Hollywood, Dream World, Junel, Duchess Dolls USA

Hollywood Dolls, Dream World dolls, Junel Dolls and Duchess Dolls

ca. 1944 Hollywood Mfg. Little Nanny Etticoat dressed display doll 5"

ca. 1944+ Hollywood Mfg. Little Nanny Etticoat hard plastic dressed display 5″ doll

Hollywood Doll Manufacturing Company was founded in Glendale, California in 1944 until 1956 and supplied more dolls to the market, than any other doll manufacturer during that era. Miniature lady type dolls are usually 5 to 8″ of composition and later hard plastic and can be jointed at the neck, hip and shoulder, have sleep eyes, mohair wig glued to head, a closed mouth and have elaborate costumes (not stapled) to fit their theme. Some of these dolls are also known as Dress Me type dolls. Hollywood Doll mfg. also made baby dolls.

Hollywood doll mark Hollywood Doll on a star

Hollywood Manufacturing dolls are marked A Hollywood Doll around a star on the back. To identify your dolls name, you may need original clothing, it’s marked box, booklet. Shop for vintage Hollywood Manufacturing dolls

Hollywood Doll Mfg. vintage names or themes identified – Baby Buggy series, Ballerina, Bedtime Dolly, Bridegroom, Bunny Rabbit, Cradle series, Everyday series, Little Friends, Little One, Little Snow Baby, Lucky Star series, Lullaby series, Nun, Nursery Rhymes series, Old Mother Witch, Peter Rabbit, Playmates, Princess series, Queen for a Day, Sweetheart series, Toyland series, Rock-A-Bye baby, Western series, Wishes.

ca. 1944 Dream World Carmen Miranda doll 11″ tall

Dream World Doll Company 1944-1949 Chicago, IL – dolls are all composition dolls either most common 11″ or less common 14″ tall, dolls have a glued on mohair wig, side painted glancing blue eyes with painted upper lashes and a red painted closed mouth with jointed bodies at the neck, shoulders and hips and both size dolls are unmarked, they came with a blue and silver hang tag Dream World Doll.

Shop for vintage Dream World dolls

Dream World dolls have clothing stapled to the body, on an unclothed doll you’ll be able to see the two staple holes in the back. That’s how you know it’s a Dream World doll. Dolls came dressed in elaborate formals, International regional costumes, Patriotic dolls, as a personality or even dressed for an occupation. Thousands of these smaller inexpensive dolls were sold to display or decorate a bedroom shelf and many dolls can be found today in original clothing as it is stapled to the dolls body.

ca. 1944 Junel Novelty World War II Miss Victory 11" doll

ca. 1945 Junel Novelty World War II Miss Victory 11″ doll

Junel Novelty Company or Junel Novelties, Inc. ca. 1940s of New York – made similar composition 11″ dolls with decal side glancing eyes, dolls are unmarked, clothing is Not stapled to the dolls composition body. Junel is probably better known for their cloth dolls.

Shop for vintage Junel Novelty dolls

ca. 1949 Duchess Mam Zell Dolls of All Nations Bridesmaid doll 7 1/2" — ca. 1949 Duchess Doll Corp. Mam Zell Dolls of All Nations, Bridesmaid composition dressed doll 7 1/2″

Duchess Doll Corporation 1948-1956 New York – dolls are 7-8″ or 12 1/2″ tall, composition or hard plastic, with a slender adult figure body jointed at neck and shoulders with non-bendable legs, painted or sleep eyes, wigged, with molded painted on low heeled shoes, have elaborate costumes stapled to the dolls body. These are also called “Travel Dolls”. Duchess dolls are inexpensive and are often found still in their original box with tags.

Duchess Doll Corp. doll mark Design Copyright 1948, 1949

Duchess Doll doll mark
Duchess Doll Corp 1948 or Duchess Doll Corp 1949

Shop for vintage Duchess dolls

Some Duchess Doll Corporation dolls identified – Alice in Wonderland, Bride, Brides of the World, Charm Girl, Cinderella. Continental Dolls; Dolly Madison & Queen Elizabeth Coronation dolls. Dale Evans, Danny the Groom boy doll. Dolls of all Nations; Gypsy, Miss Irish (wearing a dress with shamrock fabric), Morocco, Scotland Girl & Spain. Dream Girl, May, Miss Hollywood, Fairy Princess, Miss North American Van, Miss Tastee-Freez America’s Sweetheart, Miss Valentine of 1951, Walt Disney Peter Pan and Tinker Bell dolls.

Other Companies that made similar small dolls are; Arranbee Debu’Teen 11″ dolls with sleep eyes, marked R & B or unmarked, Dress Me dolls composition or plastic 6-18″ tall most dolls are unmarked, Fortune Doll Company made a hard plastic Pam doll 8″ tall, sleep eyes, synthetic wig a dressed doll, Madame Alexander Wendy Ann 11″ with side glancing painted eyes, doll marked Wendy Ann. National Costume Doll Company made 11″ composition dolls with side glancing painted eyes in regional dress, dolls are unmarked and Plastic Molded Arts Company made 7″ and larger size plastic dolls marked PMA and supplied parts and entire dolls to other companies.

Small Dolls of the 40s & 50s, Identification & Value Guide book by Carol J. Stover, Collector’s Guide to Dolls of the 1960s and 1970s books, vol. I in 2000, vol. II in 2004 both by Cindy Sabulis, Hard Plastic Dolls Identification & Price Guide book, vol. I in 1985, 1987, 1990, Hard Plastic Dolls II Identification and Price Guide book in 1989 both by Polly and Pam Judd, Modern Collector Dolls books, series one to eight by Patricia R. Smith and continued research across the Internet since 1999 which we share with you.