Little Miss Addie
Little Miss Addie & her Fur Stole - Mailorder BLOCK DOLL 1950's
Little Miss Addie was a mail order doll that was offered by a dishwashing detergent company in the 1950's. The name "Addie" stood for Advertising Doll. She came wearing a pink striped dress as shown, plus a real fur stole. A bridal gown ensemble was also included in the mail order package, but this doll only has her pink evening gown and fur stole.
Little Miss Addie has strawberry blonde saran hair/wig with original floral headband. She is a hard plastic walker doll: her head turns left and right when you move her legs. Her arms are strung. She has a chubby baby-style body with a cherub face. Her eyes are bright, with molded lashes and she has very pretty high face color. Miss Addie is 10 inches tall. She was made in the 1950's.
Her dress is still in good condition, probably never washed because it is stiff with starch and a bit yellowed because of the starch. The dress does have a few stains on the back; see photos for details. Her panties are probably original, and I put new elastic on them. The shoes are not original but they do fit very well.
Little Miss Addie was made by the Block Doll Company. Block dolls were packaged under quite a few names that we know of, and there were some variations. Karen the Answer Doll had a button on the tummy: she could shake her head yes or no, depending on which button you pushed. And Block dolls were sometimes sold as "Baby Walker."
Block Dolls resemble the hard plastic Littlest Angel Dolls by Arranbee. Block dolls are unmarked, whereas Arranbee dolls were marked R&B. The round cherub face is distinctive and is often the only way to recognize them as a Block doll. The 10 inch chubby toddler doll is fairly well known, but Block dolls may have been sold in other sizes as well, such as 8 inch and 12 inch. Since they're unmarked it's hard to say for sure, but I've had the 12 inch size a couple of times.
This doll is in good condition but is not pristine. She has especially pretty face coloring but she's not perfect and her gown has a couple of issues as mentioned. Addie's hair is sewn in place with coat thread: this is easily removed if you don't like it - but it was more effective than hair pins which messed up the hair when I tried, and wouldn't stay put.
There was some glue residue on either side of her face: apparently her hair was glued in place originally - but I was able to remove most of it. She's an adorable little doll.