In 1895, Beatrice Alexander was born to émigré parents who, like so many other Eastern Europeans, fled the pogroms of late 19th century Russia to freedom in New York. Beatrice’s father Maurice founded America’s first doll hospital, The Alexander Doll Hospital which was located on Grand Street on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, a teeming mecca for immigrants. Though she grew up in the slums within the heart of the city’s melting pot, Beatrice was influenced by the wealthy carriage trade that frequented her father’s shop and was determined to rise above her station as a working-class clerk. This proved to be a difficult challenge as World War I brought an American embargo against German goods and dolls, the mainstay of the Alexander family business, fell into this category. Determined to help provide for her family and to create a doll that didn’t break like the German porcelain dolls of the time, Beatrice and her sisters decided to make cloth Red Cross Nurse dolls in honor of the women who risked their lives on the front lines of the war. The dolls were an instant success.
In 1923, just three years after the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, Beatrice began her business at a time when women were still an unusual sight in the workplace. Working out of her kitchen with only $1,600 worth of operating capital, Beatrice adopted the title of “Madame” and started a cottage industry business which subsequently moved to a studio in downtown Manhattan. There, Beatrice conceived the ideas for new dolls, helped to sew the dolls and their costumes, and developed shop accounts, determined not to let the male retailers and wholesale suppliers that she dealt with daily take advantage of her. Though the business was doing well, in order for it to grow Beatrice knew she must obtain a loan. She paid a visit to a bank officer who advanced her the money but seemed skeptical of her ability to succeed, viewed her as a poor risk and told her so. In turn, Beatrice made good on her vow to repay the loan before it became due and she never borrowed from his bank again.
Over the years, despite the rationing and materials shortages of the Depression and World War II, Madame Alexander’s company defied the odds not just to survive, but to thrive. Under Madame Alexander’s direction, The Alexander Doll Company introduced a series of “firsts” that have shaped the doll industry:
- 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
- introducing the first full-figured haute couture doll (Cissy™) who, in 1956 and 1957 was used in ads for Yardley toiletries and cosmetics that appeared in magazines like Ladies’ Home Journal and McCalls
(Alexander Bio, p. 2)
In 1930, seeking to capitalize on her early success, Madame Alexander created an “Alice in Wonderland” doll and after the outstanding popularity of these dolls, shrewdly reissued the doll in 1933 after the release of the Paramount film starring W.C. Fields, Charlotte Henry and Cary Grant. Again capitalizing on the Depression era popularity of the cinema and Hollywood’s “Dream Factories,” Madame Alexander released her Little Women dolls to coincide with the release of the Katherine Hepburn film in 1933. Similar success was attained with dolls released in conjunction with Walt Disney’s “The Three Little Pigs” and other notable films of the day.
An ardent fan of the cinema, Mildred, Madame Alexander’s 18-year-old daughter recognized early on the value of Shirley Temple’s sunny, hopeful optimism during the aptly-named Depression. However, underestimating the importance of popular culture, Madame Alexander passed on the idea of creating a Shirley Temple doll because she was more enamored of literature than the movies and was convinced that the success of the “Alice” and “Little Women” dolls was attributable to the public’s love of the printed classics.
Madame Alexander rallied from this miscalculation, however, by predicting the world’s fascination with the Dionne Quintuplets. She successfully conquered the fierce competition for securing the rights to the official trademark for the children by obtaining the rights to manufacture their likenesses from the Canadian government trustees.
In 1936, after reading and being enthralled by Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind,” Madame Alexander went to work, prophetically creating a “Scarlett” Doll that bore an uncanny resemblance to Vivian Leigh – two years before the actress was cast in the role. The casting of “Scarlett” was a huge national story with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars vying for the role. Seizing her opportunity, Madame Alexander sent the prototype of the Scarlett doll to the frustrated executives at MGM and three days later received a contract to design and manufacture the “Scarlett” dolls even though Ms. Leigh had not even auditioned yet.
The company survived the Depression so brilliantly that in 1936 Fortune Magazine featured Madame Alexander as one of three major doll manufacturers in America. In addition, Beatrice Behrman’s innovation, fine craftsmanship and creativity were honored with the Fashion Academy Gold Medal Award in 1951 and again for the next three years. In the late 1960’s the company was honored when The Smithsonian Institute selected two of Madame Alexander’s creations 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.”
Aside from her entrepreneurial achievements, Beatrice Behrman was also involved with several philanthropic commitments. The American Friends of Hebrew University, the (Alexander Bio, p. 3)Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the Women’s League for Israel and the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith were important causes to her as they provided a meaningful way for her to share her success.
In 1956, Madame Alexander ultimately moved her operation to its current location, the Studebaker automobile plant in Harlem. Today, the Alexander Doll Company is the only remaining major manufacturer of handcrafted dolls in America and, with over 500 employees, its factory, located at 615 West 131st Street, is the largest employer in Harlem.
Beatrice Alexander Behrman, “Madame” to millions, died on October 3, 1990 at the age of 95. Currently celebrating its 76th anniversary, the Alexander Doll Company continues its tradition of elegance and innovation with a full line of fine quality, handcrafted collectible dolls, baby dolls and play dolls.
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