Impudent Imposter

This flirtatious and flamboyant flapper is from chalkware and was probably originally a carnival prize. Unmarked, she is 6.5 inches tall. At first glance, she appears to be a knock-off of Genevieve Pfeffer's Splashme dolls, but there are subtle differences, as the Splashme character has her folded hands tucked under their chin and has molded slippers (this seated bright-eyed bathing belle's bare toes are visible under her painted slippers). 

The position of her hands, the bare feet, and the small molded, but unpainted, wings behind her shoulders instead indicate that the underlying figurine is a direct copy of Rose O'Neill's pensive Kewpie or "The Thinker." The picture below is from my July 2008 article in "Antique Doll Collector" entitled "Genevieve Pfeffer and Her Alluring Girlies," which sets out the history of the Splashme bathing beauty dolls. The photograph contrasts O'Neill's thoughtful Kewp with Pfeffer's flirty girlie. So this round-eyed sea siren is apparently the illegitimate offspring of both the Kewpie and Splashme, with the Kewpie's form and the Splashme's face and ensemble.

Ironically, Pfeffer herself was once accused of copying the pensive Kewpie for her Splashme dolls. The defendants in a 1920 patent infringement suit brought by Pfeffer against Western Doll Manufacturing Company had argued that Pfeffer based her Splashme on the pensive Kewpie. In fact, the 1917 patent is for an "ornamental design for a doll" submitted by Pfeffer shows the original doll with the position of her hands and bare feet matching those of the Kewpie. In that case, the federal district court ruled Pfeffer's patent was invalid, finding that she had merely painted "baby doll" eyes, a flapper bob, and a one-piece bathing suit on a plaster copy of a Kewpie figurine and had not created anything new or novel. However, Pfeffer appealed and in 1922, the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the lower court and held that Pfeffer's patent was valid. The Splashme's eyes with their star-burst of long lashes, full red lips parted to expose white teeth, bobbed hair, and colorful swimwear would prevent any causal consumer from mistaking the sultry Splashme for O'Neill's innocent imp. 

 

 

The Supreme Flash of 1927

This flirtatious flapper certainly has a lot of flash in her form-fitting gold glitter bathing suit.  Of plaster, this golden girl is 16 inches tall.

Her sparkling slippers stand on a base incised "© N.S. Statuary Co." 

This advertisement from the May 28, 1927, edition of "The Billboard," a publication for carnival concessionaires, features the same glittery gal by North Side Statuary Company of Chicago, Illinois.  Entitled "The Supreme Flash of 1927," the ad declares that this "new original copyrighted" bathing beauty doll is "already proven the biggest money-getter this year."  This shimmery sea-side siren is described as "natural flesh tone with highly attractive metallic bathing suit" who looks like she "just stepped out of the surf" and is a "Bathing Beach Banner Money Getter." Sounds like she's a bit of a gold digger! Packed 20 to a barrel, these twinkling tootsies were one dollar each.  

For an inexpensive carnival prize, this bathing belle is surprisingly well sculpted and decorated, with a most appealing presence.  No doubt she tempted quite a number of nickels out of the rubes' pockets in her heyday. 

Plaster, but No Saint

This seductive sultana is of chalkware or plaster.  During the early 1900s, there was a fad for pretty plaster ladies, often dressed in real materials, even if it was just a filmy lace chemise.  Perhaps the best known of these chalkware coquettes are the charming plaster poupees designed by the famed French Boudoir artist Maurice Millier.  I do not know who made this ravishing rani, but she is clad in her original exotic, and somewhat exiguous, outfit.  In surprisingly good shape considering the fragility of her materials, she is 11.5 inches tall and unmarked.  The quality of both the figurine and her costume are quite high for this type of novelty statuette.  Unfortunately, her maker is a mystery.  

She reflects the West's continuing fascination with Orientalism, imaginative and fanciful depictions of a mysterious, seductive, and decadent Middle East.  Her costume appears to have been inspired by the elaborate and lavish costumes created by Léon Bakst for the Ballet Russe's 1910 "Scheherazade." 

In fact, her outfit certainly resembles (sans a couple of thousand dangling pearls) the costume worn by dancer Vera Fokina, who portrayed the unfaithful Zobéide, the favorite wife of Sultan Shahriyar, even to the openings down the front of the legs, the puffy peplum at the hips, and the contrasting bodice.