12" tall, all composition, jointed, painted molded
hair, painted US army uniform, marked Ideal in a diamond
on back. Not shown is his brown felt hat. |
1918
Liberty Boy, 12"
|
| 1923 Snoozie
Smiles, 161/2" tall, "this is the doll that made
Queen Mary smile", she had her picture taken (1924)
holding the two faced doll. Composition head and partial
composition limbs, stuffed cloth body, crying face has painted
eyes and tear, smiling face has sleep eyes, two voices a mama
& a crier, wore a linen romper dress with nursery figures
& matching hat. Unmarked. |
1923 Snoozie Smiles,
16 1/2" |
 1924-1931 Flossie
Flirt, 12 - 23" tall, 1928 Sears ad states: "Americas
best known Ma-Ma doll", rolls her flirty eyes from side
to side, winks and blinks her sleep eyes, soft rubber arms and
hands, marcelled parted mohair wig, composition head, smiling
open mouth with teeth, slender composition legs, body &
legs are stuffed with cotton.
Also, 1926-1929 Vanity
Flossie or Gay Flossie, 20" tall, same doll
came with comb & mirror & other vanity accessories, available
as a premium for Needlecraft magazine in 1927.
Photo courtesy of Flozdolz. |
1928
Flossie Flirt Sears ad |
| 1926-1931 Suck a
Thumb, 13-15" tall, composition head and legs,
soft rubber arms, molded hair, open mouth to accept a
pacifier, "She cries, sleeps and enjoys her
pacifier", wore an white organdy dress |
1926-1931 Suck-A-Thumb
|
| 1927-1928 Baby Mae,
18"
tall, cloth stuffed body, composition head and limbs, curly
hair wig, sleep eyes, mama cries, wore an organdy blommer
dress with bonnet, knit socks and patent leather shoes. The
20" size was Bouncing Baby Mae. |
1927
Bouncing Baby Mae, 20" |
| 1928-1940 Cuddles
or Sally-kins, 14-27" tall, composition head, arms,
legs (some limbs are rubber), cloth kapok stuffed body, molded
hair, tin flirty sleep eyes, with lashes, open mouth with
upper & lower teeth, tongue, mama crier, wore an organdy
dress, bonnet and rubber panties, (Little Sister has flannel
diapers). |
1928-1940
Cuddles |
| 1928 Peter Pan, 16
1/2 & 18", stuffed felt body with green jerkin, cap
& shoes, composition head and hands, molded blond hair,
tin sleep eyes, marked: Ideal inside a diamond.
Same doll dressed in orange was the Orange Juice
advertising doll. |
1928 Peter Pan, 18"
|
| 1929 Buster
Brown, 16" cloth stuffed body, composition head,
hands and legs, tin eyes, closed mouth, cartoon character by
Richard Felton Outcault.
|
1929 Buster Brown, 16"
|
| 1931-1939 Tickle
Toes, 14, 16, 19 1/2, 21 or 24" tall, composition head,
rubber arms and legs (early models had stuffed cloth legs
too), stuffed kapok cloth body, tilting, turning heads, flirty sleep winking eyes,
open mouth with painted teeth, doll had three different cry
voices; when each leg is squeezed and when she was put down to
sleep. Originally wore an organdy dress with rubber
panties, matching bonnet and shoes with socks and a pacifier.
Doll can be marked: Ideal in a diamond with USA on the four
outside corners, or 82/Ideal Doll/Made in USA. This doll
has the same head mold as Baby Smiles. Fabulous Doll!
In 1931-1932 (maybe
longer) Tickle Toes also came with a curly wig
of imported fur that can be washed, came wearing a romper with
embroidered collar, belt with celluloid buckle, cotton flannel
vest and rubber panties.
