Doll News Fall 2020 - 105

Binnie and Margaret wear nearly identical tutus
(Binnie from the Pam Judd Collection).

Nanette and Nancy Lee are two painted hard plastic Arranbee dolls from
the early 1950's with ornate mohair wigs.

across the country, although ballet excerpts seemed relegated
to vaudeville performances. Even the famous dancers/
choreographers the Christensen brothers got their start in
vaudeville. In the 1930s, the reassembled companies branching
off from the Ballets Russes, such as Ballet Monte Carlo, toured
the United States. Despite the Depression, they played to
large, enthusiastic audiences. In addition, Diaghilev's protégé
George Balanchine immigrated during this decade. Although
major cities were forming ballet companies, investment of
time, money and public interest were sidelined by World War
II. Nonetheless, the foundations of what was to become New
York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre were established
immediately after the war. Interest in classical dance grew,
fueled also by inclusion of ballet on Broadway, such as ballet
dream sequences by Agnes DeMille in Oklahoma, or the
seventeen minute dream ballet by Leslie Caron and Gene
Kelley in the 1951 film An American in Paris. White Christmas
in 1954 featured a variety of dance styles including a short
ballet with children dancing near the end of the film.
One film totally based in ballet was the heart-wrenching
modernization of Hans Christian Anderson's The Red Shoes
in 1948. The U.S. was ready for a post-war revival of arts and
entertainment after economic deprivation and the toil of war.
The Nutcracker is one antecedent of the fascination with
ballet dolls in 1950s. The Nutcracker ballet was based on

the 1840's French translation of an 1816 story by E.T.A.
Hoffmann. Choreographed by Maurice Pepita and Lev
Ivanov, it was set to music composed by Peter Tchaikovsky.
Although orchestras in America had performed the
musical score, excerpts of the choreography, however, did
not appear in US until the 1940s. Not until Christmas
Eve 1944 in San Francisco did the Christensen brothers
Willam and Harold stage the first full length production
of The Nutcracker. The complete version was revived for
the San Francisco Ballet with their brother Lew in 1949;
from then on, the ballet became a holiday tradition with
major, as well as local, dance companies across the country.
Balanchine's own version for The New York City Ballet
premiered in 1954.The nationally televised live broadcast
from New York of New York City Ballet's Nutcracker on
Christmas night 1957 reinforced the 1950's fascination
with ballet. Riding on the tide of The Nutcracker, many
dolls representing ballerinas were dressed in pink,
reminiscent of the Sugar Plum Fairy of the ballet. Pastel
tutus in an array of colors evoked Waltz of the Flowers,
while some white tutus sparkled like the Snowflake scenes.
Ever since Pavlova had toured the US in the early decades
of the century, those interested in dance were conversant with
the ballet Swan Lake. Pavlova included "The Dying Swan"
based on Swan Lake in her performances. San Francisco Ballet

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Doll News Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Doll News Fall 2020
