It should be noted that occasionally (and I mean quite rarely), a Saucy Walker doll is found with sleep eyes, not the flirty eyes. There are several theories as to why this may be. One, the eyes were replaced; two, a small number of the very earliest dolls had sleep eyes; and three, that as Saucy became popular,

Ideal struggled to maintain the flirty eye inventory.

      Often described as the "most wanted" or most popular walker doll, one thing is for certain: Ideal sold a lot of these dolls! The doll manufacturer did so by taking advantage of every advertising opportunity. And I mean *every* opportunity. Along with the usual doll and toy store ads, Ideal employed marketing cooperation in their advertisements. Quite often, Ideal produced co-branded ads with the trade names behind the new science of the doll's materials. There were ads with the Hercules Powder Company, makers of the durable Hercules Acetate Plastic used for the doll bodies...

And ads with Saran, promoting the Saran hair. In truth, the new synthetic Saran hair was a big feature of the Saucy Walker dolls. "Wash it, wave it, comb it, curl it!" was more than a slogan; it became a "mane" feature of play with dolls.
 

     All of this may have reached and motivated adult interest in the dolls, but such ads likely didn't mean much to little girls. However, Ideal had ideas about that too.

As soon as Saucy Walkers were made available through Sears, and their catalogs, Ideal struck deals with movie stars Dorothy Lamar and Piper Laurie (both of whom were already appearing in the Sears catalog), arranging to get the big name stars to promote the Saucy Walker dolls in additional advertising. It's not hard to imagine that Ideal would have done the same today to create "buzz" and "go viral" with Saucy Walker dolls.

     Saucy Walker dolls are made of all hard plastic, with a pin-jointed body and a holes in her tummy for sound -- though not all of the Saucy Walker dolls were criers. Saucy Walkers came in two sizes, 16 and 22 inches, and are marked either "Ideal Doll W16" or "Ideal Doll W22" to indicate doll height. There were several hair colors and the mouths came either closed or in the open-mouth style, with two teeth showing.

     With all the advertising and new materials, Saucy became a big success. Not surprisingly, Ideal capitalized quickly, making additions to the Saucy Walker family. Later in 1951, Saucy had a little sister, called the Ideal Lolly doll or Ideal Tiny Girl doll. Just nine inches tall, and marked "Ideal Doll 9", these were also head-turning walkers. These dolls had sleep eyes, and the hair was either molded, rooted or wigged. A "boy Saucy Walker" was produced in 1952, a "toddler Saucy Walker" was made in 1953, and there was a black version of Saucy Walker too. In 1954, Saucy Walker's Big Sister was born. She was a larger version, of course, standing 25 inches tall and marked "Ideal Doll W25." Saucy's big sister was only available as a mail-in premium from the Chicago Daily Tribune. Saucy herself got a bit of a make-over in 1955, now being sold with with a vinyl head. And in 1960, Saucy Walker went completely vinyl in a larger 28-inch size.

     Ideal's Saucy Walker had an extended family member too. From 1954 to 1956, there was the Ideal Posie doll. Still a walker made of hard plastic, these dolls had bendable knees allowing Posie to be the doll "of a hundred life like poses." Pretty Posie had a closed mouth and a crier. The dolls came in two sizes, 17 or 23 inches tall, and were also marked according to size: either "Ideal VP-17" or "Idea VP-23." The earlier dolls had hard plastic heads with flirty blue sleep eyes, however the later dolls had vinyl heads and non-flirty eyes.

     Saucy Walker may be the most popular walker doll from the 1950s, but she wasn't the first. In fact, just the year before, at the start of the decade, there was Betsy Walker.

While some people mistake her for a "rollerskating" doll, the wheels are actually on the bottoms of her feet. The shoes have no soles, just a band across them; shown here on an early doll and marked "Patent Pending."

