Walking African Girl and African Baby by Pedigree

1950s Walking African Girl and African Baby by Pedigree of England

Purchased in June 2009, the Walking African Girl by Pedigree (shown on the left above) is a 16-inch head-turning walker with brown flirty eyes.  At the time of purchase, her manufacturer’s-given name was unknown.  I later solicited identification help from a noted England-based doll historian.  The toddler is a recent purchase.

The lovely, ebony-complexioned walker had the opportunity to record her purchase in blog-form, which was published in my book:  The Doll Blogs:  When DollsSpeak, I Listen.  Her entry is as follows:

Friday, June 26, 2009

Debbie found me on eBay in the search results for “black Pedigree doll.”  The “Southwest” United Kingdom seller listed me for GBP 125.00 buy-it-now or best offer.  Debbie recently saw an auction for a doll like me that ended for over GBP 250.00.  Debbie decided to place an offer of GBP 95.00 and said a silent prayer that the seller would accept the offer.  Less than 24 hours later, she accepted it.  Debbie immediately paid using Paypal and is anticipating my arrival. 

I was described by the seller (with minor editing by Deb) as:

“A fine example of the 1950’s hard plastic PEDIGREE WALKING DOLL. “Still has a lovely sheen and good colour all over.Full black astrakhan wig with red bow in. “Lovely clear amber flirty eyes, she retains her eyelashes, earrings, two top teeth. “WORKING MAMA.Her walking action is excellent with her head turning from side to side. “Pretty red spotted dress with a Faerie Glen, Made in England label inside.  White pants and red Cinderella sandals.  No cracks, splits, repairs or bad odours.Just a few minor scuffs.” 

I should arrive in the US within the next two weeks.

Love,

1950s Hard Plastic Pedigree Walking Doll

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After her arrival, she made one additional entry in the aforementioned book, using the same photo shown immediately above:

Monday, July 6, 2009

I arrived in the US from Honiton, Devon UK sooner than Debbie’s calculation of two weeks’ travel time.  In her eyes, I am as beautiful as the auction pictured and described.  My amber colored eyes are clear with all eyelashes intact.  I still have my two pearly white upper teeth.  My Astrakhan wig is full without discolorations.  The brass hoop earrings in my ears may be replaced ones, but Debbie is not sure.  My head-turning walking mechanism and my mama voice box both work well. 

I wear a red, circle-print dress that is tagged Faerie Glen Made in England for 16 to 18-inch (40.64 to 45.72cm) dolls.  The fabric of my white panties matches the white trim of my dress.  Debbie thinks I have been redressed and very nicely so.  My vinyl, red Cinderella sandals may be original.  Debbie removed my socks to give me a more fashionable look. (She considers socks with sandals a fashion faux pas.)  She is quite pleased that she browsed eBay for “black Pedigree dolls” on the day she found me and made the seller a decent offer. 

With assistance once again from Susan Brewer of British Doll Showcase, Debbie now knows my manufacturer-given name. 

