Shirley Temple doll
date: label: date made
content: ca 1935
name: label: depicted (sitter)
content: Temple, Shirley
label: maker
content: Ideal Toy Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Shirley Temple composite doll, made by the Ideal Toy Company. The doll is molded to represent a young, white, female child, blue eyes, red lips, and blonde hair. The doll is dressed in a yellow cotton dress with blue ribbon trim, including around the collar, terminating in a tie at the front. The doll is wearing yellow boots and is mountd on a stand. The doll's dress is decorated with a pin printed with an image of Shirley Temple and the text "THE WORLDS DARLING / GENUINE Shirley Temple DOLL".
label: Description (Brief)
content: This doll is an example of an extremely popular toy produced by the Ideal Toy Company in the 1930s, representing the contemporary popularity and cultural power of child actress Shirley Temple. Temple was one of the most beloved, acclaimed, and financially successful actors working in American film during the 1930s, and later became a diplomat including serving as United States Ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia. Temple was the number one box office draw from 1934-1938 and has been called “the little girl who fought the Great Depression” for her impact on Americans’ morale at the depths of the economic crisis. Her optimistic, cheery demeanor and film roles wherein she helped solve adults’ problems functioned as a healing salve on the nation’s emotional wounds.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Merchandisers capitalized on Temple’s popularity to create a raft of consumer goods and toys such as this doll, one of the most popular and best-selling toys of the decade. The Ideal Novelty and Toy Company (after 1938, Ideal Toy Company) was founded in 1906 and originally produced teddy bears before turning to dolls in the 1910s. In the 1930s, the company had success creating licensed dolls in the image of young film stars including Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, and Deanna Durbin. Ideal’s Shirley Temple composition doll, its head and limbs made of a composite of glue mixed with sawdust, was patented in 1934 and first sold in 1935. The dolls had open-mouthed smiles and a came in a selection of red, blond, and brunette curled hair as well as sizes ranging from 11-inches to 27-inches tall. The dolls were extremely popular and were re-released by Ideal in a vinyl version in 1957, with collectors’ edition dolls made in the same style in later years.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This doll was given to Madge Williams when she was a child by her father, who soon afterward died in a car accident. Madge then treasured the doll the rest of her life, passing it on to her daughter, Mary Margaret Stone. As Stone recounted, “She [Madge] grew up in Suwanee, Ga on a farm. She was one of 10 children, and next to the youngest, and her full maiden name was Madge Dorothy Williams. It became Kirk after she married. They were of meager means, and she would play with toys made of corn cobs and husks. When she was about 4 or 5 her father bought her this Shirley Temple doll. He died right after. It was the only real doll she ever had. Because it meant so much to her, she wouldn’t play with it and has kept it on display almost all of her life."
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Queens
label: Associated Place
content: United States: Georgia, Suwanee
topic: label: associated subject
content: Motion Pictures
label: associated subject
content: Entertainment, Film
label: associated subject
content: Girls
label: associated subject
content: Dolls
label: associated subject
content: Toys
label: associated subject
content: Movie
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2023.0154.01
label: accession number
content: 2023.0154
label: catalog number
content: 2023.0154.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: doll
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal (pin; stand; hairpin material)
label: Physical Description
content: composite (glue, sawdust) (doll material)
label: Physical Description
content: cotton (clothing material)
label: Physical Description
content: hair (hair material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 22 in x 9 in x 5 in; 55.88 cm x 22.86 cm x 12.7 cm