Tonner Doll Company, Inc. was a collectible

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

design and distribution company located in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

. Founded by

Robert Tonner Robert Tonner (born July 14, 1952) is an American entrepreneur, fashion designer, sculptor, doll artist and owner of Tonner Doll Company, Inc. and the Effanbee Doll Company, Inc. Robert Tonner is best known for his fashion doll designs and the ...

in 1991, Tonner Doll designed and marketed original doll lines, as well as a number of licensed dolls for films such as ''

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'', ''

Spider-Man 3 ''Spider-Man 3'' is a 2007 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. Produced by Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and Laura Ziskin Productions, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing, it was directe ...

'', and ''

Twilight Twilight is daylight illumination produced by diffuse sky radiation when the Sun is below the horizon as sunlight from the upper atmosphere is scattered in a way that illuminates both the Earth's lower atmosphere and also the Earth's surf ...

''. Its original products included the

Tyler Wentworth Tyler Wentworth was a 16" fashion doll created by Robert Tonner produced by the Tonner Doll Company, Inc. for adult collectors. Tyler Wentworth dolls were constructed of vinyl and hard plastic and had rooted hair or wigs. The Tonner Doll Company ...

, Kitty Collier, and Antoinette series.

History

Tonner Doll Company, Inc. was founded in 1991 by

under the name Robert Tonner Doll Designs (RTDD). Originally, the company had only three employees: Tonner, his partner Harris Safier, and a part-time seamstress. In February 1991, RTDD made its public debut at the

American International Toy Fair The North American International Toy Fair (formerly the American International Toy Fair and also known as Toy Fair New York) is an annual toy industry trade show held in mid-February in New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and at to ...

in New York City, displaying multi-jointed porcelain

fashion doll Fashion dolls are dolls primarily designed to be dressed to reflect fashion trends. They are manufactured both as toys for children to play with and as collectibles for adults. The dolls are usually modeled after teen girls or adult women, though ...

s and jointed porcelain child dolls in limited editions. Prices ranged from $650 to $1500. In 1995, Tonner Doll gained licensing rights for the recreation of the 1950s paper doll Betsy McCall for reintroduction to the collector's market. To keep costs down, Tonner decided to produce the doll in China. Made from vinyl, the Betsy McCall-license series was one of the company's initial mainstream commercial successes. Over the following years, as RTDD's business grew, so did its staff. This growth would lead to the company being renamed the Tonner Doll Company. By 2000, Tonner Doll employed 24 people, including designers, marketers, and various sales and administrative staff. In 2017, the company released its first

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

doll, modeled after activist

Jazz Jennings Jazz Jennings (born October 6, 2000) is an American YouTube personality, spokesmodel, television personality, and LGBT rights activist. Jennings is one of the youngest publicly documented people to be identified as transgender. Jennings receiv ...

. In December 2018, the Tonner Doll company officially closed.

Licensing

Tonner Doll had the licensing rights to design and develop dolls based on many American television, cinema, comic book, and video game franchises. Since the 1995 issue of the Betsy McCall doll, Tonner Doll had gained the merchandising rights for characters in films like 1997's ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

'' (

Kate Winslet Kate Elizabeth Winslet (; born 5 October 1975) is an English actress. Primarily known for her roles as headstrong and complicated women in independent films, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including an Ac ...

) and 1999's ''

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'' (

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). In 2006, Tonner Doll gained licensing rights to recreate the cast of the Harry Potter series, as well as characters from '' Memoirs of a Geisha''. Tonner Doll licensed comic book heroes and villains from

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

for its DC STARS Collection. The line included 13-, 17-, and 22-inch dolls, including various versions of

Aquaman Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). Initially a backup feature in DC's anthology titles ...

Batgirl Batgirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics, depicted as female counterparts and allies to the superhero Batman. The character Bette Kane, Betty Kane was introduced into publica ...

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

Black Canary Black Canary is the name of two superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. As one of the earliest female superheroes in the DC Comics universe, the character has made numerous appearances in prominent team-up titles, ...

Catwoman Catwoman is a character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, she debuted as "the Cat" in ''Batman (comic book), Batman'' #1 (spring 1940). She has become one of the superhero Batman' ...

Donna Troy Donna Troy is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She is the original Wonder Girl, and later temporarily adopts another alias, Troia. Created by Bob Haney and Bruno Premiani, she first appeared in ''The Brave an ...

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Green Lantern Green Lantern is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. They fight evil with the aid of rings that grant them a variety of extraordinary powers, all of which come from imagination, fearlessness, ...

Harley Quinn Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, PhD) is a fictional American character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for ''Batman: The Animated Series'' as a henchwoman for the ...

Hawkwoman Hawkwoman is the name of several Female superheroes, superheroines all owned by DC Comics and existing in that company's DC Universe. They are partners, and sometimes spouses or lovers, of the various versions of Hawkman, and share many features w ...

, Huntress, Joker,

Lois Lane Lois Lane is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1 (June 1938). Lois is an award-winning ...

, Mera,

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, Starfire,

Supergirl (Linda Danvers) Linda Danvers, also known as Supergirl, is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Peter David and artist Gary Frank, she debuted in ''Supergirl'' (vol. 4) #1 (September 1996). She is not to ...

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

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, and

Zatanna Zatanna Zatara (), known mononymously as Zatanna, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, and first appeared in ''Hawkman (comic book), Hawkman'' #4 (N ...

. Over time, Tonner Doll also licensed the Twilight Saga,

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British adventurer and archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins arou ...

, '' Tomb Raider: Legend'', ''

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'', ''

Dreamgirls ''Dreamgirls'' is a Broadway musical, with music by Henry Krieger and lyrics and book by Tom Eyen. It is based on the show business aspirations and successes of R&B acts such as The Shirelles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and others, and p ...

'', ''

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'', '' The Golden Compass'', Mary Engelbreit's Ann Estelle, Fancy Nancy, Thèâtre de la Mode,

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, ''

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'', Disney Princesses,

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, ''

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'',

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Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

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, and characters from the comic strip ''

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'' by

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. Additional licenses included

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's ''

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'', ''

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'', Disney's ''

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'', and Disney

Princess Tiana Tiana Rogers is a fictional character in Walt Disney Pictures' animated film ''The Princess and the Frog'' (2009). Created by writers and directors Ron Clements and John Musker and animated by Mark Henn, Tiana is voiced by Anika Noni Rose, with ...

Buyout

In 2002 Tonner Doll purchased the Effanbee Doll Company, Inc. to obtain the rights to their characters. They gained exclusive rights to Bernard Lipfert's 1928 Patsy doll, Patsyette. Effanbee also had the rights to reproduce fashion dolls licensed by

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

, like the '' Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter'' series, and the comic strip ''

Little Orphan Annie ''Little Orphan Annie'' was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and print syndication#Comic strip syndication, syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James ...

''. For the first few years after the buyout, Effanbee remained an independent subsidiary of Tonner Doll; however, the two eventually became a conglomerate run under a singular management. The Effanbee doll lines were designed, produced, marketed, and distributed by Tonner Doll, while retaining the Effanbee name.

References

{{Reflist

External links

New Amazing Tonner Dolls
1991 establishments in New York (state) 2018 disestablishments in New York (state) American companies established in 1991 American companies disestablished in 2018 Defunct manufacturing companies based in New York (state) Doll manufacturing companies Kingston, New York Toy companies established in 1991 Toy companies of the United States

History

Licensing

Buyout

References

Further reading

External links