Stymie's New Hat

American child star, Matthew 'Stymie' Beard c. 1930s

Matthew 'Stymie' Beard (January 1, 1925 - January 8, 1981) was an American child star famous for his role as Stymie in the Our Gang shorts comedy series. The Our Gang comedy shorts featured Black and white neighborhood children and their adventurous shenanigans. Created by Hal Roach, Our Gang was one of the most popular comedy shorts series of the 1920s-1940s. Stymie's role lasted five years from 1930 to 1935. After the 1938 Our Gang franchise sale to MGM, the franchise was renamed The Little Rascals. By then, Stymie's contract had ended. His acting career continued sporadically until age 15. Yet, he experienced a few other roles later in his adult life. Because he was so well known as the character, Stymie, Beard adopted the name, Stymie Beard. 

The Little Rascals doll character Stymie by Hamilton Collection and King World Entertainment was released in 1993.

In 1993, Hamilton Collection and King World Entertainment included a 15-inch porcelain Stymie doll in their The Little Rascals doll series. I recently received the Stymie doll shown above as a gift. The doll arrived without his derby. After being here for a few weeks, I made a replacement hat using my modification of instructions found on the Ehow* website. View the photos, captions, and a short video of what was done. 

Plan A

I measured the circumference of the doll's head (8 inches) and used a circle template of the same size to trace a circle onto a piece of paper. The instructions were to use a protractor, but my husband has a template for different-sized circles, so I used that. The next step was to create a circle around the original circle that was 1/3 larger than the original circle. For the top portion of the hat, I was supposed to draw a separate circle 2/3's larger than the original brim and cut out both patterns.

These are the cutout patterns for the brim and the top of the hat (I did not use the top pattern).

Next, I cut out the center of the brim pattern (above left) to create an opening for the head. (I folded the pattern in half and cut out a semicircular area from the folded center.) 

The brim and top patterns were pinned to a 5 x 7-inch self-adhesive piece of black felt.

Next, the patterns for the brim and top were cut out.

The felt cutouts were unpinned from the patterns.

After the cutouts were unpinned from the patterns, I attempted to follow the instructions to insert the top portion inside the brim to create the top of the bowler or derby. Because of the adhesive backing, the felt was too stiff to properly insert into the brim. However, the true reason this did not work is the top piece was supposed to be 2/3's larger than the brim circumference, but it was too small.

Plan B

Instead of cutting out a larger piece of felt for the top portion of Stymie's hat, I made a mold for the top. After covering Stymie's head and breastplate with Saran wrap, I wrapped the doll's head and face with several layers of masking tape and painted the taped area with several layers of Mod Podge to stiffen it.

Stymie's head and breastplate were protected with Saran wrap before the head and face were covered with layers of masking tape.

The line drawn around the mold represents the intended bottom of the top where the brim would be placed.

To check the fit, the brim was placed over the pre-Mod-Podged mold.

Several layers of Mod Podge were applied to the masking tape to stiffen it.

After the Mod Podge dried and the mold hardened sufficiently, it was removed from Stymie's head.

In a view from under the mold, several slits in the excess nonstiffened portion created tabs that were folded outward.

The top was painted with several layers of black acrylic paint.

The painted top mold was inserted into the brim before the white paper that covered the adhesive under the brim was removed. 

Video Explanation of the Final Touches

Stymie's Completed Hat

A black grosgrain ribbon creates the hat brim trim.

Stymie models his new hat from different angles.

Stymie and his hat. :-) 

While I realize the hat brim is too wide and the top is too tall for a derby or a bowler hat like the one the child actor wore in the Our Gang shorts, and that it looks more like a sheriff's hat, I like this look for Stymie. I can always make another hat that looks more like a derby (now that I know how to do it), or I can trim the brim of this hat to give it more of a derby appearance. 

*The link to the Ehow instructions was omitted because several visible unnecessary DOWNLOAD links appeared, and I did not want anyone to click these links by mistake. If you find the instructions from this site, just remember to scroll down to read; do not click anything.

Related Link

Little Rascals Dolls' Museum Installation

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

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Doll Seed: Stories

Doll Seed: Stories by Michele Tracy Berger is a Sci-fi book of short stories.

Yesterday, I began reading an autographed copy of Doll Seed: Stories by Michele Tracy Berger. Steeped in Sci-fi, a genre low on my reading radar, I purchased the book because dolls, black women, and girls are frequent themes in the book's 15 short stories. 

The first story introduced me to Lindsay and her family who are preparing their home to host an alien Fike girl named Nussia. So far, I am intrigued and interested enough to continue reading this story and the rest. 

Thanks to Mama Jo's House of Dolls for informing me about this book available on Amazon. I purchased my autographed copy from Sistah Sci-fi.

