American Character 1950s Vintage Dolls Identified USA
The American Character company was founded in 1919 and used the trade names Aceedeecee and ACDC, they made small rubber dolls, composition dolls and later hard plastic and vinyl dolls. In 1961 the company name changed to American Doll & Toy Company.
In 1923 American Character trademarked the name Petite used on their early mama and character dolls. Best known for the 1928 composition dolls of Campbell Kids, Puggy and Sally dolls, later noted dolls were the Tiny Tears and Betsy McCall dolls.
American Character dolls are well made and had quality outfits. American Character went out of business in 1968, some doll molds were sold to Ideal; Tiny Tears doll, Tressy doll and the Crissy and family of dolls and used American Character’s patented grow hair feature.
American Character dolls 1919+ | <1950s > | 1960s | Tressy
1950-1955 American Character Tiny Tears doll 11 1/2, 13 1/2, 16 or 20″ tall, drink wet baby doll, rubber body with hard plastic head, molded painted hair or with a caracul wig, doll marked American Character Doll Pat. In
1956-1958 Tiny Tears doll, now has saran rooted hair on a skull cap and the 13 1/2″ tall also came as a black Tiny Tears doll. In 1959-1961 Tiny Tears doll has a hard plastic head, molded hair with a saran rooted skull cap and a soft vinyl body.
1962-1968 American Character Tiny Tears doll 17, 20-21″ tall, all vinyl body with accessories, doll marked Am. Char., American Character, American Character 2675644 (patent number).
1963-1965 American Character Teeny Tiny Tears dolls 12″ tall or 1964-1968 American Character Teenie Weenie Tiny Tears dolls 9″ tall.
Ideal Toy Company purchased the rights to Tiny Tears in 1968 and licensed the tears feature for their Betsy Wetsy doll. Ideal reintroduced the Tiny Tears doll in 1982-1985 in both vinyl and bisque versions. Regal of Canada also made a version of the Tiny Tears doll.
1951-1961 American Character Sweet Sue doll 14, 15, 18-21, 24 and 31″ tall, a pre-teen type, all hard plastic doll, some were head turning walkers, most fully jointed some included bendable knees, flex ankles and elbows. Both Sweet Sue and Toni are often found in beautiful gowns of silk, satin or chiffon, were also featured as bride dolls and there was a Groom version with a lambs wool wig dressed in a Tuxedo, doll marked American Character Doll, Am. Char. Doll, Amer Char., A.C. and all sizes can be unmarked, as many dolls are.
1952 American Character Sweet Sue – Sweet Alice doll 18″ tall, (Alice in Wonderland like) Sweet Alice in a light blue dress with white pinafore.
1954 American Character, Sweet Sue – Annie Oakley doll 15-25″ tall, Sweet Sue in a Annie Oakley outfit of green denim culottes, matching bolero, satin blouse and scarf, felt hat, holster with two guns, cowboy boots.
1955-1956 American Character Life Size Sweet Sue doll 24 or 31″ tall.
1957 American Character Sweet Sue Sophisticate doll 14 or 20″ tall, fashion lady doll with high heel feet, jointed at the neck, shoulders, twist waist and hips, vinyl head with rooted hair, sleep eyes, closed painted mouth, pierced ears, came wearing fashionable clothing.
The American Character Sweet Sue with Flexible Foot doll can wear either high heel shoes or flats, the 14″ doll is unmarked, 20″ doll marked American © Character. See also the 1958 Toni doll who uses this same same head mold.
1951 American Character Sonny Boy doll 18, 21, 23 & 27″ tall, vinyl stuffed head with deeply molded light brown painted curls with bangs, (his face is narrower than Jimmy John), stuffed cloth body, stuffed vinyl limbs, blue sleep eyes, closed mouth, Mama crier in tummy, came dressed in red and blue checked buttoned on front vest, white shirt with blue and white bowtie, navy blue short pants, white socks and brown and white oxford shoes, doll mark AM. CHAR. or unmarked. 1952 Sonny Boy was 20″ tall and wore a snowsuit. The 1954 Jimmy John doll has similar molded hair with a wide rounder face and one piece body shown below.
