1951 "Mystery Portrait"
"Arlene Dahl" Arlene Dahl

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In 1951, Madame Alexander designed and manufactured a series of 21-inch hard plastic dolls with the Margaret and Maggie face.
These dolls are often referred to today as the "Mystery Portraits".
In this series, there were the following dolls:

"Arlene Dahl" (Maggie)
Champs Elysees (Maggie)
(Lady with the Rhinestone Beauty Mark)
"Deborah Bride" (Margaret)
"Judy" (Margaret)
"Kathryn Grayson" (Margaret)

View of front and back of her dress.
Front and back view of Arlene Dahl

All of the dolls in this series are dressed in elaborate gowns. "Arlene Dahl", Champs Elysees and "Kathryn Grayson" have an extra set of applied eyelashes. The names given to these dolls has not been authenticated by any archival research. However, Champs Elysees was found in an original labeled box. The wrist tag for this series would be the round "Fashion Academy" gold foil tag.

These dolls are very scarce and hard to find. Therefore, if you are lucky enough to find one of these wonderful dolls, the purchase price will be thousands of dollars.

Additional photos of this series can be found in Hard Plastic Dolls by Pam and Polly Judd or Madame Alexander: An American Legend, co-authored by Lia Sargent.

Return to "Dolls of the Century".