This sweet Lee Middleton doll is from 2000 and designed by the artist Reva. She is wearing a new outfit made by Kay.
This sweet Lee Middleton doll is from 2000 and designed by the artist Reva. She is wearing a new outfit made by Kay.
Small Wonder Play Baby, copyright 1999, Lee Middleton Original Dolls, Inc. Small Wonder playbaby, winner of three national awards. This black baby doll has never been removed from her box.
#020400 by Lee Middleton Original Dolls, copyright 2000 by Reva. A 12" glass-eyed doll who can put her thumb in her mouth. She is not wearing her original clothes but is a beauty with pretty bright aqua eyes and short dark brown hair.
This is "Nettie" a Lee Middleton doll copyright 1983. The doll is signed "Lee Middleton" and numbered "2267". She is wearing her complete set of original clothes, tagged "handcrafted for Lee Middleton, made in China", a maroon pinwale corduroy suit and hat with a white lace trimmed blouse and underware. She has black lace-up boots marked "Lee Middleton Originals" on the soles. Her painted face is unique with big blue eyes and two front teeth and dimples and she is approximately 22 inches tall. A very unique and nice doll whose quality shows in the design and craftmanship.
Small Wonder Play Baby, copyright 1999 Lee Middleton Original Dolls, Inc., never removed from box. Advertised as "Lovable & Huggable. Small Wonder has an artist-designed, expressionable face, molded in soft-skin vinyl, with 'real' hair. Scaled for younger 3 to 6 year olds; weighs only 2 pounds. Small Wonder is dressed in a cute, pastel sleeper with matching cap."
N.Y. doll company buys Middleton
March 12, 2010 - By JOLENE CRAIG jcraig@newsandsentinel.com
"BELPRE - The Middleton Doll Company has been purchased by a New York City-based doll company, an official said.
The business assets of Lee Middleton Dolls have been acquired by Alexander Doll Company," said CEO Robert Porell.
The company designs and manufactures all of the exclusive dolls for the Madame Alexander Doll Club. Lee Middleton Doll Co.'s purchase was made official Thursday.
Porell said the future of the Washington Boulevard facility is unknown at this time.
"The facility has not been acquired as part of the business," he said. "As far as the facts are concerned, we have acquired the business assets of Lee Middleton Dolls."
Porell said there is a possibility the doll shop and former factory in Belpre will be purchased by the Alexander Doll Co. If this occurs, the Lee Middleton Doll store will remain open and Alexander Doll Co. shipping operations could move there.
"We are considering moving our shipping operations in that facility," he said. This is only a possibility if the building is purchased by the company in a separate deal.
The building has been for sale since last fall.
Belpre Mayor Mike Lorentz said he was pleased to hear of the business purchase and possible plans for the building.
"I had heard last week that the business was going to close," Lorentz said. "If this purchase means the business could stay open, I think it's wonderful."
Lee Middleton Doll Co. opened in Belpre in 1989 as the Middleton Doll Co. after it was formed in 1978 by then married couple Lloyd and Lee Middleton. The couple divorced in 1990 and he formed a rival company.
Lee Middleton retained the original company and renamed it the Lee Middleton Original Doll Co. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and was acquired by a pair of investors who changed the company's name to the Middleton Doll Co. in 2001. In June 2004, production was moved to China.
Lee Middleton died in 1997.
Lloyd Middleton formed Lloyd Middleton Dolls in 1990 and built a rival facility next door. In February 2004, Lloyd Middleton relocated the company to Torch, Ohio.
Lloyd Middleton died in 2006. The company remains in operation - on a small scale - and is run out of a house in Coolville.
The Alexander Doll Co. was founded by Madame Beatrice Alexander Behrman, whose father owned the first doll hospital in America, in 1923.
Madame Alexander was the first to have a doll based on a licensed character - Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone With the Wind."
The Alexander Doll Co. was acquired by the Kaizen Breakthrough Partnership LP, a private capital fund managed by Gefinor Acquisition Partners, a partnership between Gefinor, an international banking group, and TBM Capital, in 1995."
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