Madame Alexander® dolls are made by the Alexander Doll Company, founded by Madame Beatrice Alexander Behrman in 1923. The company was the first to create licensed character dolls and dolls of living people. Today, they produce over 3,000 dolls a day, ranging in price from $25 to $400 USD.
Madame Alexander® dolls are manufactured by the Alexander Doll Company. The company was founded by Madame Beatrice Alexander Behrman, born of Russian immigrants, on March 9, 1895. Her mother called her Bertha, but later Madame Alexander changed her name to Beatrice, as she thought the name Beatrice sounded more elegant.
Madame Alexander’s stepfather owned the first doll hospital in the United States. The family lived above the hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Young Bertha often played with dolls which she waited to be repaired by her father in the doll hospital. Since she has always been surrounded by them, she developed a love for dolls and wanted to make her own.
Future Doll Factory grew up amidst poverty, living in an immigrant community with her family. Despite these hardships, her parents encouraged her to work and study hard. She even managed to graduate from high school, a rare feat for young women in her neighborhood. The work ethic she learned from her parents allowed her to build a doll empire that would eventually make her an extremely wealthy woman.
When Madame Alexander started making dolls, she hired people from the neighborhood to help her make cloth dolls. The first doll she made was a cloth Red Cross nurse. In 1923, with only $1,600 US Dollars (USD), she founded her now famous Alexander Doll Company. Beautiful handmade lei dolls grew rapidly in popularity.
The company was the first doll company to create a doll based on a licensed character. That character was Scarlett from Gone with the Wind. Soon more dolls were created based on popular movie characters of the time.
The Alexander Doll Company was also the first to make dolls of living people. Madame Alexander® dolls were created in the likeness of Queen Elizabeth, other members of the royal family and even the famous Dionne Quintuplets. The company introduced the first full-length fashion doll in the 1950s called Cissy. These charming Madame Alexander® dolls wore haute couture dresses.
In 1988, when Alexander was 93, he sold the company, simply serving as a design consultant. She died a year later on October 3, 1990. After her death, the company suffered financial problems before being purchased by the Kaizen Breakthrough Partnership in 1995. Its new owners steered it to renewed financial stability.
Madame Alexander® dolls are handcrafted collector’s items. Today, the Alexander Doll Company produces 400 kinds of dolls a year. They produce over 3,000 Madame Alexanderreg; dolls and every day. Dolls include classic characters from stories like The Wizard of Oz and Cinderella to high fashion dolls dressed in strapless dresses and faux fur. Prices range from $25 USD to $400 USD and above.
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