ABSTRACT
In early 1965, Americans were snapping up dolls with faces made to order. The New York toy manufacturer responsible for the craze, Jet Party Favors, Inc., claimed in a brochure, "It's a doll with any face you want". Costing $9.95, the process worked as follows: the customer would mail in a photograph of the person to be modeled, specifying hair and eye color. The photo was reproduced on a strip of photo-sensitive linen, which was put through a pressure-molding process to suggest facial contours such as noses, eyes, and dimples. The hardened, mask-like shell was then touched up by artists, attached to a blank head, and mounted on a standard doll boy, girl, or baby body. Response was tremendous with more than 16,000 dolls being sold in the first three months.
