Bleuette

In old French, the sound of her name is enough to spark the imagination-for a bleuette is a spark that lights a fire.  True to her name, Bleuette set alight the imaginations of young girls for more than half of the twentieth century.  Introduced in 1905 as a premium for a new magazine for girls, she is the only doll with a written history covering more than fifty years.  From 1905-1960 the children's magazine, La Semaine de Suzette
was published on a weekly basis.  The magazine included stories, games, crafts, recipes, instruction in the social graces and clothing patterns for Bleuette

Bleuette was born in 1905 near the end of the heyday of dollmaking, just after Emile Jumeau and other makers of fine dolls in France bonded together to form the company SFBJ. Unlike the earlier French dolls, Bleuette was created for interactive play, and as a teaching tool. Bleuette's mission was to help instruct little girls the fine art of homemaking. from the very beginning, Bleuette seemed to invite the young owners into her world, where girls could learn to become proper French ladies through play.
The brilliance of this approach to selling Bleuette and La Semaine de Suzette to French girls is demonstrated by the fact that all 20,000 dolls ordered by the publisher, Henri Gautier, in 1905 had been sold before the first issue of the magazine was published. Bleuette's new "mama" was urged to begin sewing for her immediately. There were more than 1,060 patterns published over the fifty-five years Bleuette was produced.
This remarkable doll survived two devastating world wars and the resulting deprivations at every level of life. Her ever-changing wardrobe needs mirrored the fluctuations of a rapidly changing society, especially following these two wars. What's more, unlikely many other dolls, Bleuette's face and even her height, changed over the fifty years of her production.

Marielle, an original Bleuette Jumeau

This first Bleuette from 1905 was known as “Premier Bleuette” or the “Bleuette Jumeau”. She was to have a porcelain head from a Jumeau head mold, fully jointed body of composition and wood, and she was to come dressed in a simple chemise. The Premiere Bleuette has the sought after look of the Jumeau dolls with her heavily painted eyebrows, oily bisque, and precisely painted mouth. She is 27 centimeters in height and has four little teeth. She has threaded blue paperweight eyes and the wig is hand-wefted human hair.

Bertille is from the collection of Martha Nichols 

The second Bleuette that was made using a German model owned by Fleischmann and Bloedel and was labeled simply, 6/0. Determining precise dating for her production as a Bleuette is difficult, but she appears to have been sold between 1905 and 1914.

Camille, an SFBJ 60 8/0

In 1915, the Fleischmann mold was replaced with SFBJ mold 60 size 8/0. The Bleuettes with heads marked 60, with 8/0 on the nape of the neck, are characterized by very round cheeks, a smooth chin, slender eyebrows and finely painted eyelashes. The open mouths are deep red, with four little teeth showing.

Bette, a Unis France 301

The 301 head mold has a charm all its own. Because this head was used throughout the years leading up to World War II, and after the war, there is greater variation in the quality of bisque and the painting. The dolls produced in the years after the war often had very little paint tint of any kind on the cheeks. During that period of time, the paint used on the dolls was unstable due to poor ingredients and readily washed or wiped off, the porcelain. On the opposite end of the spectrum, many 301 Bleuette's produced in the early 1940's and 1950's are very ruddy colored bisque, with flaming red cheeks and bright red lips. The eyebrows are painted with multi-strokes, but remain fairly narrow. The 301 remains a favorite of collector's today. She has a saucy appearance and seems to head into any new adventure proposed by her "mother." In 1933 Bleuette grew two centimeters. The height was achieved by lengthening the upper thigh by one centimeter and slightly enlarging the head. She remained 29 centimeters until the late 1950's.

Sophie, a Unis France 251

SFBJ 251 were produced from 1922-1933. These dolls have a more baby like quality than most Bleuettes and some appear to have short necks giving them a dumpy appearance. They have two teeth instead of four. From 1922-1933 the SFBJ 251 Paris 2 was 27 centimeters and had sleep eyes.
*Note: The above information was taken from the book Bleuette - The Doll and Her Wardrobe by Barbara Hilliker.

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