Photo courtesy
of and doll restored by Ronsfancy
|
1931-1939
Tickle Toes |
| 1931-1934
Ticklette or Little Tickle Toes, 13" tall, little
sister to Tickle Toes, composition head, soft rubber arms
and legs, voice crier in each leg, separate squeaker in body,
sleep eyes, wore an organdy dress with bonnet |
1931
Ticklette, 13" |
 1932-1938
Honeysuckle, 11 1/2 -16 1/2" tall, hard rubber head,
soft rubber body, sleep flirt eyes, drink wet, squeaker voice
in legs, can feel the dolls ribs, had an additional 10 piece
layette available separately. |
See Ad
photo on left.
1932-1938 Honeysuckle
|
| 1932-1939 Ducky, 11
- 19" tall, composition head, rubber body and limbs, tin
sleep eyes (except the littlest size they were painted), open
mouth, legs had squeakers, came with a suitcase, diapers,
bottle and accessories. |
Photo N/A
1932-1939 Ducky
|
| ca. 1934-1937 Ginger,
13 - 27" tall, used the same composition jointed body as the
later Shirley Temple dolls, Ginger has a dimple in the chin
with flirty eyes and arms sometimes made of rubber. Doll
is unmarked, or there maybe a faint marking, like the
Shirley dolls. Probably, like the Toni Sara Ann dolls, this
was perhaps done
so Ideal would not need to pay royalties to Shirley Temple.
Photo courtesy of Dollsisme, Angel, and is
shown all original and was
handed down to her from her loving Aunt Leona. Ginger Lee as she
was called, is 21" tall, all composition with flirty eyes open
mouth with her trademark dimple in her chin, and original wig.
Also, wearing her original dress, hat, unders, socks, shoes and
had her box and hangtag as well. Beautiful! |
ca. 1934-1937 Ginger
21" |
| 1934-1940 Shirley
Temple, 11", 13", 16", 17", 18",
20", 22", 25" & 27" tall,
all composition
jointed body,
wigged with 56 ringlet curls in shades of blonde, hazel
glass-like sleep eyes, real eyelashes, painted lower lashes, open smiling mouth
with six teeth, came in outfits that were replicas from her
movies designed by Mollye Goldman (1934-1936), all the dolls came with a
Shirley photo and pin. |
1935
Sears Shirley Temple doll ad |
| 1934 Shirley
Temple, 16" tall, all composition jointed body, wigged with 56
ringlet curls in shades of blonde, hazel glass-like sleep
eyes, real eyelashes, painted lower lashes, open smiling mouth
with six teeth, in original clothing, dressed in
"Baby Take a Bow" white with red polka dots. |
1934
Shirley Temple, 16" |
| 1934 Shirley
Temple, 18" tall, all composition, wigged,
sleep eyes, open smiling mouth, think the clothing is Mommy
made, but of a style that Shirley wore. Marked on
head: Cop/Ideal/N & T Co (this is the early
prototype marking). |
ca.
1934s Shirley Temple, 18" |
|
1935 Shirley
Temple Baby, 16, 18, 20- 22, 25 & 27"" tall,
Sears Exclusive - composition shoulder plate head with
composition or rubber arms and composition lower legs, cloth
kapok stuffed body, hazel glass-like flirty sleep eyes, open mouth with tongue
and teeth, those famous dimples on her cheeks, came wearing an
organdy dress with matching bonnet. Marked on head:
Shirley Temple. |
1935 Shirley Temple Baby -
Sears Ad
|
| 1935-1947 Betty Jane, Little
Princess, Pigtail Sally or Cinderella, 14 or 18"
tall, all composition with sleep eyes, open mouth, wigged. |
1935-1947 Pigtail Sally, 18" |
| 1936 I De Lite
Doll or Suzy, 13-20", Shirley Temple look a like, without the
dimples, composition doll, sleep eyes, has molded hair under the mohair wig. |
Photo N/A
1936 I De Lite Doll,
13-20"
|
| 1938 + Fanny
Brice as Baby Snooks, 12" tall, flexy doll with wire
mesh torso and a metal cable thru arms & legs. Shown in
original clothing (two piece outfit came in various print
fabrics). Marked: IDEAL DOLL.
