The Making of a Madame Alexander Doll

What Estée Lauder was to cosmetics, Beatrice Alexander Behrman was to dolls. The daughter of Eastern European immigrants, Behrman created an aura of glamour for herself by assuming the title "Madame" and founded the Alexander Doll Co. out of her kitchen in 1923. Behrman was no stranger to dolls: Her father, Maurice, founded what is believed to be America's first doll hospital on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Like Lauder in the beauty business, Madame Alexander was a pioneer who understood the importance of innovation in helping her products stand out. She was the first to create dolls using hard plastic, the first to produce dolls with "sleep" eyes—ones that open and close—and is credited with being the first to introduce a doll that walked. Nothing about a doll escaped Madame's notice: "Love is the details" was a favorite expression of hers.