Above is a “Saucy Walker Ad,” made by Ideal Toy Company
Ideal Toy Company was founded as Ideal Novelty and Toy Company in New York in 1907 by Morris and Rose Michtom after they had invented the Teddy bear in 1903. The company changed its name to Ideal Toy Company in 1938. In 1982, the company was sold to CBS Toy Company, which in turn sold Ideal to Viewmaster International in 1987, which renamed itself View-Master Ideal in the process. View-Master Ideal was later bought by Tyco Toys, Inc. of Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, upon its purchase of View-Master Ideal. The Ideal line remained part of Tyco until Tyco’s merger with Mattel, Inc., in 1997.
Certain brands and toys that originated with Ideal continued to be manufactured by Mattel, most notably the Magic 8-ball and Rubik’s Cube.
Ideal began making dolls in 1907. Their first doll was “Yellow Kid” from the “The Yellow Kid” comic strip by Richard Felton Outcault. After that they began making a line of baby and character dolls such as Naughty Marietta from the Victor Herbert operetta and Admiral Dot. Ideal advertised their dolls as unbreakable since they were made of composition, a material made of sawdust and glue. Ideal produced over 200 variations of dolls throughout the composition era.
During the Baby Boom era, Ideal became the largest doll making company in the United States and began selling dolls under license in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Their most popular dolls included Betsy Wetsy, Toni, Saucy Walker, Shirley Temple, Miss Revlon, Patti Playpal, Tammy, Thumbelina, and Crissy.
Play Pal Doll Commercials
YouTube and web pages
- Roscoe Antique Mall – Dealer Display Ideal Dolls
- Ideal’s Playpal Family Dolls
- Patti Play dolls…1959 – 60s
Shirley Temple Doll Commercial
YouTube and web pages
- Shirley Temple sings, “Animal Crackers In My Soup“
- Shirley Temple Dolls and Collectibles
Betsy Wetsy
web pages for Betsy Wetsy
- C&G Design
- 1932 Ducky Baby (Betsy Wetsy)
- A quiet walk and old pictures
Crissy Doll commercial
web pages for Crissy Doll
Thumbelina Doll
web pages
- photographs of Thumbelina Dolls
Saucy Walker dolls
Related articles
- A Brief History of The American Made Composition Doll (rubylane.com)
