Perhaps the Handsomest Doll Ever

Posted by Harry McCracken on September 9, 2012

Scrappy doll
Behold a 1935 doll, apparently made by E.D. & T.M. Co., Inc. for the Great Lakes Novelty Co. of Chicago. He’s unmistakably Scrappy, even he doesn’t look all that much like Scrappy. Even in later years, when Scrappy looked a bit less like a bobblehead doll than he did at first, his proportions weren’t this realistic. And the expression is just a tad too blandly cherubic.

Then there are those eyes. That doll has the tallest pupils I’ve ever seen on anybody or anything. Period.

Oh, and he seems to be wearing flesh-colored gloves — although I suppose it’s possible they were once white and got painted over at some point in the past seventy-seven years.

The badge which Scrappy is wearing — which, full disclosure, I actually acquired on another example of this doll which was in less pleasing condition — is worth zooming in on:

Scrappy tag

It suggests that there may have been a serious problem with fake Scrappy dolls in the mid-1930s. Or at least that Columbia wanted to plant that possibility in the minds of American consumers.

If this plaything looks familiar, it may be because you’ve seen this photo:

Scrappy and the Three Stooges

That’s the same doll, all right, except for one odd difference: The one I have has hard hands made out of the sort of composition material widely used for Depression-era playthings. The Stooges’ version has what seem to be soft fabric hands. Perhaps someone wanted to make extra-sure that there would be no mishaps involving anyone accidentally getting poked in the eye by Scrappy.

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