I have added this title to my black doll storybook post.

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

Black Firm Joins Toy Industry

Ebony magazine's December 1969 cover image features Marc Copage (of  Julia show fame) and actor Johnny Brown as Santa Claus.

It was newsworthy in 1969 when Ebony magazine featured a 6-page article about Shindana Toy Company in the December issue. I recently discovered and purchased this issue because of the Shindana article, " Black Firm Joins Toy Industry." Behind-the-scene images at the Shindana doll factory and offices in 1969 and captions from the article (modified for the photo layout in this post) are shared below.

At Shindana Toy Co., an all-black Los Angeles firm manufacturing special "soul doll babies," under combined auspices of a black self-help group called Operation Bootstrap and Mattel, Inc., factory workers operate and remove a hot batch of doll bodies from 880° F ovens (above and below). Later, dolls are painted and stitched together so that final product looks like models displayed (below) by a company worker. Shindana, which now produces some 1000 dolls a day should gross $450,000 this year.

In the Shindana Dolls factory, a Shindana factory worker operates and removes a hot batch of doll bodies from an 880° F oven.

Two versions of Shindana's Baby Nancy are displayed by Shindana worker, Mary White.

Introducing Baby Jane, a new doll specially designed for Sears Roebuck & Co., is Shindana's Director of Research and Design, Bob Penny. The company's latest model will have eyes which close when the doll is placed in a reclining position.

Newly painted doll heads are carefully placed onto turntables for drying. The original design for Shindana's 13-inch doll Nancy (the company's first model) was developed by three high school students within a three-month period. Although the firm now produces only four models, it is working on new ones and plans manufacturing other types of children's games. "We want to do everything except war toys," says the company's General Manager Robert Hall.

Before dolls are shipped out, each is packaged in cellophane-wrapped boxes. Although the factory is run on an assembly line basis, Manager Hall says there are no inspectors. "Each employee," he explains, "inspects the other. They're all proud that they're putting out a black product, and they just don't want our things to go to stores looking bad."

For little girls who prefer Afro styles, worker Carrie Rossner (above) roots natural hairdo onto dolls. Shindana has one of a few machines in the country which can root hair automatically.

For young miss who would prefer a doll with twin ponytails, Shindana worker Eloise Reed arranges the hairstyle accordingly. Studies will determine which hairstyle makes the biggest impression on children.

Once the hairstyle is selected, the doll's head is stitched (above) to its body. Then it is dressed and packaged. Shindana, which started with a workforce of 10 to 15 in 1968, now employs more than 70 workers in different sections of the factory.

In his office (above, top) Sales Manager Herbert Thompson (sitting) gives a sales pep talk while across the hall (above, bottom) Operations Manager Phil Gilyard discusses technical problems with Mattel staff member Dolphe Lee.

In the Art Department, Ed Gentry checks new box designs to be sure that "they're attractive, functional, and capable of selling the product." 

Research and design artist Jim Toatley uses a sculpture caliper to check the size of a doll's head.

Clerical staff takes care of the firm's office functions such as billing, typing, and letter writing. While employee turnover was fairly high at first, it is now down to less than 1%.

The production area of the Shindana Bldg. is hub of the doll-making process. The factory, located in South Los Angeles and which opened in 1968, has brought added revenue to the black community. Many of factory's workers were formerly among hard-core unemployed.

~~~~~

Traditionally, Ebony's November and/or December issues featured new dolls and toys on the market for parents to consider purchasing their children for Christmas. In addition to the Shindana article (pages 84-91) in the December 1969 issue, a Mattel ad featured four toys for preschoolers; Mother Goose See 'n Say, Sing-A-Song Super See 'N Say, Charlie Brown Talking Storybook, and the Mattel-O-Phone with recordings from Snow White, Santa Claus, Old King Cole, and many others. See Mattel's ad here. 

The entire issue is accessible here, and you can learn more about the company's humble beginnings, Mattel's no-strings-attached funding and support, and other little-known Shindana Toy Company facts.

All photos and text are copyrighted and cannot be used elsewhere unless permission is granted by the author.

©Black Doll Collecting/dbg

There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.

__________

Thank you for reading. Comments that are not spam are appreciated. Spam comments will not be published, so don't waste your time. To contact me directly regarding dolls or any of my posts, please use the contact form on the right of the home page, which is visible in "web view." A link to web viewing should be visible at the bottom of this page.

If you're not already a subscriber, visit, "like" and follow the Black Doll Collecting Facebook page or bookmark the Black Doll Collecting home page and visit on Tuesdays and Thursdays when typically new posts are published.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
*New*Visit/Follow DeeBeeGee's Virtual Black Doll Museum
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!