Beatrice Alexander

Bertha "Beatrice" Alexander Behrman (March 9, 1895 – October 3, 1990), known as Madame Alexander, was an American dollmaker. Founder and owner of the Alexander Doll Company in New York City for 65 years, she introduced new materials and innovative designs to create lifelike dolls based on famous people and characters in books, films, music, and art. Among her notable creations were the Scarlett O'Hara doll, the Dionne quintuplets dolls, and a 36-doll set of the royal family and their guests at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. During her stewardship, the company produced more than 5,000 dolls, many of which became collector's items. Bertha's father either died in a pogrom in Russia from which her mother escaped, or he emigrated with Hannah and died in New York when Bertha was about one and a half years old. remarried, to Maurice Alexander, a Russian–Jewish immigrant whom Bertha considered her real father, and had three more daughters Jennie aka Jean, Florence aka Flora and Rose aka Rosie. In the 1910 census, Morris is listed as a toydealer with a pushcart. It has been said that Morris operated the first "doll hospital" in the United States, repairing the porcelain dolls of wealthy clients. Morris and his family first appear in 1905 in the NY State census Philip Behrman, worked in the office of a hat company. Alexander crafted her first doll during World War I. Due to the embargo on German-made products during wartime, porcelain dolls were no longer available and Maurice's doll hospital was on precarious footing. She and her sisters continued producing cloth dolls after the war ended.

In 1923, with a $1,600 loan, she established the Alexander Doll Company in a one-room studio, employing her sisters and neighbors, a total of 16 people. In the mid-1920s, she entreated her husband to quit his job and become the company manager, threatening him with divorce if he refused. alt=Beatrice Alexander at a Michiganstore for a promotion, 1957. Beatrice Alexander at a Michigan store for a promotion, 1957. With a savvy eye for marketing and innovation, Alexander became a leader in the American dollmaking industry. In 1936, Fortune magazine listed the Alexander Doll Company as one of the top three doll manufactures in the United States; the company would go on to become the largest dollmaker in the country, operating out of several factories and employing 1,500 at its peak. Two of her dolls – the Madame doll, a character from the American Revolution, and the Scarlett O'Hara doll, a character from the American Civil War – were added to the Smithsonian Institution in 1968.

Other activities Alexander supported such institutions as B'nai B'rith, Weizmann Institute of Science, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Planned Parenthood, Jewish Theological Seminary, Brandeis University, and American Friends of the Hebrew University. and In 2000 she was posthumously inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame. In 2013 the Alexander Doll Company issued a Madame Alexander doll in her likeness, dressed in the style of the 1920s and priced at $1,499.95 retail.

Personal life In her twenties, Bertha renamed herself Beatrice, a more "romantic"-sounding name. In the late 1920s she began styling herself as "Madame Alexander", a name that was also appended to her doll collection. Their second child, Theodore Z. born March 9, 1918 died on February 24, 1919, at age 11 months, from the 1918–1919 flu pandemic. In 1930, they lived at 278 Bronx Park South, in The Bronx. Philip's occupation was listed as "doll manufacturer", Bertha's was listed as "none" and they had a maid named Elva Matzen.