1952-1961 American Character Chuckles doll 18-19, 22″ tall, vinyl head and partial vinyl limbs, oilcloth body open smiling mouth with upper teeth, sleep eyes, with a saran wig or had rooted hair as shown below, or deeply molded and painted hair, doll mark Amer Char. Doll.
American Character used the Chuckles name on several dolls, the earliest was an all composition doll in the 1930s.
1952 American Character I Love Lucy Baby Ricky Jr. doll, 14, 16″ tall, hard plastic head and rubber body, drink wet baby doll, wore a long pink bathrobe, bonnet and panties, doll is unmarked, all the later dolls are marked on the head.
1953 American Character Baby Ricky Arnaz Jr. doll 21″ tall, all vinyl doll with molded hair and sleep eyes. Wore a yellow sun outfit with name embroidered on the waist, doll mark AMER. CHAR. DOLL.
1954 Baby Ricky Arnaz Jr. doll 17, 21″ tall, all vinyl with rooted hair, wore shorts with suspenders in a hen print, white shirt with name embroidered and sandals, doll mark AMER. CHAR. DOLL.
1955 Baby Ricky Arnaz Jr. doll 13, 17″ tall, all vinyl with bendable legs that have wires, molded hair, sleep eyes. Wore corduroy pants with name embroidered on front and a striped shirt, doll mark AMER. CHAR. DOLL.
1955-1956 Baby Ricky Arnaz Jr. doll 12 tall, all vinyl, straight legs, drink wet baby doll, wore white corduroy pants with name embroidery on front, doll mark AMER. CHAR. DOLL.
If your doll is unmarked or marked differently, it is a clone or look-a-like doll made by another company as the head mold was sold by others.
1952 American Character I Love Lucy Lucille Ball doll 28″ tall, cloth doll with a hard plastic painted face, red bangs showing beneath her kerchief, big blue eyes, wearing her red and white striped blouse, an apron with “I Love Lucy” printed on it with two heart shaped pockets and red peddle pusher pant, head scarf, doll is unmarked.
1952, 1954, 1956, 1958 American Character Little Love doll 13-20″ tall, a Bye-lo Baby look a like doll, vinyl head a one piece stuffed latex body or jointed body, molded hair, sleep eyes, closed mouth, doll mark Amer. Char.
1954 American Character Jimmy John doll 24″ tall, stuffed vinyl head with deeply molded light brown painted hair with bangs, (his face is wider, rounder than Sonny Boy’s), one piece rubber magic skin body and limbs, blue sleep eyes, has a Mama crier that makes a cooing noise when the tummy is pressed, closed mouth, Jimmy John came dressed in a red and white checked shirt, navy tie, navy blue short pants trimmed with red checked fabric, white socks and shoes. Doll is marked AM. CHAR. or unmarked.
The Jimmy John doll may have been based on the character played by Jimmy John Wilson in the 1952 Cary Grant movie Room for One More or The Easy Way. See also 1951 Sonny Boy with similar deep molded hair.
Find American Character doll values
1954 American Character Penny and Puggy dolls 11″ tall
1954-1955 American Character The Peepers Baby doll 13, 17, 23″ tall
1955-1965 American Character Baby Sue doll 12, 13, 17, 19, 21 or 23″ tall, (there were four different faces used for this doll, one was hard plastic and the others were made of vinyl), all vinyl one piece baby body, vinyl head with rooted hair, legs have a wire so they can be posed, blue sleep eyes with real lashes, open mouth, wore a white nylon dress with pink & blue embroidery, bonnet, slip, panties, socks and white oilcloth shoes, doll marked on head Amer Char Doll.
1955-1960s American Character Toodles doll 19-30″ tall, hard plastic multi-jointed body including the elbows and knees, rooted hair or molded hair, flirty sleep eyes, drink wet doll, open mouth, the 1960-1961 Little Girl Toodles doll has teeth with an open mouth. Toodles can kneel, sit, play and assume 1,000 different positions. Some rare early dolls are marked Toodles, others were marked AM, Amer 9, American Char. or unmarked.
