Betsy McCall - Doll Chat Diner - with Robert Tonner

[@sharonkaczorowski8690]

I’m 73. My little sis and I wanted a Betsy McMcall for Christmas but things were very tight. We unwrapped our presents, trying to look happy, and the my Dad started saying “gee what’s that hiding in the tree?” It was one Betsy for each of us…my mother made an authentic Scottish costume for mine. Can’t remember my Sister’s outfit. I had to sell my old dolls when I became disabled, but in the past few years have been able to collect Betsey in each hair color and several versions of body design. Selling Little Genius was a huge blow. I also bought Little Miss Revlon, little Genius, whom I loved so much as a child, some larger little girl dolls from the 40s and 50s and some of the wonderful yarn hair Effanbee dolls of WWII, when nylon, etc., was not available for doll hair, and boy am I glad I did. They are in excellent to very good condition and it’s very hard to find them like that now. I can’t afford to buy some of them anymore, IF I can find one that isn’t in awful condition. I wanted Cissette so badly as a little girl, but she was way out of the reach of family of six with lots of health problems. So I bought her at that age when I was 65! I have original clothes in good to excellent condition for everyone and my dolls are worth a lot more than I paid for them now! I’m keeping them for my granddaughter and have acquired what I need to start making them couture clothes, as in Dior, etc, and other designers of that period. I’m bed bound and very excited to be able to sew again. You helped inspire me…partly with the beautiful work you have done over the years, partly with the kindness you’ve shown when interviewed and partly through your interacting with Ms Hoffman, who has been wonderful. First dress will be entirely by had until I can get the me new machine going. Thank you so much!

[@lucyclarke3523]

How fun in such a cool setting. xx

[@lucyclarke3523]

I had not know that there were so many dolls in the world through the ages to 2022. juz wow.

[@onemercilessming1342]

My mother's hairdresser had a subscription to McCall's magazine and she would save the Betsy McCall pages for me to look at (but never cut out). I loved the stories that accompanied the paper doll and her clothing for that story. Paper dolls, by the way, seem to be rather in short supply. I have a six year old granddaughter to indulge and spoil. She and I look for paper dolls everywhere. We've found some magnetic ones and eBay is loaded with copies of those from days gone by. Even the ubiquitous Disney Princess paper dolls that I bought for my daughter back in her heyday of toys are few and far between in places like Target, Kmart, Walmart, and drug stores.

[@marydearing7909]

I'm the right age for Betsy McCall, but my Mom never bought or subscribed to magazines so I missed them entirely. What a stroke of luck that your Mom had such a nice hairdresser !

[@onemercilessming1342]

She was a delightful lady and, sadly, passed away when I was still a young girl.

[@harleenpark6788]

Why did Tonner stop making Betsy McCall and Mary Engelbreit dolls? They used to be available just a few years ago but the company seems to have stopped production in favor of dolls with a more adult look.

[@jeanieQ2]

You can still buy them on Ebay. Most doll shops are sold out. My favorite dolls too!

[@garywarmee4367]

Robert Tonner is certainnly the expert, but I don't believe one artist (Ginny Hoffman) painted Betsy from the late 50s to the 80s. Weren't there a few others? The artistry of Betsy was most charmingly portrayed in the earliest years. The Betsy McCall of around 1960 was a favorite. Maybe we would see her visiting the set of Walt Disney's Pollyanna or even The Whit House! Check out her three yellow Easter dresses of the period! This paper doll had a life that you could superimpose onto your own and, in collecting them today, is a gift that just keeps on giving. The totality of little girl's fashion from the start of the 1950s into the 70s and beyond is on paper, charmingly presented for all see.