From scraps to riches...

Part II

(Read Part I here)

Collection Ysé

So the trio composed of Ruth Handler, Elliot Handler and Harold Matson found itself starting from scratch all over again...
... and this during the hard times of WWII...

First of all, they needed to generate cash and "Matt" suggested using old design sketches by Elliot to create picture frames destined for the soldiers leaving for the front. Ruth once again took sales and marketing under her wing.

In 1945, they chose a new name for their new venture and the company Mattel Creations was founded (Matt- for Harold Matson ; -el for Elliot...). 

With the wood slats and plastic scraps left over from the frames production, and with the technique they had used for brooches and jewellery, Elliot started creating small pieces of doll furniture made of lucite and flocked cheap wood. There were chairs, armchairs (see a possible example above, from my collection), table and maybe table lamps...

These pieces are the first attempt of the newly created Mattel company at making toys... This line was sold at some point in the great department store FAO Schwarz and the range was called Twink L-Toy Plexiglas (1945).

This furniture was not made with any particular doll in mind. It is rather on the small scale...

After trying an array of small dolls, it seems that the best size for that scale of chair could be Dolly Darling...

It's very difficult to know for sure if vintage doll furniture pieces in lucite which are nowadays labelled Early Mattel - like these might be for example...

or these...

were indeed made by Mattel in the 40s as of course they are not marked as such... Let's look at two aspects of the question :

First of all, here is the only official documentation (Source : Harvard University file - Mattel) currently to be found on these specific pieces, as far as I know...

For more information

See Harvard University Library site

They do look very similar to my little armchair presented at the top of this page or to this one under too... (If you are interested in possibly owning a small piece of history, just follow the link under the photo)...

See here

But first, let me draw your attention to a fact... Coincidentally around the same period,  in England, a British company, KAY Ltd*, manufactured and sold this set...

KAY Dolls' Furniture Suite, metal and perspex (1947?) - See larger view on Tedtique Flickr stream

The collector who owns this set dates it as 1947 approximately, and specified that it was made of metal and -perspex ? - plastic. She also informed me that the same set without the box featured in Margaret Towner's book "Doll's House Furniture" - 1993 The Apple Press HB.

*(The Kempner family started making waterproof raincoats in the early 1900s and diversified into a toy business in the early 1920s which ended up taking over as the main business. The company was still doing business well into the 1960s. They were not specialized in doll furniture or even in girl's toys for that matter as, through the years, they produced outdoor and indoor sport equipment, Bagatelles, Bakelite telephone sets, Chemistry sets, Electric Derby horse races, etc. - often toys that involved electrical circuits with metal but also plastic pieces -... But they also manufactured at least one Doll's House - See the Carlisle Dolls House in Béatrice's stream here ).

So what is the story ? The time span is so tight (between 1945 and 1947) on both sides of the ocean : who copied the other's design ? Or did they get the same idea at the same time ?... The doll furniture pieces are so similar in style (see oval armrests + twirled back rest for the armchair and the curved base of the coffee table) that this last hypothesis is a bit unlikely... Did they know about each other ? Kay does specify on the box "Copyright - Manufactured in England"... Well, as usual, we might never know...

Mattel stopped making doll furniture after this first trial in order to produce a diversity of very popular metal toys such as music boxes, money-boxes and toy instruments, which, in time, propelled their business into the first phase of the orbit that we all know... Their next venture into doll furniture would be the 1958 wooden Mattel Modern range, produced for 8 to 10.5 inch dolls, before the launching of the Barbie doll....

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