American Character Doll Company
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
|---|---|
| Successor | Ideal Toy Company |
| Founded | 1919 |
| Founders | Jacob Brock, Max Brock, Ed Schaefaer |
| Defunct | 1968 |
| Headquarters | New York City, United States |
|
Key people
|
Secretary: Eva Brock (Jacob’s wife), Bookkeeper: Herbert (Jacob's son), Engineer: Harvey (Max's son) |
| Products | dolls |
The American Character Doll Company was an American toy company specializing in dolls. Their most popular dolls included "Tiny Tears," "Tressy," "Sweet Sue," and "Toodles." Founded in 1919, the company's fortunes peaked in the mid-20th century, as they sold millions of dolls exclusively to retailers and mail order houses such as Sears and Montgomery Ward. American Character Dolls went bankrupt in 1968, with their assets acquired by the Ideal Toy Company.
The American Doll and Toy Corporation was established in 1919 by Russian Jewish immigrant brothers Jacob and Max Brock, and their partner Ed Schaefaer, with many of the Brock relatives occupying key positions at the company. The company used the trade names "Aceedeecee" and "ACDC." American Character Dolls' factory was in Brooklyn; the company operated a store on East 17th Street in New York City in the late 1920s. By the late 1930s, the company's manufacturing plant, comprising 130,000 square feet, was in Easthampton, Massachusetts.
The company made the news in 1937 when it was ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to stop claiming that its patented "paratex" (a hard rubber made from a "secret formula") was superior to composition dolls (popularly made by American Character's competitor the Ideal Toy Company).
In 1954, American Character Dolls established a $2,000 annual fellowship at Teachers College, Columbia University, known as the Frances Horwich Graduate Fellowship in Early Childhood Education.
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