Bébé Bain's Discoveries Part 3 of 4

Continued from Part 2

1950-PRESENT

 The 1950 Sears Wishbook offered a 13-inch Tiny Tears by American Character. 

A new 13-inch version of Tiny Tears by American Character, offered through the 1950 Sears Wishbook, had molded hair, wept, slept, blew bubbles, drank, and wet.  Made of rubber, her layette included a sheer organdy dress and bonnet, cotton slip, diaper, bootees, Palmolive soap, towel, sponge, bottle, bubble pipe, pacifier, and cleansing tissues. 

More Tiny Tears Dolls

Two versions of an 11-1/2-inch Tiny Tears with layette and carrying case were available through Sears Wishbook catalog mail order in 1951.  The deluxe version had tousled fur wig.  The other had molded hair.  Layette items included a sheer cotton dress, bonnet, cotton slip, diaper, "bootees," soap, washcloth, sponge, bottle, bubble pipe, Kleenex, cardboard case with handle.  The tousled hair version was reoffered in the 1952 and 1953 Sears Wishbooks with Palmolive soap among the bathing accessories.   In 1954, a curly fur wig version of Tiny Tears in sizes 11-1/2, 13-1/2 and 16 inches was available along with a 13-1/2- and a 16-inch molded hair version.  All sizes remained perfect for bathing with soap and other bathing and dressing accessories included.  In 1956, Tiny Tears returned after a year of absence in the Sears Wishbook wearing a white romper with pink trim with the doll’s name embroidered on the front.  The 1956 version was available as an 11-1/2-inch doll with rooted hair with accessories, layette, and cardboard case, similar to previous years; also a 20-inch version with playroom equipment, and an 11-1/2-inch version with molded hair, which included a Ding Dong School Bath, was available in 1956.  Bathtub could hold water and had a drain, hose, and shut off.  A fold-away vinyl table was included with this version, and her layette included the same items as prior years. 

Shown in the 1968 Sears Wishbook, Tiny Tears (now manufactured by Ideal Toy Co.) was available in three different sizes:  9, 12 and 17 inches, each with washable hair and washable vinyl bodies.  Among other accessories in their layettes, a blowpipe was included with each. The 9-inch version came with a sponge.  

Rare Baby Tears with caracul wig is seen complete with layette.

 Baby Tears with molded hair has complete layette and carrying case.

The rarest of them all, Baby Tears, manufactured for one year only in 1956, was American Character’s black version of Tiny Tears.  The doll was available with molded hair or with caracul wig.  According to RubyLane.com seller, Kate Eaton of Dollyology Vintage Dolls & Antiques/Collectibles, the American Character sales catalog description for Baby Tears read: 

“A colored baby doll who cries real wet tears, drinks her bottle, wets her diaper. Her skin is velvet-soft and her head is plastic—fully jointed body. After she is bathed and you wash her tousle hair; you can change her clothes. Her layette, packaged in a trunk, consists of a cotton dress, panties, bonnet, shoes and socks, bathrobe and full set of accessories:  bottle and nipple, Kleenex, diaper, pins, sponge, soap, bubble pipe, pacifier and instruction booklet. Baby Tears is wearing an embossed cotton romper."

Ideal’s Baby Coos, on the market for several years in several sizes, could be bathed, powdered, and dressed.

Bébé was taken back to the year 1950 to learn about, Baby Coos by Ideal.  This doll, available in 14-,  18-, 22, and 30-inch sizes, made sounds like a real baby.  With molded hair and sleep eyes, these dolls could also be bathed, powdered, and dressed.  A new version with mohair wig came with a complete layette with three powder puffs, soap, and carrying case for 1950.  Little ones could also give Baby Coos a bath then powder and dress.  The 30-inch doll is shown as a boy in 1950.  The 14-inch doll was also available in the 1952 catalog in addition to the 30-inch, life-size version.  In 1953, bathing was the biggest feature of 14-inch Magic Skin Baby Coos, with a head made of plastic and body of magic rubber.  Her bathing accessories included a miniature bar of Pearl soap and a washcloth.  Among the many other accessories and clothes, in 1955, a molded hair Baby Coos came with a layette that included a bar of Lifebuoy soap for sponge bathing.  Baby Coos was also available in 1959 in the Sears catalog.

1954

A 14-inch special purchase layette baby that cooed (and looks very similar to Baby Coos with mohair wig offered in the 1950 Sears Wishbook seen on the lower right in the above image), had Saran wig and came with Johnson’s baby soap for bathing.  Magic skin body allowed little ones to sponge the baby clean.  Other accessories included sheer cotton dress, bonnet, slip, diaper, shoes and socks, print cotton nightie, washcloth, three powder puffs, two safety pins, and six wooden clothespins, all for only $7.95 by catalog order from the Sears Wishbook.

