Name: Debutante Walker
Made by and When: American Character, 1939
Material: Composition
Marks: (Head) Am. Char.
Height: 28 inches
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Replaced curly black wig, brown sleep eyes with bristle upper eyelashes, open mouth with two upper and two lower teeth and a felt tongue.
Clothes: Redressed in a yellow Dotted Swiss dress, white socks, white black faux suede Mary-Jane-style shoes
Other: This full-body composition spring-jointed walker has a ma-ma-cryer in the center of the body. Two white versions are documented in Patricia Smith’s 1975 book, Modern Collector’s Dolls (MCD) Second Series, page 42 as illustrated in one of the gallery photos. Smith documents the height as 27 inches. The doll in this auction measures 28 inches. Black Debutante Walkers use the same head and body sculpts as the White dolls. Black versions are quite rare because fewer were made and even fewer survived child’s play.
Upon arrival into the curator’s collection during the late 1990s, this doll had a handwritten note tucked inside the undergarment, written on paper Compliments of PENN/NY Doll Club. The handwriting reads: Page 42 Modern Collector’s Doll II [white on]. American Character 28 inch Debutante Walker. All composition. Unusual walking mech. Spring. Cryer in tummy.” The writer probably meant to write “white one.”
Gallery
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