Doll:Becky

Trained in fine arts and sculpture, Astry Campbell embraced doll making after purchasing an art doll made by Dewees Cochran. Working in the 1960s, Campbell's first doll, created with a porcelain head and kid body, represented a fashion doll. Showing the doll to a buyer at the upscale I. Magnin department store, Campbell received an order for several dolls. When she sent I. Magnin's buyer a photo of Becky, a nine-inch toddler figure she intended as a play doll, the eager buyer asked for exclusive rights to sell the dolls in the West and asked Campbell to deliver 500 dolls before Christmas. Campbell, of course, declined. She modeled Ricky, a companion doll for Becky, after her own son and continued to create other dolls, including Alice in Wonderland and Baby Lisa.