Betsy Wetsy and the Doll Wetting Wars

By Kathy Kovach

What is the most popular gift every little girl in the world has wanted to find under the Christmas tree for centuries? A baby doll. One of their very own that they could cuddle, nurture, sing lullabies to, and love. Then we had children of our own and asked ourselves, “What were we thinking?” Babies are hard!

Throughout the past decades, toy makers tried to warn us. They made dolls that gurgled and cooed. They made dolls that blew bubbles and moved in our arms. And around the first half of the 20th century, they introduced dolls we could feed and inevitably change—because real babies wet themselves.

A lot.

The first such doll was created by the Effanbee Doll Co., named for Bernard Fleischaker and Hugo Baum, (the F and B came from their last names). They were innovative in their doll design. Their tagline was “dolls that touch your heart.” In 1930, they were the first to produce a realistically proportioned doll named Patsy Joan. At 16”, she was the size of a real newborn baby with blue or brown eyes that had lashes and a tiny closed mouth. Sixteen years later, they made one with dark skin, quite groundbreaking in the mid-1940s.

Other doll designs from Effanbee followed, but the one that would truly train little girls to become mommies was their 1933 creation, the Dy-Dee doll. As the name would imply, Dy-Dee needed diapers.

A lot.

Dy-Dee doll

Dy-Dee was made with a tube inside her infantile body, running from her mouth to . . . well . . . you know. The more she ate, the more she . . . you know. Effanbee’s determination to produce realistic dolls also produced much controversy. Many parents found the doll offensive, but others, who no doubt embraced the adage "someday you’ll have a child just like you", were thrilled to bring the sweet little sprinkler into their home. Montgomery Ward sold the dolls in record numbers and Dy-Dee became a best-seller, attributing largely to Effanbee’s success.

What followed was the Wetting Doll Wars.

Dy-Dee’s achievement got the attention of other doll companies, in particular, the American Character Company who had been making dolls since 1919. With the success of the wetting doll, they came up with Wee-Wee in 1935. Even the most astute doll manufacturer could see the similarity in the names, Dy-Dee and Wee-Wee, if not in their unique functions. Effanbee successfully sued American Character and Wee-Wee went bye-bye.

In a sneak attack, another company entered the fray. The Ideal Toy Company of New York had already been in the doll business thirty years by the time Betsy Wetsy hit the market in 1937 to the delight of future mamas everywhere. Once again, Effanbee attempted to protect their product by suing Ideal. However, this time a different judge ruled in Ideal’s favor, stating that drinking and wetting were natural bodily functions and thus could not be patented. As a result, Betsy Wetsy became the most iconic toy of the post WWII era.

Betsy Wetsy ad

The Wetting Doll Wars were far from over, however, with the introduction of Tiny Tears in 1950. She could not only soak a diaper, but she could cry. Tiny Tears was my doll. She trained me well for when my first child suffered from colic. However, I couldn’t toss him in the toy box to make it stop.

But I digress.

Tiny Tears ad

With the innovation of a crying doll, Ideal, who had been previously sued for bodily function infringement, now went on to make a Betsy Wetsy doll who could cry. The manufacturers of Tiny Tears, American Character, took them to court. The suit must have been tossed as American Character still had the doll when they filed for bankruptcy in 1968. Seeing this as their chance to own the nation’s most popular doll, Ideal swooped in and saved Tiny Tears from annihilation, at least until 1985, when production of the beloved toy ceased.

Now, my babies are in their forties, (even my colicky one) with babies and grandbabies of their own. But I still remember fondly my wetting doll, and as I reminisce, I whisper to myself, “What was I thinking?”

I couldn’t find a picture of me with my Tiny Tears, but here is one of a good friend with hers that she posted on Facebook.

Dec 25, 1956, age 13 months

Titanic: Legacy of Betrayal

A TIME-SLIP NOVEL

A secret. A key. Much was buried on the Titanic, but now it's time for resurrection.

Follow two intertwining stories a century apart. 1912 - Matriarch Olive Stanford protects a secret after boarding the Titanic that must go to her grave. 2012 - Portland real estate agent Ember Keaton-Jones receives the key that will unlock the mystery of her past... and her distrusting heart.

To buy: Amazon

Kathleen E. Kovach is a Christian romance author published traditionally through Barbour Publishing, Inc. as well as indie. Kathleen and her husband, Jim, raised two sons while living the nomadic lifestyle for over twenty years in the Air Force. Now planted in northeast Colorado, she's a grandmother and a great-grandmother—though much too young for either. Kathleen has been a longstanding member of American Christian Fiction Writers. An award-winning author, she presents spiritual truths with a giggle, proving herself as one of God's peculiar people.

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