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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FLAPPERS IN THE JAZZ AGE, THE ROARING 20s.

Anne Greene here.  

The flapper became the symbol of young women who championed new ideas about womanhood. Women no longer submitted to strict Victorian morality. Instead, they changed the social status of women by transforming the concept of the ideal woman.

 

In previous decades, the Gibson Girl, with her long luxurious hair, her hourglass figure, and elegant tailored gowns, had been the model of femininity. She was corseted, educated and accomplished, and her first priorities were finding a husband and starting a family. The Gibson Girl used flirtation and femininity to achieve her ends.

 

Flappers rebelled against this model of womanhood.

 

 

Flappers cut off the long hair their mothers had prized, favoring the short bob. They rejected the waist-constricting corset, and the hourglass figure it created. Their loose-fitting dresses, with drop waists and knee-length skirts, created a more boyish silhouette, which some women enhanced by binding their breasts. Flappers wore makeup, which had previously been associated only with prostitution. Make-up's new popularity also changed the way it was used; instead of attempting to imitate nature, flappers used cosmetics to create small bow mouths and pale skin. This was a stark contrast to the rosy look their mothers had prized. However, young women in the 1920s wanted not only to look different from their mothers, they wanted to act differently too.

Flappers rejected traditional rules of propriety in favor of a more modern, fast-paced lifestyle. They were frank and socially liberated, some acting in ways that shocked their elders. Young women engaged in activities previously limited to men, such as smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol – even though Prohibition made drinking illegal. They listened to jazz music and danced new, energetic dances, like the Charleston and the Black Bottom, despite objections that these dances were wild and obscene. They loved automobiles finding their speed and risk a perfect fit, and insisted on driving.

 

Young women in the 1920s distinguished themselves from their Victorian counterparts in their attitudes about sex. Flappers followed Freud and believed that both women and men had sexual desires that were natural, not shameful. Older generations found this interest in sex immodest, but flappers saw it as an expression of women's right to a full life. They criticized Victorian ideas about gender roles, seeing them as impediments to women gaining social equality with men.

 

Flapper culture instigated some baby steps towards a more liberal society, but many of the attempts to make changes in acceptable behavior and gender roles failed. Most young women who cut their hair and dressed like flappers did not go to the extremes of flapper behavior. This made flapper culture more acceptable to the population, but watered down its message of social change.

 

Flappers wanted more equality with men in the business world as well as the social world. Women had just won the right to vote and wanted the right to work in the non-traditional women’s jobs like teaching and shop work.

 

I’m writing a book set in the 1920s about one such flapper. The working title is CUPID GOES BARNSTORMING. Gloria is an orphan trying to make a living. Here's a picture of my heroine.

 

If you had been living in the 1920s would you have remained at home like the Gibson Girl or would you have wanted wider spaces? Leave a comment for a chance to win my new book just released, MARRIAGE BY ARRANGEMENT.

ANNE GREENE delights in writing about wounded heroes and gutsy heroines. Her second novel, a Scottish historical, Masquerade Marriage, won the New England Reader Choice award, the Laurel Wreath Award, and the Heart of Excellence Award. The sequel Marriage By Arrangement released November, 2013.  A Texas Christmas Mystery also won awards. She makes her home in McKinney, Texas. Tim LaHaye led her to the Lord when she was twenty-one and Chuck Swindoll is her Pastor. View Anne’s travel pictures and art work at http://www.AnneGreeneAuthor.com. Anne’s highest hope is that her stories transport the reader to an awesome new world and touch hearts to seek a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord Jesus. Buy Anne’s books at http://www.PelicanBookGroup.com. Or at http://www.Amazon.com. Visit http://www.anneswritingupdates.blogspot.com for great information on writing an award-winning novel. Talk with Anne on twitter at @TheAnneGreene. Visit Anne’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/AnneWGreeneAuthor.