1955-1959 Toodles Toddler doll 19 1/2″, 21, 24 tall, vinyl head, flirty eyes, with multi jointed body including elbows and knees; Toodles The Action Doll, Toodles with Poodle, Toodles with her three way Super Kart.
1957-1959 American Character Betsy McCall doll 14, 18, 20, 22, 30, 36″ tall, all hard plastic and vinyl, socket head, rooted hair, sleep eyes with lashes, closed mouth, doll marked McCall Corp in a circle, McCall 1958 or unmarked. See the Betsy McCall page for more doll details and other doll manufacturers. Cousin Sandy McCall doll is 39″ tall with molded hair.
1958-1959 American Character Eloise doll 21″ tall, all cloth doll, yellow yarn hair, painted cloth face with smirking one side upturned mouth, cartoon character who lived at the Plaza Hotel, NYC.
1958+ American Character Toni doll 10 1/2, 14, 20 and 25″ tall, Gillette advertising doll for Toni hair products, fashion lady doll with high heel feet, same face mold as Sweet Sue Sophisticate, similar body style with a slightly smaller bust line, jointed at neck, shoulders and hips, 25″ size doll has a twist waist, these dolls came in beautiful 1950s style outfits. The Toni in the black taffeta jumper with embroidered white nylon blouse is called Cha Cha #A97 or High Society in 1960. Earle Pullan also sold a similar doll sized 24-25″ size doll marked Pullan.
1959-1960 Teeny Toodles doll 11″ tall, all vinyl, molded or rooted hair, drink and wet, five piece jointed body.
1959-1960 American Character Tommy Toodles doll 22-23″ tall, Toodles brother with lightly molded and brown painted hair, jointed five piece toddler body with straight legs, flirty sleep eyes with real brush eyelashes, drink wet doll, open mouth, dressed in a blue and white striped short sleeve shirt, blue suspended shorts, white rayon socks and white shoes, doll marked Amer. Char. Doll Corp. ©.
1959 American Character Toodles Toddles doll 19, 23-24 or 26″ tall, vinyl head with rooted short curly hair or braids with curly bangs hair, flirty sleep eyes, real upper curly eyelashes, drink wet doll, open mouth, five piece plastic jointed body with straight legs, walker doll, doll came dressed in several different outfits, doll marked Amer. Char. Doll Corp. © 1960. Photo courtesy of rabmlt.
American Character dolls 1919+ | <1950s > | 1960s | Tressy
1950s American Character Dolls not shown:
1952 American Character Sunny Sue doll 27 1/2″ tall, vinyl stuffed head with rooted hair, painted eyes, open mouth with two upper teeth, oilcloth stuffed body, crier, vinyl limbs, doll mark Amer. Char.
1953 American Character Sweet Suzanne doll 31″ tall, a walker, vinyl head with rooted saran hair probably into a skullcap, sleep eyes, closed mouth, vinyl arms, hard plastic body and legs with bending knees, doll is probably unmarked. Only made for one year, it seems American Character renamed this doll Life Size Sweet Sue, redesigned the face, now has jointed arms and no longer a walker.
1954-1956 American Character Life Size Sweet Sue doll 31″ tall, hard plastic or vinyl head with rooted blonde or brunette saran hair into a vinyl skullcap, sleep eyes, closed mouth, vinyl jointed elbow arms, hard plastic torso and jointed knees legs, dolls are unmarked.
1959 American Character Infant Toodles doll 16″ tall, a Bye-lo Baby look a like doll, same face as the Little Love doll, vinyal head with rooted hair or wigged, sleep eyes, closed mouth not a drink n’ wet doll, voice box, plastic jointed body, dressed in a turquoise hooded snowsuit or christening gown and bonnet, doll mark American Character Doll Corp. © 1958.
1959-1960 American Character Infant Toodles Travels doll 16″ tall, same as above doll, came in a cardboard car bed, 1960 came in ain a fabric bunting, doll mark American Character Doll Corp. © 1957 1/2.