Long before Barbie, there was Madame Alexander.
The eponymous line of dolls, launched in 1923 by Beatrice Behrman Alexander, was the first to feature creations based on a licensed character—in this case, Scarlett O’Hara of Gone with the Wind. While the Madame herself may no longer be around, little has slowed down this Harlem-based company, which continues to churn out dolls even while undergoing a relocation process due to Columbia’s expansion into Manhattanville.
After three years of negotiations with the University, Madame Alexander Doll Company’s current factory—located at 615 W. 131st St.—will move to another Harlem location sometime in 2009. Once the new site has been constructed, the company expects that the moving process will only take three to four weeks.
In the meantime, the company finds itself more than satisfied with the results of the negotiations.
“Columbia has shown itself to be a very good partner to us,” Executive
Director Dennis Palmer said. “There have been a lot of negative things said about the University, but my experience has been 100 percent positive.”
No other details of the negotiation process were disclosed by either Palmer or Columbia. The University did not return calls for comment.
For Palmer, the Alexander Doll Company has endured over the years and will weather the relocation because of the unique sense of tangibility it provides to its customers.
“There’s something magical about these dolls,” Palmer said. “They’re not electronics. It’s not the television. They’re something real.”
Such qualities have been the focus of the company ever since its founding by Beatrice Behrman Alexander, the daughter of a Russian immigrant raised on the Lower East Side who is now considered one of the innovators of the field.
Alexander began creating cloth dolls based on Red Cross nurses during World War I before establishing the Madame Alexander Doll Company in 1923—during which, according to Forbes and the Toy Industry Association, her collectible dolls became the most popular toy of the decade.
Around 1936, she created a line based on the real-life Dionne quintuplets, the first known set of identical female quintuplets, and the first time dolls had been created in homage to living figures. She followed this up with her second innovation, the creation of a doll—Scarlett O’Hara—based on a licensed commercial character.
Much lauded for her creations and her entrepreneurship, Alexander died in 1990. Five years later, the company declared bankruptcy and was purchased by private capital fund Kaizen Breakthrough Partnership LP, which currently oversees the company.
But Palmer said the spirit of Alexander’s innovation and warmth continues to live on. The company produces nearly 500 new models each year and maintains a museum in its factory that draws both serious collectors from around the world and casual visitors. But “for little girls, it’s a wonderland of dolls,” Palmer said. “They’re like kids in a candy shop.”
According to Ezra Ishayik, a manager of Mary Arnold Toys, located near East 72nd Street, the various models retail anywhere from 50 to 500 dollars and have continued to draw serious collectors for more than 28 years.
Even with the current economic climate, Ishayik expects brisk sales of the dolls to continue through the holiday season. “We’ve seen steady business with the dolls,” he said. “There’s not been any slowing down.”
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