13-inch circa 1930s composition boy named by me: Little Boy Blue
This 13-inch full-body composition boy arrived nude during the late 1990s/early 2000s. He traveled here with two other black composition dolls: Debutante by American Character and another unmarked doll that wears a dress made from flour sack fabric.
Little Boy Blue's name was inspired by the color of the suit I had made for him. At one time he had shoes and socks, but another composition boy borrowed and kept them as his own. After recently sharing Little Boy Blue's photo with members of my doll group*, I decided to make a pair of black felt shoes for him.
Here's what was done:
A piece of felt fabric, wide enough to cover the entire circumference of his foot, was wrapped around the foot. It was removed and the bottom edges that cover the sole were hot-glued together.
The extra felt at the toes was tucked under. Some of the felt at the top of the sole area was trimmed before tucking.
The tucked area was hot-glued together and allowed to dry. An identical piece of felt was cut to use for the opposite foot followed by gluing, tucking, trimming, and gluing to fit the other foot.
Two additional strips of felt fabric were cut to create the heel, sides, and top flap of the shoes.
Shown from the side angle, in this photo, one of the heel/side/top strips has been wrapped around Little Boy Blue's foot. (His foot is turned to the side.)
Shown from the bottom angle, the heel/side/top flap has been hot-glued onto the top portion and the sides tucked under and glued to the bottom of the shoe. Additional hot glue was added to the bottom of the shoe before a felt sole was attached.
A small piece of felt fabric created the sole of the shoe.
After applying glue to the bottom of the shoe, the small piece of felt used for the sole was pressed onto the bottom of the shoe. This was allowed to dry and the excess felt trimmed.
The soles after trimming
His bare feet were traced onto cardstock to create innersoles. These were cut out...
... and placed inside the shoes.
After the glue dried, a black button was glued to the front of the shoes where the two sides of the heel/side/top piece meet. I painted any excess exposed glue with black acrylic paint.
Blue needed socks or a sock "hack":
Since I did not have socks to fit Blue, I used a white knit glove to make a pair. Two "fingers" were cut from the glove as far down near the palm area as possible. The opposite sewn ends of each were cut open. This material was placed around his ankles and the raw edges at the top and bottom were tucked under. (He will get real socks later.)
Here is a closer look at the socks and Blue's new shoes.
The height of his shoes covers the bare areas of his sockless feet. (Notice that one shoe is taller than the other, but he doesn't mind.)
Blue needed a tie; so I made one for him.
Using a piece of black ribbon, I fashioned a necktie for Blue.
Here's Blue, dressed in his suit, tie, socks, and shoes looking as good as new.
*One of the members of my doll group commented that Blue looks Asian. Black composition dolls were usually given a darker brown complexion whereas Blue's complexion is tan, the color that an Asian composition doll might have have been painted.
Debutante Walker, a 28-inch full-body composition doll with brown eyes was made in 1939 by American Character.
Debutante Walker by American character has never made an appearance here on the blog. She and I both felt a blog about her was long overdue.
This 28-inch-tall, full-body composition walker was purchased during the late 1990s/early 2000s from an online seller through an ad placed on one of AOL's then-free doll message boards. The seller was the daughter of Debutante Walker's former owner. The daughter was liquidating the mother's collection. I was snail mailed photos of this lovely doll along with photos of two other black composition dolls. I purchased all three. Of the three, Debutante Walker, because of her beauty and rarity, is my favorite.
Her black curly wig that extends below her waist replaces her original wig, which was probably short and curly.
Debutante has been rewigged and nicely redressed in a yellow Dotted Swiss dress. Her composition had been repainted prior to her arrival and I was uncertain at that time if the doll was authentically black. This uncertainty was documented in my first book, The Definitive Guide to Collecting Black Dolls. Some years later, I was able to verify that black versions were made. At this time, however, I do not recall the source of the verification. I initially thought Comp Dolls Identification and Price Guide, book 1 by Polly and Pam Judd was the source; however, Debutante's name and description are only listed in this book along with other American Character dolls. After I locate the source that documents black versions, I will update this post.
Debutante is a very heavy doll with chunky legs.
While recently taking updated photos of this lovely doll, I noticed the elastic in her yellow Dotted Swiss undies was stretched. As I was adjusting the waist, I felt a piece of paper, which was a folded note tucked inside all these years! The note documents the doll's name and maker.
This note was found tucked inside Debutante's undies.