Tod-L-Tot and So-Wee by Sun Rubber “loved” bathing and being splashed in water.

Other dolls by the Sun Rubber Company that “loved to bathe and splash in water” were available in black and white versions.  Standing 10 inches with a one-piece body and jointed head, the squeezable Tod-L-Tot was not bothered by submersion in a warm bath.  So-Wee loved bathing, too.  Also 10 inches with bent baby legs, designed by Ruth Newton for Sun Rubber, So-Wee was perfect as a bath companion or for the littlest mamas to bathe her squeaky clean.   

1956

Babee-Bee with layette (1956) and carrying case was a Dy-Dee lookalike.

Babee-Bee with layette and carrying case, dressed in a cotton kimono, had molded hair.  A Dy-Dee lookalike, she came with steel weighing scales, soap, plastic nursing bottle, teething ring, bubble pipe, Q-tips, Kleenex, and a carrying case in assorted colors.  An extra dress and knit bootees were also included with Babee-Bee.

 

1958

Drink-wet bathing babies were advertised in the 1958 Sears Wishbook.

Drink and wet babies were featured in the 1958 Sears Wishbook.  Some were promoted as bathing babies and included soap and other accessories for bathing.  “A contented baby in her playpen” described as 13-1/2 inches and all vinyl had her own washtub in addition to layette and other accessories.  “A 13-inch soft vinyl baby with her own scale, layette, and ‘hat box’ carrying case” could drink, wet, coo, and blow bubbles.  Dressed in flannel kimono and panties, the 13-inch doll’s layette included a “dress, bootees, soap, bottle, teether, bubble pipe, Q-tips, Kleenex and baby scale.”  She also had a “colorful carrying case of fiberboard with plastic handle.”  The catalog description read:  “Here is an outfit that will give a little ‘mother’ hours of enjoyment… has everything a baby needs.” 

Budget-priced drink and wet babies suitable for bathing advertised on the same page as the above dolls in 1958 included a 10-1/2-inch baby with rooted hair dressed in a kimono and a 10-inch black baby (described as “colored”) with molded hair, dressed in a diaper.  The rooted hair doll came with more accessories, which included a wood-framed bathinette, Ivory soap, towel, baby powder, glass baby bottle, and extra diaper shirt.  The black baby’s accessories included a diaper, bottle, bib, bottle brush, spoon, funnel, teething ring, and bubble blower.  Not shown in the catalog, a white version identical to the black baby could also be ordered.
    

During the 1950s-1960s squeeze Toys by Edward Mobley served as dolls or bathing toys.

Squeeze toys by the Edward Mobley Company, manufactured by Arrow Rubber and Plastics Corp., available in light and dark complexions, could serve as dolls and bathing toys.  These were popular during the 1950s and well into the 1960s. 

In 1958, a 16-piece bath set cost $1.95 when ordered through the Sears Wishbook.  It included a “pretty drink and wet doll with sleeping eyes” with “polyethylene bath set.”  Accessories were a bassinet, baby bath, and diaper pail with cover, cotton flannel doll blanket, and plastic vanity tray with carrying handle to hold hair comb, rattle, a bar of soap, and six clothespins. 

1959

A variety of bathing babies, including Baby Coos and Betsy Wetsy were featured in the 1959 Sears Wishbook. 

Sears reoffered the 13-1/2-inch “contented baby with playpen” along with Ideal’s Baby Coos, Betsy Wetsy, the budget-priced baby from the year prior, and a different, larger 12-1/2-inch black baby that included more accessories in 1959.  A bottle, sponge toy, extra diaper, towel, Colgate soap, and three powder puffs were included with the black doll.

1961

Drink-Wet baby (1961) with layette (available in black or white) included terry towel, sponge, and soap for bathing.  

Available in white or black (described as “colored” in 1961), a 16-inch drink-wet baby sold for $3.88 through the Sears Wishbook.  “Cuddly, baby-faced doll, [made of] vinyl with jointed arms and legs, sleeping eyes” had sprayed hair.  Dressed in a cotton fleece robe with hood, diaper, knit bootees, it came with an extra cotton print dress with matching diaper.  The layette included a blanket, terry towel, sponge, soap, three powder puffs, and plastic nursing bottle. 

Bathing accessories of soap, fish-shaped sponges, and washcloths completed this 1961 unnamed baby’s layette.

In 1961, also through the Sears Wishbook, a several-piece layette was included with an 8-inch unnamed drink-wet vinyl baby, available as a white doll only.  Lots of bathing fun was to be had with this one with its bathing accessories of soap, fish-shaped sponges, and washcloths. 

Continued here.