Bette Davis by CyGuy
Celebrity dolls, I discovered, have been around for a long, long time. According to Ellen Tsagaris of Dr. E's Doll Museum blog, the first commemorative doll is more than likely the Venus of Willendorf and other Venus figures discovered in Europe that are said to be between 25,000 and 40,000 years old. The production of dolls that paid tribute to the famous continued on through the ages. But it was during the reign of England's Queen Victoria that the production of dolls modeled on the famous took off. Royals, celebrated beauties and military heroes were all commemorated with dolls in their likenesses, and paper dolls were based on prima ballerinas.
With the arrival of movies in the 20th century came the production of dolls based on famous film stars; the first Chaplin doll appeared in 1915. On the heels of the runaway popularity of the Shirley Temple doll created by Ideal in 1934, that company and others began turning out dolls based on other popular movie stars like Sonja Henie, Deanna Durbin and others.
Celebrity dolls are widely produced today and are popular with collectors. What one usually notices about more recently manufactured film star dolls is that these dolls generally resemble but don’t really look very much like the icons they portray. For example, the doll on the left below is Madame Alexander’s 2002 rendering of Marlene Dietrich. The doll on the right is a restyling and re-painting of the Alexander doll by artist “Lady Viola," a marked improvement on the original.
Dietrich by Madame Alexander, left, made over by "Lady Viola," right
Below is a sampling of other film star dolls mass produced by reputable contemporary doll-making companies.
Marilyn Monroe by Franklin Mint, Ava Gardner by Tonner, Elizabeth Taylor by Mattel
Celebrity dolls are perhaps more popular than ever these days for two reasons, the powerful cult of celebrity that has evolved over recent decades as well as the potential for appreciation in value. Those who collect out of devotion to a particular star or stars are most interested in dolls of quality and distinction, these factors also drive up value and are sought after by collectors looking for maximum increase in monetary worth. This is where the work of artists who create “One of a Kind” (OOAK) dolls, usually repaints, comes in.
Several years ago I happened on the work of Kim Goodwin, whose specialty is Marilyn Monroe. The close resemblance of his repaint creations to Monroe herself astonished me. Since then I have discovered that there are many gifted OOAK doll artists at work and over the next few posts I’ll explore the world of OOAK celebrity dolls and showcasesome of my favorites
Marilyn Monroe by Kim Goodwin
Sources:Atlas Obscura
Wikipedia