The note is labeled, Compliments of PENN/NY Doll Club. The handwriting reads:
Page 42 Modern Collector’s Doll II white on [white one]. American Character 28 inch Debutante Walker. All composition. Unusual walking mech. Spring. Cryer in tummy.”
The "white one" indicates a white version is shown on page 42 of Patricia Smith's Modern Collector's Dolls Second Series. I immediately retrieved my copy of this book and scanned the page on which two white versions appear.
Scan from Patricia Smith's 1975 book, Modern Collector's Dolls Second Series, page 42, documents two white Debutante dolls, a blonde (upper right); and an auburn-haired version, lower left.
Note that neither white version shown in Smith's book has brown eyes. Their eyes are blue and gray-blue for the blonde- and auburn-haired dolls, respectively.
My doll's Ma-Ma voice box or cryer has a label onto which is written “35 AMC Negro.” This was probably an auction sticker.
Debutante is with a variety of other dolls.
Debutante is one of the dolls that keeps Layla company. Debutante and Layla (my Russian-made beauty and the first doll purchased in 2018) can be seen (again for some) in the above photo.
You might think she's asleep, but she's not; her eyes will no longer open!
Less than two weeks after her box was opened and batteries inserted, Luvabella by Spinmaster malfunctioned! Her eyes now remain permanently closed.
Wanting to know if others had experienced a similar malfunction, I visited YouTube and Amazon to search for videos and to read reviews. On Youtube, there was a video of another doll whose eyes would not open and the child's parent asking what should be done. While reading the reviews on Amazon dot com, I was horrified by some of the things parents experienced. When one 5-year-old's doll stopped working, she ran to her mom and exclaimed, "Luvabella died!" She pleaded with her mother to make the doll come back to life. Mom purchased new batteries; the doll worked for a while but unfortunately, "died" again. How terrible! That child will never forget that.
My experience was not as devastating, but I was as disappointed. You can hear the disappointment in my voice when I recorded the following video on the evening of January 14, 2018, when the malfunction was discovered.
I called Spinmaster the following day to report the issue. I was emailed instructions on how to get a replacement. This included X-ing out the left-hand side of the doll's back, placing my initials in the center of the doll's back, and writing the last three digits of my claim number on the far right of the doll's back. A permanent marker had to be used for this. Afterward, I had to photograph the doll's back, "handwrite" the claim number on a piece of paper, and include that in the photo. A video of the doll's malfunction was also required to be submitted along with photos. I created a second video of the malfunction (which is not included in this post because it also contains the piece of paper with the entire claim number visible.) The described photo, along with the first one in this post, and video were emailed to Spinmaster.
I had to use a permanent marker to X out the left-hand side of Luvabella's back, place my initials in the center, and the last three digits of my claim number on the far right. Instead of handwriting the claim number on a piece of paper, I typed and printed it.
I followed all instructions, except, instead of handwriting the claim number on a piece of paper, I typed it using a large font (this was to ensure legibility -- not that my handwriting is poor because it isn't. I just prefer typing and printing over using pen and paper.)
After a couple of days passed, I received an email from Spinmaster indicating my claim could not be proven because I did not follow the steps outlined. In bold text, they explained that I did not "write" the claim number on a piece of paper.
"What?" I thought. So I called Spinmaster and spoke with a very nice man named, John, who reviewed the photos and video and said, "You're fine." He explained that they are not "used to people typing the claim number because writing it is easier." Okay, I thought. I jokingly told him that my [undiagnosed] OCD took over making me think it would be better to type and print the claim number. He chuckled and proceeded to initiate the replacement.
The replacement doll arrived directly from Spinmaster in a Spinmaster shipping box inside her own pristine box. The first doll's box was banged up around the edges, not taped at the opening flaps like this one was, and the first doll had a tiny black mark on one leg, which I ignored thinking it was a manufacturer's flaw.
Luvabella #2, shown above and in the photos and video that follow, arrived in less than two weeks.
Replacement doll is still secured to her box in more areas than the first doll had been secured. This doll also had a piece of plastic placed on the back of her head between her head and the headband. The first doll did not have that.
She's free with all her interactive items and waiting for batteries to be installed.
As illustrated in the video, she works well, even better than the first doll.
Luvabella #2 now wears the curly Afro wig (size 15) that I used for Luvabella #1. I think she looks so much better with hair.
Here's hoping there will be no issues with Luvabella #2.
