Thursday, June 26, 2025

My Childhood American Character Tiny Tears Replacement

1950s American Character Tiny Tears


I recently began reminiscing about one of my first childhood dolls, a 16-inch Tiny Tears by American Character. My version was on the market from 1956-1958 and had a hard plastic head, a rubber body, blue sleep eyes, and rooted honey-blonde saran hair. I have several fond memories of nurturing the doll whose clothes eventually separated from its body, which forced me to devise a pair of panties for it using a sock, scissors, a needle, and thread. She came with a plastic doll baby bottle, and a bubble-blowing pipe. The doll's design is described in the online article, "Treasures: 1950s Tiny Tears doll is collectible," by Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson, Tribune News Service, Jul 28, 2015.

Tiny Tears by American Character, introduced in the 1950s, was designed to cry by using a mechanism that involved a small reservoir of water and a squeezable belly. When the doll was fed water from her bottle and her belly was squeezed, the water would flow through two small holes near her eyes, simulating tears.

According to the Doll Reference site, a 13-1/2 inch black* Tiny Tears was made from 1956-1958, but my childhood doll was white, which is the doll I chose to replace. I was about 3 when I received it and played with it for a few years, or at least until I was 5. I remember being fascinated by the release of tears from the tiny holes in the inner corners of the doll's eyes after the doll was bottle-fed water and her tummy was squeezed. I made clothes for her with socks (as described above).

One Sunday, I faked not feeling well so I could stay home from Sunday school and church. Late in the afternoon, after Mama returned from church, I sat on the front porch with a sock on my thigh, attempting to sew something for my doll, and I accidentally drove the needle through my thigh. I ran inside the house and told Mama (who knew I wasn't really sick that morning, probably didn't want to be stressed out by my earlier theatrics, and allowed me to stay home with my daddy). Before she attended to my accidental self-inflicted puncture wound, she said, "That's what you get for not going to church!" Expecting to be immediately comforted, I was shocked.

It would be a long time before I pulled a fake sickness stunt again, and the few other times I did, if it involved not going to church, I was always extra careful about the activities of that day for fear of getting paid back with an injury for not going.

The replaced doll arrived in very good condition, wearing a period-appropriate dress.

Tiny Tears gets new clothes

While the replaced doll is not "the" doll I owned as a child. She is a suitable stand-in. She arrived wearing a period-appropriate dress that I later replaced with a beautifully made pink and white polka dot dress, bonnet, and panties sewn by a professional -- no needle thigh stabbing was involved for the replacement doll to witness.

She looks adorable in her new clothes.

Tiny Tears wears pink lacy ankle socks.


I ordered a pair of pink knit doll booties for Tiny Tears. These will replace the ankle socks or will be worn with the socks after the booties arrive.

*Often referred to as the Black tax, in today's market, 1950s black Tiny Tears dolls by American Character are priced multiple times more than white versions.

References


1956 Black Tiny Tears

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2 comments:

  1. OH THANK GOD, you are still blogging!!!! I spent all morning trying to track down what I remembered of an African American baby doll passed down in my family, because I had Googled antique African American baby dolls and could not find a single one that looked like her. Then I finally remembered that she DID have hair, just that it was very thin and flat, and laid down against her head mainly. All of the pictures I had been looking at, were dolls that had been treated as collectibles early on, and had thick hair coming out the three holes, and were not missing paint. Sugar was kept in a cabinet, but was also frequently brought out for careful hugging and rocking.
    And now thanks to a post of yours from 2019, I know that she was called a Topsy doll. I was praying that you were still blogging! I have so many questions about those lol.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Cecily. I'm glad I'm still blogging, too. Often, I wonder why I still am, but I suppose it's for people like you who need the doll documentation this blog provides. Thank you for letting me know the blog post from 2019 helped you identify Sugar. :-)

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