Doll:Dance with Me Doll

In the 1930s, doll manufacturers offered what they deliberately called companion dolls, dolls designed to appear about the same age as the girls who played with them. Companion dolls prompted a particular kind of play, not the nurturing play of baby dolls, but the convival activities of playmates. Little girls invited companion dolls to tea parties, to play house, and to go for walks in doll strollers. In the middle of the 20th century, companion dolls grew in size until they attained the heights and proportions of their human friends. Adding foot loops to the feet of these large dolls enabled little girl to dance with their companion dolls. Manufacturers called some of these dolls dancing dolls or Dance with Me dolls. The little girl who owed this doll in the 1950s named her Maxie after her Aunt Maxine.