Other flexy characters were: Soldier,
Mortimer Snerd (shown below), Sunny Sue,
Sunny Sam,
Black Flexy & a Clown Flexy. |
1938
Baby Snooks, 12" |
| 1938 + Mortimer Snerd,
(Edgar Bergen's dummy) 12" tall, flexy doll with wire
mesh torso and a metal cable thru arms & legs. Shown
in original clothing. Marked: IDEAL DOLL/Made
in USA |
1938
Mortimer Snerd, 12"
|
 1938-1941 Deanna Durbin,
21 & 24-25" tall (only produced in 1938). 1939-1941
she came in sizes 14-15" & 18" tall, Deanna was a teenage movie star/singer of radio & TV.
All composition jointed body, brown sleep eyes, brown human
hair wig, dimples, open smiling mouth with six teeth.
Came in several different outfits. Marked on head:
Deanna Durbin/Ideal Doll, USA.
The 15" tall size shown on
left, has been found with the Mayfair twist waist walker body
and the Deanna head mold. Photo on left,
courtesy of Flozdolz.
|
1938 Deanna Durbin,
21" |
| 1938 Judy Garland
as Dorothy in Wizard of Oz, 16 or 18" tall, all
composition jointed body, brown sleep eyes, open smiling mouth
with four teeth, human hair brown braided
wig, dressed in original blue and white gingham dress over a
white blouse, socks and shoes. Marked on head: Ideal
Doll on back: 18 Ideal Doll/Made in USA. |
1938
Dorothy, 18"
|
| 1938 Snow
White, based on the character in the Walt Disney movie Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, they made three dolls;
one used the Shirley Temple
mold, was 11" tall, is all composition with black mohair
wig hair she has dimples in her cheeks not her chin. Photo
courtesy of Patkan.
The 14-19" tall doll
is composition with molded
hair and a 16" tall all cloth
doll with painted mask face. All the dolls wore a
similar long dress in white with red or blue bodice, with her
name imprinted on the skirt bottom "Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs.
|
1938 Snow White, 11"
Photo
courtesy of Patkan
|
 1938
Snow White, 19" tall, stuffed cloth
body construction, molded painted black hair, painted
red ribbon.
Photo courtesy
of Patkan.
|
1938 Snow White, 19"
tall, cloth stuffed body with black molded painted hair,
painted blue ribbon. Blue and white dress.
Photo courtesy of
Stephanie. |
|
1938 Snow White,
16"
This
is the cloth doll with painted mask face.
Photo courtesy
of Patkan.
|
| 1938-1939
Cinderella, 13-27" tall, all composition flirty sleep
eyes, dressed in a formal. Some are marked others are
unmarked, used the Shirley Temple body mold so some
maybe marked like the Shirley dolls. |
1938-1939 Cinderella, 13"
|
| 1939-1940 Marma, 18"
tall, black doll Hawaiian used the Shirley Temple body mold, all
composition, sleep eyes, black yarn hair, open mouth, dressed in a Hawaiian outfit of a green grass hula skirt,
floral top and flower like leis. Doll was based on the
movie character Marma, in the movie "The Hurricane"
(which Shirley was not in). Doll is marked: Ideal
13 or on back: Shirley Temple.
|
1940
Marma, 18" |
| 1939 Coquette,
9 or 11" tall, all composition, jointed, painted molded
hair, (larger size had a wig instead of molded hair), painted
side glancing eyes came in short or long gown. Marked on
back: (backwards 9)/Ideal/Doll.
The 11" tall doll was also
used in the Gulliver's Travels series as Princess Glory,
based on movie by Paramount Pictures. |
1939
Coquette, 9"
|
 1939
Mayfair, 15, 18, 21 & 25" tall, all composition
sleep eyes, wigged, jointed body with double twist waist, one
arm is bent. The 15" size body was also used by the Mary
Hoyer Doll company. The 15" size is marked with
the number 13 on back.
