Betsy and Little Genius, Home for the Holidays

Here in the shop I’ve been hustling to get as many dolls as possible ready to head home for the holidays. You saw Elise’s beach wedding… she headed off to her new home afterwards. Now I have two more on offer: Betsy McCall and Little Genius.

Betsy is a super-rare ball-jointed 24 inch doll from the early 60s. She has the “poodle” hairdo in the dark strawberry blonde shade called “Tosca”. Her plaid flannel School Days dress is original and the rest of her outfit are vintage replacements. Betsy had a face and arm repaint to correct yellowed vinyl and hide dark spots. The spots are still somewhat visible but much less than before.

Madame Alexander’s Little Genius was made starting in 1935. This is one of the early 30s dolls. She has a composition head and limbs with a cloth body. She has the hard-to-find “flirty” eyes that move from side to side as well as open and close. 

When I got Little Genius she was only a head with no body, so she needed a major hospital visit! I gave her a replacement body from the same era and a new crying voice box. Her head was in very good condition and only needed cleaning and touch-up paint to her hair and lips.

Baby LG comes with the dress original to the replacement body. It was in tatters and I repaired it as best I could but the thread just pulls through the cloth. It has a safety pin closure because it’s too fragile for snaps or buttons or anything like that. 

Because it’s so frail I also gave Baby a new dress, tights, and booties. These are real baby clothes size 0-3 months.

I just love the original Little Genius (also occasionally called “Baby Genius”) face sculpt. It’s so realistic, especially when the eyes move and you get that baby side eye! I love this Betsy face sculpt too. Her slightly up-tilited eyes and sweet little smile are so pretty. 

The Betsy doll was briefly used to illustrate the paper doll pages in McCall’s magazine in the 1960s. The pictures were photos of the long-haired version of the doll posed in real life environments. I just really love the photos! They showcased how possible she is.

Both these dolls are available now from my shops. They are both quite large and heavy so I recommend my Poshmark boutique for the best shipping price. Betsy is here and Little Genius is here.