Deanna:

   My info on Royal starts with my wife and I meeting "Miss Elsa" (Rajic) in 1984. We were doing about 18 shows a year from Naples,FL to Alton Bay,NH. We had a friend who was going out of the business for health reasons, and we wanted to buy her Royal stock. She asked Elsa if it was alright and we got the stock.

   The "rep" for our area was Elsa's right hand man, and did a lot to help. His name was Eugene Smith. He was sick, and I was retired, I offered to help cover his territory "as long as it didn't cost me anything". They gave the territory to the guy who had Metro NY area.

   Elsa "downsized" and moved the factory out of the city up to Beacon, NY. She and her sister, Inga would pick up 4 other people every day and bring them up to Beacon, about an hour and a half ride, and at night return them. Business had really fallen off at this point, and she found a place in Kingston, NY near her home in the real Woodstock. I helped her pack and later set up in new location. By now there was only Elsa, Inga and me as regulars in the plant. If she needed hair rooting, she would bring up Inez for a week at a time, and Inez stayed at Elsa's. Elsa taught me how to do the cutting, so for about 10 years I did most of the cutting.

   I would not take any money, but Elsa bought me lunch. When my wife retired, if we had dolls to dress or dresses to pack, my wife would also come to factory. I started selling to dealers for the regular commission that the reps got.

   The only Rep producing any sales was the one in California, and that was mostly clothes for "Beanie Babies". We were shipping them Priority Mail as fast as we could make them.

   We also were making the "Dolly Dustless" plastic covers and Bulk Shipping them to the lady in NJ that would package and sell them. That business disappeared also. Elsa only needed me one day a week.

   I was able to put together a book with the catalogs from 1976 till the end. The sad part is that the catalogs from before that were lost when a water main broke in NYC and flooded the cellar. This was when David & David owned the Company and Elsa worked there.

   Elsa never kept photos of the many special dolls she made for shops and organizations.

   The dolls with the swivel waist were made while David & David owned the company.

   That lady that said the Grandmother dolls were made in Europe got mad at me for trying to correct her. She quotes one of the Price Books, but my source was Elsa. I had asked Elsa about the rumor, and she told me they had tried to get the person who published the book to change it, but she would not admit to a mistake as it would hurt her reputation.

   When I am home, not "snowbirding", I see Elsa about once a month for diner. Sometimes we eat at her house, sometime at mine, or at one of several restaurants we both like.

   I had to stop going to the factory because my wife suffered a major Stroke in 2004 and is wheel chair bound, with me as a 24/7 caregiver..Elsa closed the factory in 2005. She still owns the name and copyrights.

Warren

 

 

Deanna;

   Most of the doll companies were located in NYC (Brooklyn) and had no idea that people would be interested in their old dolls and information.

   When you pay rent @ so much a square foot per month, you don't waste space on anything that does not produce income. Elsa's little one room Office/Sales room in the "Toy Center" on Broadway cost her over $25,000 per year, and it was seldom used except during "Toy Fair" and if one of the "big" buyers made an appointment.

   I got the catalogs and a few of the earlier salesman's photo sheets from the cellar in Kingston after the move in. When the landlord wanted $500 a month more for the space down there, we had to give it up.  Unused Sewing Machines, Rooting Machines, files, desks and  "stuff" had to go..

   Most companies changed hands many times. The name stayed. Alexander has been thru about 6 owners since Madam died.

   Effanbee went bankrupt and so did Vouge (Ginny) and some others in 1984-85. Both companies have been thru several owners until they got where they are today..

   Susan Gibson vanished as well as Horsman (last owned by Gata Box).

   Royal was founded in 1914 by   Maurice Donath. He sold it in 1948 to Rose Frankel. Sometime in the late 1960s she sold out to David & David who also owned Signature and Jolly among others. They also made unmarked dolls for others. Rose stayed until she died in 1973. Elsa joined Royal while Rose was still head designer, and worked with Rose until she died. Elsa bought the company in 1977.

 

   Warren

Deanna:

   My info on Royal only goes back to 1976, with a few B/W 8x12s that the salesmen used to carry. My catalog collection is back in NY, and I will be here in Florida until mid April. We have a choice, there or here, and since we are only crazy, not stupid, we are here.

  I do have a copy of the catalogs on CD's and I can find no pictures of the swivel hip bodies. I have asked Elsa & Inga about them, and get the Idea they made dolls with that type body while working at David & David, before Elsa bought the Company.

  As I might have told you, Elsa does not even have photos of the "special" dolls she made for various stores and groups.

  The rooting machines we had were old. Each one had to have a cut off plate that determined the longest hair on the head. It also had to be set up for thickness of the hair and style (curly/straight). The head sits on a post and the needles (from one to 3/4) come up from inside, hook the hair, pull it in, and the plate spins, cutting to lenght. The needles chain link the hair in the head, and make next hole(s) to repeat the process. The head is rotated by the operator.  One modern computer controlled machine could replace and do the work of about 12 of our machines, but would cost a fortune.

  Inez did all of the hair operations after the move out of NYC. I gather she had been with Elsa a long time. I was told she could only do about 10 of the Metropolitan Opera dolls a day.

  I was offered the complete old Premier Shoe factory which Elsa bought when Premier closed. The whole operation would fit in a one car garage, and came with enough stock to run about a year. I could probably make all the shoes I could wholesale in a year in about a month. This was before my wife's stroke, but at 75 years old, I did not need it.

 

Warren