Magic Skin Baby, introduced in 1940, has a hard plastic head on a stuffed latex body, called "magic skin." These bodies have mostly discolored and deteriorated over the years. Magic Skin Baby was made in four sizes, jointed at the neck and shoulders only.

Plassie, made in the mid-forties, has a hard plastic head on a compo shoulder plate, with compo limbs and a cloth body. Her hands have curled fingers. The shoulder plate allows her head to tilt realistically. A second version of Plassie replaced the compo limbs with ones made of magic skin. Another version from the fifties has vinyl limbs and there was an all hard plastic version as well.

Sparkle Plenty was Ideal's first hard plastic comic strip character doll, introduced in 1947. She was from the Dick Tracy strip by Chester Gould, and was a big success. Sparkle is a baby doll with hard plastic head, long yellow yarn hair and magic skin body. She was made in four sizes from 14" to 20".

Baby Coos got her name from the cooing sound she makes when you squeeze her leg. She has a hard plastic head and magic skin body. She was sold from the late '40s into the early '50s. Baby Coos is often confused with Plassie and Magic Skin Baby. Several versions were made, including a life-size doll, and one with a mohair wig. Brother Coos was Baby Coos dressed as a boy. In the late fifties, Baby Coos was reintroduced in a vinyl version.

		Toni was another huge seller for Ideal, beginning in 1949. This advertising tie-in to the Toni home permanent has a nylon wig. She is all hard plastic and was sold in five sizes. The 14" doll, marked P-90, is the most commonly found size. The 16" was marked P-91, 19" P-92, 21" P-93, and the rare 22.5" size is marked P-94. The Toni Walker dolls, introduced in 1954, are slightly taller than the non-walkers, and have a W after the size marking. Toni was sold in many, many different dresses, which are not tagged. They are usually embellished with rick rack or embroidered trim. The Toni molds were also used for other dolls. The earliest versions had mohair wigs. Later dolls with synthetic hair included Mary Hartline, Miss Curity and Saran Ann.
Photos courtesy of Nancy McKee. Visit Nancy's shop.

Howdy Doody is a ventriloquist doll with a hard plastic head and movable jaw. His body is cloth, some have vinyl hands. A tie-in to the popular kids' show from the 1950s, Howdy was also made in a talking version and a vinyl head version without the moving jaw.

Saucy Walker is an all hard plastic walking doll with flirty sleep eyes. She was made in 16" and 22" sizes and sold in a variety of dresses. She was very popular and was made from 1951 to 1955. There were many knockoffs of Saucy Walker made, these will not have the Ideal marking. In 1955 a vinyl head version of Saucy was made.

Posie is a hard plastic doll with bendable knees. A vinyl head version was made as well.

Tickletoes and Baby Beautiful are large babies with hard plastic heads. They may have magic skin, vinyl or hard plastic limbs on a cloth body, with mohair or synthetic wigs. Early '50s.

8.5" Boopsie, 11" Baby Mine and Thrift Kit Dolls were budget-priced dolls. They are all hard plastic and have unusual side-glancing sleep eyes. They were sold wearing a diaper. Kits by Bucilla could be purchased to make outfits for the Thrift Kit Dolls.

Betsy Wetsy returned in 1954 with a hard plastic head and vinyl body. She could still drink, wet and cry, but now she had a runny nose as well. Some dolls have molded hair and some have a caracul wig. Other versions of Betsy can be found on the Composition and Vinyl pages. The hard plastic Betsys were made through 1957.

Sources for this page include:

• "Collector's Guide to Ideal Dolls, 3rd edition" by Judith Izen

Copyright 2007 by Zendelle Bouchard.

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