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"The Study Page 2"
Working Wax: The Paradox of Mechanical Wax Dolls
By Debra Gulea
With dewy finish you mistake for skin, and hair rooted so it seems to grow, wax dolls are real in a way all dolls hope to be. So why not make them come alive with speech and song, movement, and varied expressions! Wax dolls enjoyed their height of popularity during the Age of Invention. So it's logical that wax doll makers would search for the proper mechanism to make their dolls, already lifelike, even more like the little girls that enjoyed them. On the other hand, a working wax doll seems absurd- a walking wax could crash & dent its pretty face, a talking wax could have its lips melt together and be rendered mute. I imagine a working wax doll that comes alive, dazzling onlookers with its momentary show, only to be rendered grotesque and useless after play. What initially seems like a winning combination is actually the most impractical idea. Yet, working wax dolls were made, and those that survived their performance days are lovely in their strangeness, desirable in their oddity.
It was Leonardo DaVinci (1452-1519) who first thought to experiment with working wax. No, he was not a doll maker, but rather was interested in creating anatomical models of the human body that mimicked the processes of the body. These models were executed in wax, which was a popular medium at the time in Italy, often used in créche figures for the Church. Anna Morandi Manzolini, a wax artist of the 18th century, also produced working wax models of body parts and organs in Italy. The Pope commissioned her work; he had known her from his days as Archbishop of Bologna (where Manzolini resided). Many pieces created by Manzolini are in Italian museums today, but at the time, they were teaching models in Italian medical schools. Other countries also used working wax models in the education of doctors. The Rackstrow Museum, now part of the University of Dublin, has models created by Desnoues, a surgeon/artist. His most famous mechanical wax model was of a pregnant woman. This was undoubtedly used as a teaching tool, though for some time it was also tourist attraction gaped at for a nominal fee.
Also amazing was an exhibit of wax automata called "Temple of Diana", which was held at London's Bartholomew Fair of 1699. One wax was reported to roll its eyes and open and close its mouth. Another beat a drum. Mrs. Salmon's Waxworks featured a wax woman known as 'Old Mother Shipton', who would literally kick you out the door at the end of your tour through the museum. A public spectacle of this sort had never been seen before.
During the 19th century French doll makers including Decamps, Lambert, and Vichy were implanting Swiss clockwork mechanisms into their bisque head dolls, making them come alive. The resulting automata were very popular among the rich; surely, they would have been equally popular with the lower class could they afford it. For a price, you could bring a small-scale version of the public automata exhibits into your home, and delight your friends with a private performance. Automata reached their peak of production around 1850, which coincides with the peak production for wax dolls. And wax doll makers, perhaps wanting to make a popular plaything even more popular with little girls, or perhaps ignoring the desires of little girls altogether and wanting to play with the new gadgets themselves, decided to create the working wax doll.
Some wax doll makers experimented tentatively with the new technology. A two-faced wax doll was a popular idea, and easy to do without a complicated and heavy mechanism. A magical string, protruding from the side of the doll, would cause the head to spin when pulled. One face would disappear under the stiff bonnet, and another would be revealed. Each face would express a different mood. Some dolls had voice boxes, which would cause them to cry out as their heads spun (an expected response under the circumstances). Most of these two-faced wax dolls today are attributed to the German Fritz Bartenstein, who took out a patent for a two-faced wax doll in 1881. One face of the Bartenstein smiles at you wickedly, and the other one howls in distress. This is a doll that would terrify any child. A two-faced wax doll with a more perplexed expression and molded collar and blouse has also been attributed to Bartenstein, but in my opinion, it lacks the aggressive air typical of dolls by this maker. Very pretty sleeping and waking two-faced wax dolls have also been found, one quite similar to a two-faced Bru fashion, and again I would suggest that these were produced by someone other than the famous Bartenstein. And one very strange papier-maché doll has been located that came equipped with at least two wax masks, that were to be tied onto the papier-maché head to create different characters. The papier-maché head appears to be of a child, whereas the wax masks depict an old hag and an innocent baby. Though not quite mechanical, this doll was changeable, and also pretty scary.
Other wax doll makers went a bit further, and created wax dolls that moved more than just their face. Cremer, Jr. made a wax baby that cried and kicked its feet, much like the kicking-screaming Steiner of that time. Indeed, it is not too outlandish to think that maybe Cremer was using actual Steiners and just coating the heads in wax. After all, Schmitt was producing wax-over-bisque bebes during this period (mid 1860's). Wax over papier-maché clown and oriental dolls were also produced. These typically moved their heads and limbs when a bellows mechanism in their bellies was squeezed. Sometimes they would also bang cymbals. As a kid who was once terrorized by a monkey toy with cymbals, I cannot imagine that this feature was a plus.
Taking it one step further (pun intended) was the Creeping Baby, which has a wax head and a clockwork crawling mechanism. I have no idea whom to credit for this advancement in working wax, because during the 1870ís in the United States at least two individuals patented this doll. George Pemberton Clarke patented the Natural Creeping Baby Doll in 1871, and sometime during the 1870ís Robert J. Clay of New York City took out an almost identical patent for his Creeping Doll. The Automatic Toy Works produced Clayís Creeping Baby, and Clarkeís by the Williams Company of Bridgeport, CT. To complicate matters further, Ives took over production of Clarkeís baby in 1893, and there is a mention of one of the babies being distributed by Sechow & Righter around 1884-1885.