     Like Saucy Walker and her kind, Betsy walks and turns her head via internal mechanics. Unlike the others, Betsy didn't rely on the guidance or gentle tugging of a child to move her -- she's on wheels, remember? Once the key on the side is wound, and a lever on her back is released, Betsy walks, her head turns, and her arms move for about three minutes or so. And so Betsy was sold as The Walking Doll Who Walks Alone, The Unaided Walking Doll, and even The Wonder Doll. Such sales pitches were printed on advertisements, the cardboard doll boxes, and on pretty little "beauty queen sashes" the dolls wore.

     The Betsy Walker doll was a true baby doll, with pudgy cheeks and other baby looks. She stood 20-21 inches tall, was made of all hard plastic, had brown sleep-eyes, a closed mouth, and molded brown hair beneath a bonnet or wig.

     Betsy Walker was a very popular doll, and quickly was joined by other playmates.

There was the Wanda the walking doll, who stood 17-18 inches tall, and also made of all hard plastic. She also had sleep eyes and a closed mouth, but she had curled wigged hair. The rollers were still there, but now the bottoms of her feet looked more like the bottoms of shoes and the molded plastic shoe uppers were screwed into the bottom metal "sole" plates. Wanda was more of a little girl type doll than a baby doll; her plump belly was needed to house the walking mechanics. She was not only sold in various themed costumes, such as skier and drum majorette, but also in a furry rabbit suit. The Wanda walker in the bunny suit was sold as the Wanda Wabbit Walking doll. (Same size, etc.; just the costume change.)

     Last, but certainly not least, was Betsy's companion, Winnie. Winnie was also the biggest of the dolls, standing 24 inches tall. Because she was the "oldest", Winnie also came dressed like a bride. Like her companions, Winnie had sleep eyes. And like Wanda, Winnie had curled wigged hair, and molded shoes fitted to metal soles with wheels. But Winnie was more than a walker; she was a talker too. "She Walks! She Talks! She Sings!"

     Like Wanda, Winnie "The Unaided Walking and Talking Doll" had a plump belly to accommodate her mechanics; the audio speaker was beneath the doll's left arm. As with many other talking dolls, additional records for the photograph player could be purchased.

But now we get to a mystery...

      At first I thought that perhaps Advance had simply contracted with a company for repair work. Or even that Walkalon was a subsidiary of the Advance Doll & Toy Co. But that's not quite clear. Both Advance and Walkalon are really mystery doll companies.

     Walkalon Manufacturing had multiple addresses as well, including 188 W. Randolph St. Chicago, and 3520 N Spaulding Avenue, Chicago 18 (in 1951); but none the same as Advance. Nowhere could I find any additional information on what they made, let alone these walker dolls... That is until I found an interesting tidbit in the December 18, 1950 issue of Broadcasting Telecasting.

The article was about an advertising agency in Chicago, Harry J. Lazarus & Co., who staged a publicity stunt for their client, "Walkalon Mfg. Co., Chicago, maker of 'Betsy Walker' life-size walking dolls." They claimed to have captured over $1 million worth of publicity (in 1950s dollars!) for a parade of 12 of the dolls. I continue to search for photos or video (dare to dream!), but even still, I find that source pretty credible. So it makes me wonder where Advance comes in...

There's scarce information on either Advance or Walkalon, let alone anything regarding business relationship between the two. My best guess is that Walkalon is the maker; Advance is the distributor.

Whoever made Betsy Walker and her companions, they were well-made dolls. And they had a higher price to boot. Betsy sold for just about $20 at places like Hammacher Schlemmer and Saks, while Saucy Walker sold at places like Sears -- and for $5 less. That's about a $50 difference in today's money! (This may also have something to do with Saucy's popularity!)

      Of course, on the flip side, the lower cost and higher popularity of the Saucy Walkers means they are more commonly found than the walkers made by Advance and/or Walkalon. On one hand, the rarity makes Betsy Walker and her friends more costly now... On the other, more people remember Saucy Walker and her family, so there's greater demand to raise those prices. But either way, it's not a bad step in doll collecting!

      It doesn't seem fair to talk about walker dolls from the 1950s and not mention a rare and beautiful walker doll from across The Pond.

Simply press the tummy of the Pretty Peepers doll, and the eyes would flirt and then change from blue to brown -- and back again, when you activated them again!