[Music] foreign was a renowned British toy designer and goal maker known for her intricate and detailed creations by 1952 Peggy had begun her doll-making business based in Western super Mare over the course of her career Nisbet became one of the most respected and sought after doll makers in the world creating dolls that are highly prized by collectors and toy enthusiasts alike thank you one of nisbet's greatest strengths as a doll maker was her ability to seemingly bring her characters to life
her dolls were not just toys but works of art that captured the essence of the people and characters they were based on nisbit's dolls were known for their lifelike faces and intricate costumes which were created using high quality materials and meticulous attention to detail um the fledgling company was very much a cottage industry the dolls were designed by Peggy and her aunt Kitty made the Prototype costumes [Music] Figures were dressed in a variety of outfits National costumes historical dre
ss and well-known characters from history the company exhibited at toy fairs in Britain and America fueling a demand for Peggy nisbit dolls over to our North America correspondent tab Danforth thanks Clive some of the House of nisbet's most popular dolls were based on the stars of the Silver Screen the Hollywood dolls remain very collectible to this day quite an Eclectic assortment of dolls was produced from the top stars of the day to some lesser-known actors Nisbet created a whole range of fig
ures ranging from well-known Beauties to character actors and comedians some with more success than others Emily Charlotte lady debath known as Lily Langtry was a British socialite she was celebrated as a young woman for her great Beauty and charm having established herself on the British stage she made her screen debut in 1913. his neighbor's wife is a silent short film directed by Edwin s Porter and langtry's only feature screen appearance in 1881 Langtry made her West End debut in the comedy
she Stoops to conquer causing a sensation in London by becoming the first socialite to appear on stage she would go on to star in many plays in both the United Kingdom and the United States eventually running her own Stage production company she was also known for her relationships with royal figures and noblemen including the Prince of Wales future Edward VII Dame Alice Alan Terry was a leading English actress of the late 19th and early 20th centuries born into a family of actors Terry began pe
rforming as a child and toured throughout the British provinces in her teens in 1878 she joined Henry Irving's company as his Leading Lady and for more than the next two decades she was considered the leading Shakespearean and comic actress in Britain she continued to find success on stage until 1920 while also appearing in films from 1916 to 1922 Will Rogers was an American Vaudeville performer actor and humorous social commentator he started Life as a Cowhand and is shown here in the western c
ostume that he became known for in his movies Rogers began his career as a performer on Vaudeville his rope act led to success in the Ziegfeld Follies which in turn led to the first of his many movie contracts he starred in Ambassador Bill a 1931 American pre-code comedy film directed by Sam Taylor and co-starring Marguerite Churchill the classic comedy duo Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in the overall and bowler hat combo outfits they wore and how roaches celebrated comedy the music box the film
which depicts the pair attempting to move a piano up a long flight of steps won the first Academy Award for best live action short for comedy in 1932 Gene Harlow the original blonde bombshell was known for her portrayal of bad girl characters she was the leading sex symbol of the early 1930s and one of the defining figures of the pre-code era of American Cinema often nicknamed the platinum blonde Harlow was popular for her laughing Vamp screen Persona she was in the film industry for only nine y
ears but she became one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars whose image in the public has endured beginning her career as a child actor and Shirley gained Fame after playing the title character in the film adaptation of Anne of Green Gables in 1934 after which she achieved a successful career in supporting roles the curmudgeonly comedian WC Fields was cast against physical type to play Macabre and David O selznick's David Copperfield field said this is the first time in my life I've played a real
character part he was an American comedian actor juggler and writer fields's Comet Persona was a misanthropic and hard drinking egotist who remained a sympathetic character despite his supposed contempt for children and dogs fields's career in Show Business began in Vaudeville where he attained International success as a silent juggler he began to incorporate comedy into his act and was a featured comedian in the Ziegfeld Follies for several years he became a star in the Broadway musical comedy
poppy in 1923 in which he played a colorful small-time con man his subsequent stage in film roles were often similar Scoundrels or hand-packed Everyman characters the Swedish American Greta Garbo is regarded as one of the greatest screen actresses known for her melancholic somber Persona her film portrayals of tragic characters and her subtle and understated performances in 1928 Garbo starred in a woman of Affairs which catapulted her at MGM to its highest box office star with Garbo's first sou
nd film in 1930 Anna Christie MGM marketers enticed the public with a tagline garbotalks [Music] the one and only Charlie Chaplin in the role he made his own as the in the movie City Lights born in England he rose to Fame in the era of the silent movies he became a worldwide icon through his screen Persona the his career spanned more than 75 years from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977. Nelson Ackerman Eddie was an American actor and baritone singer who appeare
d in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s as well as in Opera and on the concert stage radio television and in nightclubs a classically trained baritone he is best remembered for the eight films in which he co-starred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald he was one of the first crossover stars and in his Heyday he was the highest paid singer in the world House of Nesbit favorites Laurel and Hardy appeared in several guises they were a British American comedy duo starting their career in the si
lent film era later successfully moving into the talkies from the late 1920s to the mid-1950s they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy with British Laurel playing the clumsy childlike friend to American Hardy's pompous bully the next outing for the pair was from their movie Swiss Miss a 1938 comedy where Stan and Ali play Mousetrap salesman hoping for better business in Switzerland with Stan's theory that because there is more cheese in Switzerland there should be more mice in