Love,

1950s Pedigree Walking African Girl

~~~~~~~~~~

From 2009 through 2011, my self-imposed mission had been to add similar vintage dolls to my collection, made in non-US markets.  The goal was to illustrate how black people had been perceived through dolls in these markets. The walker remained here with several other England, New Zealand, and Australian-made 1930s through 1950s dolls until the 15-inch baby arrived earlier this month.

1950s African Baby by Pedigree

The baby, described by the seller as harder to find with bent limbs, has the same head sculpt as the Walking African Girl. Her once flirty eyes are now fixed into position.  Like the walker, she also has an astrakhan wig and gold hoop earrings in both ears.  They both have two upper teeth.  Shown above in the photos taken by the seller, the baby arrived dressed in ill-fitting "1950s pink dungarees."  I elected to redress her as shown below.

1950s African Baby by Pedigree now wears a red and white floral print dress with a white hat, undies, and white leatherette shoes.  The dress and hat are the original clothes for a 16-inch Patty-Jo, reproduced in 2007 by Terri Lee dolls.

The lovely sisters pose in this final photo.

Additional dolls by Pedigree and other non-US companies can be seen here and here.


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Mama Dolls

Circa 1940s-1950s Mama Dolls

Whether or not they are mothers, most females are natural-born nurturers.  Beginning in infancy, being cared for and witnessing a mother or guardian care for younger children aids in the development of a child's instinctive desire to nurture.  In young children, this instinct is also developed through role and doll play.  Today's baby dolls and their predecessors, specifically mama dolls, have been used by children to mimic the mothering role.



The vintage picture of Miss Edna Earl Gaston and Friend (the friend being the mama-type doll which was either a studio prop or the young Miss Gaston's personal doll) inspired this post about mama dolls.

Mama dolls became quite popular in America during the 1920s.  The initial mama dolls were made of composition with cloth bodies that contained a voice box which made the sound "ma-ma" when the doll's body was tilted forward or backward.  Their voice boxes, also known as criers, are located either in the front or back of their torsos.  When found today, most mama dolls' voice boxes are mute. 

Mama dolls were made in a variety of sizes as babies and toddlers well into the early 1950s.  Composition, hard plastic, and stuffed latex/Magic Skin were paired with cloth, or a combination of all these materials, to produce the final versions of mama dolls. 

As a child, I remember playing with baby dolls.  While these were not the original mama dolls, they served to develop my nurturing skills through doll play.  I recall making sock dresses for American Character's Tiny Tears (and incurring a skin-incorporated stitch injury to my thigh during one such doll clothes-sewing event).   Pretending to rock Ideal's Thumbelina to sleep after turning the wooden knob in her back, which made her rock on her own, was done to mimic my father's cradling of me in his arms and rocking me from side to side as he sang, "go to sleep little baby... go to sleep little baaaaa-aaaa-by...." 

(Okay, admittedly, men have the ability to nurture, too.)

After my adult interest in modern dolls was nearly exhausted, I began adding vintage black dolls to my collection in the late 1990s/early 2000s.  As a result, I own a few unique examples of black mama dolls that I imagine helped several little girls and big girls before me develop and continue their innate nurturing skills.

On this Mother's Day weekend, I decided to share a few images and brief descriptions of early mama dolls from my personal collection. 

These are the same dolls shown in the first image above.  The flanking dolls are both from the late 1940s-early 1950s.  Their heads are hard plastic with brown sleep eyes.  The arms and legs are stuffed latex.  The larger one is 25 inches.  The other measures 24 inches and is the only one with a working crier.  The 1940s doll in the center measures 29 inches and has a composition head with brown tin eyes, stuffed latex arms and legs, and cloth body.  She came to me professionally restored (repainted face and new wig.)  As I indicated in Black Dolls a Comprehensive Guide...    

Because of some lighter brown-to-tan areas in the creases of the doll’s legs and feet and the uneven darkening of the Magic Skin limbs, it is possible that this doll was originally a white Magic Skin doll whose limbs darkened and the face and body later painted/replaced to match the darkened limbs.

(The Magic Skin material used on all dolls usually darkens with age; this includes white dolls which can transform from their original pink/white color to various shades of brown to black.)

26-inch composition girl and 23-inch (rare) composition boy, circa 1940s and 1920s-1930s.  Based on the boy's metal eyes, he is the older of the two.  Both have voice boxes which can be felt in the front (the girl) and the back (the boy) of their cloth torsos.  These dolls are attributed to W. B. Abbott's line of Sun Tan dolls.   A close-up of this pair follows:

Close-up of composition mama dolls, described above 

Not all mama dolls were babies.  These two are nice examples of toddler dolls that have ma-ma voice boxes.  They are 21-1/2 and 27-inches tall, respectively, circa 1940s-1950s.  Both dolls have hard plastic heads and breast plates, cloth bodies, and composition arms and legs.  Due to their mixed media construct, these dolls are also considered transitional dolls.  As doll media transitioned from one popular material to the next innovative medium, some doll makers  incorporated the new with the old, combining previous parts and materials until these were exhausted.

Transitional mama dolls, close-up; the doll on the right is missing something.  Can you tell what she's missing?

Happy Mother's Day to mothers, grandmothers, and doll lovers whose dolls serve as inanimate children.

Related Links:
Mama Dolls
Oh Such Eyes
Transitional Doll Clean-up (and answer to question posed above)


A white Magic Skin doll's restoration

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