The 15" Deanna Durbin doll
& a Russian boy used this same body with a twist waist,
too. |
 
1939
Mayfair, 15"
|
| 1939-1944 Bride,
15" tall, all composition, jointed, sleep eyes, wigged in
several colors, open mouth with four upper teeth, wore a
bridal outfit, marked on head: X within a circle. May
see a faint Shirley Temple marking on back. |
1939-1944
Bride, 15"
|
| 1940s-1950s Baby Beautiful,
17-27" tall, cloth body, composition head with molded hair
(after 1949 was made of hard plastic), partial composition arms,
and legs, sleep eyes, open mouth. |
1940s-1950s Baby Beautiful, 27"
|
| 1940 Judy Garland,
21" tall, from strike up the Band. All composition
jointed body, brown sleep eyes, human hair brown wig, open
smiling mouth with four teeth. Has a rounder face than
Deanna Durbin (used the DD mold). Marked on head: Made in U.S.A.
Marked on back: Ideal Doll/(backward) 21 |
1940 Judy Garland,
21"
|
 1940 Composition and
Wood character
dolls: King Little 14" (shown at left),
Jimmy Cricket 10 1/2", Gabby 13" (shown on right), Pinocchio 11"
and Superman 14" tall. |
1940
Gabby 13" |
| 1940 Magic Skin Baby,
14-15" tall, all latex magic skin stuffed body baby doll, heads are usually marked
IDEAL. |
1940
Magic Skin Baby, 14" |
| 1940's-1950's
Hedwig Dolls, 14" tall, unmarked, early ones
are composition and later ones of hard plastic,
based on Marguerite Lofft De Angeli (b. 1889
d. 1987) children's fiction stories from 1935-1950's, the
doll, wigs and clothing were designed and selected from the
books by her friend Hedwig Ryglewicz. Mrs. De Angeli the Grande
Dame of children's literature an illustrator in America,
was selected a Member of the Michigan Women's Historic Hall
of Fame in 1984 and won numerous awards for her books and
illustrations over the years and many school children will
remember her books that seem to be a staple of libraries and
classrooms. The two ladies selected a generic unmarked
14" Ideal doll (looks similar to the Toni's and
some were the Mary Hoyer doll mold also initially made
by Ideal) and ordered 100 dolls, to make dolls that were portrayed
in Marguerite's books. The (9) dolls that were made; Lydia,
Suzanne, Elin, Hannah, Anelia, Cecelia,
April, Tadd & Yonie Wondernose (last two are both boy
dolls). These dolls were produced for 20 years,
while unmarked they did have a yellow & black wrist tag
that identified them.
See the
de
Angeli & Hedwig page for lots more details &
photo's.
|
1937
"Petite Suzanne" book cover
Off site link:
Lapeer, MI Library - Marguerite
De Angeli
- Michigan
Women's Historic Hall of Fame: Marguerite De Lofft De Angeli |
 1942-1947 Plassie,
18 to 24" tall, baby doll with magic skin kapok stuffed body
with crier, molded
painted hair, sleep eyes. They reissued this doll in
1946-1947 with a cloth body as shown. (will never get a magic
skin doll to show, as the skin deteriorate's very badly and
wouldn't look very nice today).
Anne's
1946 Plassie doll is 21" tall, hard plastic head
with blue or brown sleep eyes, cloth stuffed body and upper legs,
hard plastic arms and lower legs, crier Marked: IDEAL DOLL
MADE IN THE U.S.A. PAT. No 2252077.
