| Albert
Schoenhut
founded the
Schoenhut
Piano Company
of
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania by
in 1872 and
the business
still
continues to
this
day. By
his death in
1912 it was
the largest
toy company in
America,
making high
quality toy
pianos, ukulele-banjos,
xylophones, and glockenspiels, plus dolls, circus figures,
and other toys. The company was left to his 6
sons. They made their father proud by continuing in
the same spirit as he did. Harry Schoenhut took over
his fathers role in the company. The company made high
quality dolls
and
wooden-jointed
circus and
comic strip
characters,
including
Bonzo, Felix
the Cat,
Maggie &
Jiggs, Barney
Google, and
Sparkplug. In
the 1950s, the
firm of
Delvan, Seneca
Falls, New
York, bought
the patent
rights to the
Schoenhut
wooden-jointed
figures and
again produced
a series of
circus
animals. These
toys received
a lukewarm
reception and
were not up to
the quality
and charm of
the
predecessors. The Bonzo they produced in late 1928 appears to be only in one size and is fully jointed. The head is a composition material, with the rest of the body made of a lightweight wood. It is held together by elastic, which in most examples today is somewhat loose. He has his name emblazoned on his chest within a bone, and has an oval decal on the bottom of foot which reads "Bonzo Reg. U.S. Pat. Off. Copr. By G.E. Studdy" so it was an authorized piece. Head to foot, he stands about 7 inches tall, and he is one of the rarer Schoenhut toys to find.
A
couple of
examples of
the Schoenhut
toy, both
showing some
degradation to
the
composition
heads.
They appear to be particularly susceptible to damage.
One of the major stockists for the Scoenhut Bonzo was the famous George Borgfeldt & Company store of New York, and they featured the Bonzo in their 1929 catalogue.
|
| In
1922 Joseph Kallus founded the Cameo Doll
Company of New York. After 1925, Cameo took over
producing K and K Toy company doll products
until sometime in the 1930s. In 1970 the company
was acquired by the Strombecker Corporation and moved
to Chicago. The type of dolls made by
the Cameo Doll Company were bisque, celluloid,
composition with wood or cloth bodies and hard plastic
or vinyl and were of the finest quality. They were the
sole manufacturers of the composition Kewpie dolls
made in the USA, designed by illustrator Rosie
O'Neill. Other early dolls were; from 1922
Bye-Lo Baby (composition heads) by Grace S.
Putnam, 1925 Baby Bo-Kaye, 1929 Scootles, 1925 Little
Annie Rooney, from 1928 Bonzo, Mickey Mouse and
Superman, 1932 Betty Boop, 1942 Disney dolls including
Dumbo, Timothy Mouse and Baby Weems, 1946 Giggles and
many others. Early Cameo dolls can be unmarked,
later dolls are often marked Cameo on their heads,
back or feet. The Bonzo made by Cameo is a larger variation of the Schoenhut Bonzo that has a similar appearance, except he is an impressive 12” tall with all composition limbs except for a wood segmented tail. The limbs are not quite as multi-jointed as the Schoenhut one, and are held together by a spring system instead of elastic, with only the head and arms having movement. Since this Bonzo is designed by Joseph Kallus in his association with the Cameo Doll Company, one could logically conclude that he may have been the designer for the Schoenhut model as well.
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