1949 Amosandra Sun Rubber Baby Doll African American Amos & Andy 10"

Description

Vintage 1949 Amosandra African American baby doll produced for the Columbia Broadcasting System, designed by Ruth E. Newton and manufactured by the Sun Rubber Company. “Thomas W. Smith Jr., general manager of Sun Rubber, came up with the idea for Amosandra. For years, he said, the company had been bombarded with requests for “a Negro doll made of rubber,” and he wanted to produce toys that appealed to all ethnicities, not just white children.

Smith flew to Hollywood in 1948 to meet with CBS executives as well as Gosden, Correll and their lawyers and business managers. He proposed that Amos Jones and his wife, Ruby, (main characters on the popular radio series “Amos & Andy”) should welcome a baby girl on the comedy show, and that Sun Rubber would celebrate the occasion with a new doll. The baby’s delivery was a big production. Smith had hired a photographer to take dozens of photos of Harlem children and then turned those pictures over to artist Ruth Newton, who had illustrated more than 40 children’s books. Amosandra, whose name was a combination of the show’s title characters, debuted Feb. 20, 1949, on the Sunday night broadcast. A week later, hundreds of thousands of Amosandra dolls arrived on store shelves across the nation.”

Condition

Fair - loss of form to head/limbs; drying/cracking to rubber; gentle wear to paint; one arm broken off; see pictures

Dimensions

4.5” x 2.5” x 10” (Width x Depth x Height)