American entrepreneur Beatrice Alexander (Madame Alexander for those of you who are doll lovers) began her career in 1923 when she decided that doll creating was her passion. She had a vision of creating beautifully hand crafted dolls that appealed to children. She believed that, “dolls should engage the imagination and contribute to a child’s happiness and understanding of the world.” Today she is credited with making the first mass produced dolls in honor of living people. Some of her most memorable early characters include Scarlet O’Hara from Gone with the Wind, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Dionne quintuplets.

Many aspects of life influenced the styles and personalities of each of Madame Alexander’s dolls. Art, literature, culture, style, and actual living people were inspirations for the characters that the she created. Under her direction, The Alexander Doll Company (the business she created out of an initial cottage shop) introduced a series of “firsts” to the doll industry, including creating composition dolls with painted features and sleep eyes, using distinctive face molds, bringing feature baby dolls to market, creating dolls in honor of living people, issuing the first doll based on a licensed character which led to the creation of dolls based on characters from popular motion pictures, pioneering the use of hard plastic as a new medium for the creation of dolls, and introducing the first full figured haute couture doll.

Her company not only survived the dreaded Depression, but it thrived in it. In 1936 Fortune Magazine featured Madame Alexander as one of the three major doll manufacturers in America. She and her company were also honored with the Fashion Academy Gold Medal Award in 1951 and again for the next three years, then in the late ‘60s two of her dolls were chosen by The Smithsonian Institute for inclusion in its prestigious doll collection. Madame Alexander also received the first Doll Reader Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986 and the F.A.O. Schwarz Lifetime Achievement Award as “The First Lady of Dolls.”

At the age of 95, Beatrice Alexander passed away on October 3, 1990. The Alexander Doll Company continues to inspire young people all over the world with their elegant creations including a full line of fine quality, handcrafted collectible dolls, baby dolls, and play dolls.