Photos
courtesy of Anne.
|
1946
Plassie, cloth body 21" |
| 1943 Honey Baby, 15" tall,
composition head & limbs, cloth body with crier, sleep eyes,
closed mouth, curly molded hair. Marked: 20/Ideal
Doll/Made in USA |
1943 Honey Baby, 15" |
| 1945 Miss Curity,
18-22" tall, all composition jointed body, wigged, sleep eyes,
closed mouth, wears a nurse uniform, doll is unmarked.
There is also a 1961 Miss Curity made
of hard plastic, Toni body & markings, that is part of the Toni family
of dolls. |
1945
Miss Curity, 18" |
| 1947 Sparkle Plenty doll,
15" tall, hard plastic head, magic skin kapok stuffed latex body, molded and painted
or yellow yarn hair with sleep eyes and closed mouth; daughter
of Gertie Gravel & Bob Oscar Plenty (B.O. Plenty, lol) of the Dick Tracy comic strip,
marked "Made in U.S.A./Pat. No. 2252077". |
1947 Sparkle Plenty,
15" |
| 1948-1953 Baby Coos,
14-16" tall, cloth or magic skin body, composition or hard plastic head, sleep eyes, molded hair,
closed mouth, marked on head: 14 IDEAL DOLL, MADE IN U.S.A
or IDEAL DOLL/MADE IN USA on back: Ideal Doll 14.
|
1948-1953 Baby Coos,
14" composition head |
 1948-1953
Brother Coos doll
is 25" tall, is
a toddler with composition
head, chest plate, arms, legs, cloth body. He "Coos"
when you lay him back, brown painted hair with a curl in
front, brown sleep eyes, molded lashes. Mark on neck
is Ideal Doll, Made in USA.
Photo courtesy of Yasmin
|
1948-1953
Brother Coos, 25" |
| 1948-1953 Sister
Coos, 25 - 30" tall, toddler cloth body with
hard plastic head and limbs. She "Coos" when
you lay her down, wigged, blue sleep eyes. Marked: IDEAL DOLL, MADE IN U.S.A
or IDEAL DOLL/MADE IN USA.
Photo is
courtesy of Patkan
|
1948-1953
Sister Coos, 25" |
| ca. 1947 Pre Toni
doll, 14" - several sizes, all composition jointed body,
Toni doll head mold with mohair wig,
or see next doll, sleep eyes, real
upper lashes, painted lower lashes and closed mouth.
Unsure how marked, but think they used
just the Ideal Toy Corp. name without the P #
marking, of the later dolls, or unmarked.
|
ca.
1947 Pre
Toni, 18" composition |
|
ca. 1947 Pre Toni
doll, 14" - several sizes, all composition jointed body,
Toni doll head mold, sleep eyes, real
upper lashes, painted lower lashes and painted facial features,
mohair wig, closed mouth.
Unsure how marked, but think they used
just the Ideal Toy Corp. name without the P #
marking, of the later dolls, or unmarked Photo
courtesy of Dollolgy |
ca. 1947 Pre-Toni, 14" |
|
1949-1953 Toni dolls, 14-22
1/2"
tall, all hard plastic jointed body, the earliest dolls wore a nylon wig
in various styles & hair colors, the later heads had
rooted hair, sleep eyes usually in blue, real upper eyelashes painted
lower lashes, closed mouth. This is the "Toni Home
Permanent" doll, there were lots of separate outfits
available, too. The smaller sized dolls have the same
head mold as shown above, but the big girl at 22 1/2" looks quite a
bit different than the smaller dolls.
The other dolls that used the Toni marked body are:
Harriet Hubbard Ayer, Miss Curity nurse, Mary Hartline, Betsy
McCall and Princess Mary. Ruth and Sara Ann are
shown on the 1950's page.
The sizes were marked as
follows: 14" marked P-90, 16"
marked P-91, 19" marked P-92, 21" marked
P-93,
and 22 1/2" marked P-94 (and is a rare size).
Here's a full page of some of
the various sized - tagged
Toni dolls clothing.
|
1949-1953
Toni, 22 1/2"
|
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