wanda2

Advance Doll and Toy company made two walking dolls, Winnie and Wanda. Winnie was 24" tall, the unaided walking and talking doll. Wanda the Walking Wonder was made in various sizes 18" to 24" tall. Both Winnie and Wanda were heavy walking type dolls. They had molded shoes with metal rollers. Made by Advance Doll & Toy Co in 1954 and 1955.

This doll is Wanda the Walking Wonder doll. She is made of plastic and metal. Wanda is 18 inches tall. She is a windup walker.

Wanda is wearing her original one piece underwear underneath a vintage dress that was not her own but fits perfectly. Wanda is in excellent condition. She still works.

Face paint is perfect, eyes are bright with full lashes. Wanda has a saran wig in good condition with the original shirley style curls in back.

Her socks have turned tan, they were probably cream color originally. One of her white shoes is cracked and it appears this happened because the plastic shrunk. The photo shows this problem. There's no structural damage to this shoe, it is a cosmetic problem only. The shoes have metal rollers on them. Wanda has the blushed knees, which is a cute feature on vintage dolls.

Wanda still works, she wobbles back and forth when she's wound up and the mechanism sounds good: there are no apparent problems with it. But she didn't go anywhere on our tile floors so I don't think she was actually very good at walking. But she does move around a bit. She moves her arms up and down, turns her head side to side and shuffles her feet. It's the geriatric version of a fast walk, I believe.

Wanda is very clean and is nearly minty considering how old she is. She must have been stored in a box or container in order to look this beautiful.