Name: 1940s Composition Mama Doll
Made by and When: Horsman, circa 1944
Material: Composition flanged head, arms, and legs; stuffed cloth body with “mama” crier.
Marks: A / HORSMAN / DOLLS
Height: 21 inches
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Black short mohair wig with bangs over sculpted hair, brown Glassene sleep eyes with painted and attached upper eyelashes and painted lower eyelashes, open/closed mouth with rose-colored lips.
Clothes: Original sheer light pink dress and matching bonnet, white undergarments, replaced socks and shoes
Other: This warm-brown complexioned, rosy-cheeked doll is like one of the six black dolls advertised in the 1944 Montgomery Ward Christmas catalog. See a scan of the catalog page that features a 23-inch similar doll and other similar dolls described as “Dainty, Lovable, Colored Baby Dolls” and described as shown in the next image with the image text typed below.
In response to many requests for well-made, well-designed colored dolls, we offer these appealing baby dolls of well-known Horsman quality. They’re exquisitely tinted a warm brown, with sparking brown Glassene sleeping eyes, real lashes. Lips are shaded a delicate rose. Soft cotton-filled bodies, realistically modeled heads, arms, and legs of hard-to-break composition. Dainty baby clothing is carefully made and finished.
The Montgomery Ward catalog dolls all wore different white dresses. The installation doll’s original dress is pink. Horsman produced dolls exclusively for major stores dressed differently from identical dolls sold elsewhere.
This doll is referred to as a mama doll because of its crier that makes a “ma-ma” sound when the doll is rocked back and forth. Several companies made composition mama dolls. It is rare to find one made by a major doll company that bears the manufacturer’s mark.
Gallery (Doll photos courtesy of eBay seller blin1963, edited for content)
Scan from the 1944 Montgomery Ward Christmas Catalog, page 68 features six warm-complexioned mama dolls.
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