Beatrice Alexander founded her doll business in 1923, at a time when most women were not permitted in the boardroom. Mere years after American women were granted the right to vote, she had the gumption and determination to open a company manufacturing dolls with a distinct purpose. Her handiwork celebrated the finer virtues of life and, most importantly, encouraged children to be kind, attentive, nurturing, and concerned. For the Centennial Celebration, the Alexander Doll Company is continuing its pledge to always honor Madame’s personal credo, “Love is in the details.” Over the course of 2023, they’re releasing exclusive Centennial Celebration dolls and promoting special online items and consumer offers. On March 9, the late Beatrice Alexander’s birthday, FAO Schwarz hosted a party in her honor. The in-store celebration included giveaways and promotions lasting the entire month. Mini pop-up celebrations like this will take place throughout the year at select retail stores.

Madame Alexander understood that doll play created kinder kids. Her mission was to create dolls that could be played with and loved. Because of Madame Alexander, for the first time, dolls were made both lifelike and durable,” said David Morgenstern, Alexander’s vice president. “Madame Alexander revolutionized the doll industry, from the introduction of cloth baby dolls to her innovative use of plastics in dolls. With our Centennial Celebration, we celebrate the impact Madame Alexander dolls have made on American childhood over the last century.” Michelle Parnett-Dwyer, curator of dolls and toys at the Strong National Museum of Play, has noted that Madame Alexander’s legacy was not a fluke — she always intended for her company to thrive and expand. “Beatrice Alexander founded a company that she grew into more than a leading doll manufacturer. She created a lasting brand that’s continued to evolve for 100 years and that has influenced the toy industry and the way people play,” Parnett-Dwyer said. Over the past 100 years, the Madame Alexander Doll Company has enjoyed surprising their customers and collectors. In fact, Madame Alexander personally spearheaded many firsts in the arena of play: She was the first dollmaker to license characters from books, movies, and television — an enormous game changer — and the company produced the first walking dolls. She was also the first doll entrepreneur who saw the potential of sleep eyes and popularized them across the board. In recognition of her creativity and innovations, the Toy Industry Hall of Fame inducted her into their membership in 2000. WENDY HAS PUBLISHED A BOOK of her own writings, illustrated with her dolls and figures - The Art of Wendy Froud (published by Imaginosis). She also writes for magazines and has had her fiction writing included in two anthologies - Sirens and Other Demon Lovers and Trolls Eye View. The two Sweet Celebrations Cissettes (left) are joined in 2022 by the brand-new Emma doll, fashioned after the heroine of Jane Austen’s novel of the same name. These 10-inch dolls have articulated bodies.

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SINCE MOVING PERMANENTLY TO DARTMOOR, ENGLAND, Wendy has concentrated on making models and mythic figures. She has illustrated three books - A Midsummer Night’s Faerytale, The Winter Child, and The Faeries of Spring Cottage - with author Terri Windling. The articulated 10-inch Cissette body is also the foundation of Alexander’s design for Jane Austen’s beloved heroine Emma. In Austen’s book of the same name, published two days before Christmas in 1815, Emma Woodhouse is a well-meaning young miss who’s convinced that she knows what constitutes a good marital match. This leads her to set off a series of catastrophic misunderstandings and romantic entanglements. Since it is an Austen novel, all’s well that ends well, and Emma learns a lesson about love, limitations, and her own life’s purpose. The Cissy doll is especially significant to doll collectors. Debuting in the mid-1950s, predating Mattel’s Barbie, Cissy was a novel idea in the world of dolls. She provided a vehicle for older children, teenagers, and adults to explore the realm of doll fashions and collecting. This was a bold step beyond the traditional notion of what a doll was and what it was meant to do. Rather than being a way to introduce little girls to the rituals of mothering and nurturing, Cissy invited girls to dream of cosmopolitan costuming, sophisticated styles, and grown-up glamor. She redefined everything a doll could and should be.

Milestones are a part of the Madame Alexander legacy. For 2022, there are three new First Communion Day dolls. Featuring the 8-inch articulated Wendy body, the dolls come in brunette with brown eyes and light skin; blond with blue eyes and light skin; and brunette with brown eyes and medium skin tone.

A Century of Influence 

Wendy teaches sculpting, doll and model making and mask making workshops incorporating mythic and faery imagery and meditation. Today, the Madame Alexander Doll Company continues to create quality dolls, beloved by many, that inspire meaningful relationships and imaginative play,” Parnett-Dwyer said. The array of Centennial Celebration dolls truly reflects that observation. As the company has always done, it has unveiled dolls for every age, interest, and wallet: toddlers and tots, tykes and tweens, teens and adults. All of these different groups with their particular mindsets will find a doll to take home and love. Going forward, the company will continue to survey the modern landscape and innovate dolls to mirror how children and collectors play and live today.