A wax head autoperipatikos was also made in France, England, and the United States by a variety of individuals from 1860 through the 1870ís. It was Enoch Rice Morrison of New York City that took out the patent for the autoperipatikos during the summer of 1862; by Christmas, the patent was also secured for Morrison in Europe. But also during 1862 A.V. Newton took out a very similar patent in Europe, and Martin and Runyon of London were known to have made and/or distributed an autoperipatikos. Now, china and parian heads are most common for autoperipatikos, but these made the waddling autoperipatikos top heavy, so on rare occasionís lightweight wax heads were substituted. Of course, at some point the autoperipatikos was destined to topple over, which explains why I have yet to find a wax head example today. Though a cracked bisque head would surely bring tears to a childís eyes, a flattened wax face could make her recoil in horror. Wax heads on autoperipatikos surely seemed like a great idea at first, but I'm sure that the enthusiasm for them didn't last long with little girls or dollmakers.
Some wax doll makers went all out, and produced wax automata as stunning and intricate as their French bisque counterparts. One key-wound wax doll plays a lute, another comic wax lady fans a corn on her bare foot! These working wax dolls are true showgirls, and put on quite a performance. However, one must ask, were these really enjoyed by children? After all, how do you actually play with a doll, when the doll doesnít need anyoneís help, thank you very much! Waxes, which began their life as models and then became play dolls, seem to have reverted to models again. Precisely because wax doll makers have made their dolls come alive, and perform every conceivable motion and trick, there is not need for the little girl to do anything, and the doll (once for play) becomes a model again, that she can only stand back and watch.
Gives you something to talk about, doesn't it? Which brings us talking wax dolls, a section of this paper I though of subtitling 'Don't Cry For Me Montanari'! Actually, Montanari, Pierotti, Marsh, Meech, and Peck didn't have the desire to make their dolls talk back, but some other makers of wax dolls decided to experiment with the mechanics of speech. Bazonni, of London, claims to have invented the Speaking Doll, which had a wax head. He was producing about a dozen a year from 1852-1868, and may have made a few examples as early as 1834. From everything I've read, Bazonni is a man that has too much to say. He seems arrogant in the way he shamelessly promotes his stupendous invention, and implies that his dolls have a pretty big vocabulary, but his contemporaries only mention Bazonni dolls saying 'Mama' & 'Papa'. True, the mechanism was more advanced than a mere crier, and some reports state that the mouth moved. The mechanism was thought to have worked by forcing air into a voice box located behind the mouth by moving the arms.
Though not as well known as Bazonni, Johannes Malzel's talking wax creations seem to have more to say. Malzel, a German, was known to have invented a wax mannequin that could pronounce every letter of the alphabet. He won many awards for it, including a prize in the 1823 Paris Exhibition. However, it is not known if Malzel also made talking dolls.
William Augustus Webber sang a different tune, and decided to skip the small talk and make Singing Dolls, which were distributed by the Massachusetts Organ Co. from 1882-1885. Now this seems like a good idea to me. The doll had an imported wax head (German or French made), a soft cloth body with leather arms, and played a soothing tune. This is a doll that a little girl could enjoy. But it was fraught with problems. First, the four sizes available were priced between $2.75 and $5., which was pretty expensive for a doll at this time. And this price didnít even include clothing. The Webber Singing Doll, according to an 1882 ad, was sold wearing a chemise only, and in the fine print of a December 1883 ad, we learn that 'fine costumes' cost $3.-$5.additional. A complete doll would run as high as $10. Plus, the sheet music on Webber dolls often jammed, so the dolly that cost a fortune & once played 'Home, Sweet, Home' or 'Greenville' now couldn't muster a single note. Imagine the frustration of buying a pricey doll for your little girl, only to have it break. This is why the Webber Singing Doll, great idea that it was, only was on the market for 3 years. This working wax didn't work too well.
So what can we say about this? Working wax dolls were destined to happen. You couldnít have wax dolls & mechanisms available at the same time without some enterprising doll inventor thinking to put them together. At worst, working wax dolls broke or became deformed. At best, they put a good show, but left little for little girls to do with them (except watch). What were wax doll makers thinking when they married automata with wax? Were they trying to design a doll that would delight their daughters, and give them years of amusement? Or were they big kids themselves, wanting to play with the new technology and not giving a thought to what little girls wanted. Funny, but sometimes, in an attempt to make something bigger and better, you loose what the essence of that thing is. And if a doll, because it has been ìimprovedî by motion and sound, can no longer be played with, then it ceases to be a doll. Just because you can make a doll walk and talk doesnít mean that you should. A good artist knows when to stop painting, when one more brushstroke would just be too much. If I could be a girl again, and live in Europe in the 19th century, I would ask Santa for a wax-over-papier mache doll pull toy (illustration 17). I could push dolly where I wanted her to go, imagine what words we'd have to say, and sing my own little song into her ears, playing all day.
Debra Gulea, Debra's Dolls, 20 N. Main St., P.O. Box 705, Mullica Hill, NJ 08062
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