evitably the plan all goes horribly wrong when they get swindled out of all their money by a cheese maker as the story develops the boys become trapped on a rickety rope Bridge high above an Alpine Gorge when they're met halfway across by a gorilla Peggy Nisbet loved to create characters from history and fiction this couple while not directly copied from the stars of the 1938 movie have clearly been inspired to some extent by it James Cagney was originally cast as Robin Hood but walked out on hi
s Warner Brothers contract Paving the way for the role to go to Errol Flynn who played the character with dashing athletic aplomb opposite the Cooley beautiful Olivia de Havilland as Lady Marion famous characters from literature in the movies Sherlock Holmes and His companion Dr Watson are portrayed in typical costume Holmes was played by basil Rathbone in the 1939 movie and Watson by Nigel Bruce the Blockbuster of them all Gone With the Wind doll portraits of the movie stars Clark Gable and Viv
ian Lee where outfits as worn by their characters Rick Butler and Scarlett O'Hara [Music] the movie is a 1939 American epic and historical romance adapted from the 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell [Music] Peggy nisbek created two prototype dolls for Vivian Lee the version that went into production wore the famous drapery outfit the other prototype was in the white dress worn at the opening of the movie costume design for the movie was by Walter Plunkett Mary and Robert Morrison professionally kno
wn as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles and films which were produced during Hollywood's Golden Age especially through his starring roles in Western and War movies he was among the top box office draws for three decades and he appeared with many other important Hollywood stars of his era he played leading roles in numerous b-movies during the 1930s most of them also westerns without becoming a major name however his role
in John Ford Stagecoach of 1939 made Wayne a mainstream star Road to Morocco is a 1942 American comedy film from Paramount starring Bing Crosby Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour and featuring Anthony Quinn the film is the third of the Road 2 movies it was preceded by road to Zanzibar of 1941 and followed by road to Utopia of 1946. the story is about two fast-talking guys Castaway on a Desert Shore and sold into slavery to a beautiful princess the house of Nisbet created a likeness of Bob Hope as he ap
peared in the movie the company does not appear to have produced portrait dolls of co-stars Dorothy Lamour and Bing Crosby Judy Garland was captured in all her lace trimmed finery wearing a costume from her role as Esther Smith in mgm's Meet Me in St Louis in which her Flair for comedy as well as her incredible singing voice were showcased inspired by the world of traditional British pantomime Nisbet produced a two-in-one doll based on this festive season favorite from the magical world of fairy
tales Comes This rare transformation doll in an addition of only 1500 two different bone china heads expressed two quite different moods The Melancholy of cinders and the radiance of Cinderella Cinderella is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world the version that is now most widely known in the English-speaking world was published in French by Charles Perrault in 1697. another version was later published as ocean poodle by The Brothers Grimm in their folk tale collection Gr
imm's Fairy Tales in 1812 Bozo the clown sometimes billed as Bozo the world's most famous clown is a character created for Children's Entertainment widely popular in the second half of the 20th century Bozo first appeared on U.S television in 1949 and was created by Larry Harman and Pinto kovic the character later became a common franchise across the United States he was an inspiration for other clown characters in both fiction and horror not least Krusty the Clown from the animated TV show The
Simpsons as well as Ronald McDonald Father of the Bride is a 1950 American comedy film about a man trying to cope with preparations for his daughter's wedding in the aftermath of the marriage of his daughter Kaye played by Elizabeth Taylor Stanley T banks portrayed by Spencer Tracy recalls the day three months earlier when he first learned of her engagement while Kay's mother Joan Bennett begins making preparations Stanley lies awake at night fearing the worst for his daughter on the big day cha
os Reigns at the bank's home during final preparations for the reception there the wedding ceremony brings both Joy and Sara to Stanley as he concedes that his daughter is now a woman and no longer his child during the reception Stanley tries to find K so he can kiss the bride but only manages to see her leaving in a spray of confetti the house of Nisbet created a portrait doll of Elizabeth Taylor in the bridal gown she wore in the movie [Music] Lorna Dune is a 1951 American Adventure film starr
ing Barbara Hale and Richard Greene it is an adaptation of the 1869 novel Lorna Dune by Rd Blackmore said in the English West country during the 17th century as the English Civil War looms although set in Cornwall the movie was actually filmed in Hollywood with locations shot at Yosemite National Park Dickens characters were House of Nisbet collector's favorites often inspired by actors portrayals in movies Scrooge released as a Christmas carol in the United States is a 1951 British Christmas fi
lm and an adaptation of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol published in 1843 it stars Alistar Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge here are portrait dolls of Bob Cratchit with Tiny Tim played by Mervin Jones and Glenn dearman respectively in the 1951 movie the Pickwick papers is a 1952 British historical comedy drama starring James Hader as Samuel Pickwick and Joyce grenfell to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the United Nations and the international year of the child in 1979 a portrait doll of Danny K was
produced wearing a costume from his title role in Samuel goldwyn's movie Hans Christian Anderson although it is nominally about the 19th century Danish author of fairy tales the film is romantic fiction and does not relate to Anderson's biography the introduction describes it as not the story of his life but a fairy tale about this great spinner of fairy tales Anderson as played by Danny Kaye is portrayed as a small town cobbler with a childlike heart and a vivid imagination America's sweethear
t Doris Day was promised in nisbet's catalog of 1984 as part of the company's celebrity series she was to be portrayed in her role as Calamity Jane from the Warner Brothers movie as a 16-inch tall vinyl doll sadly the doll never went into production but if anyone knows of a prototype we'd love to see it who knew that Ronald Reagan would end up being president of the United States here he is in Western guys from one of his cowboy movie outings such as Law and Order a 1953 American Western Wild We
st Lawman frame Johnson played by Ronald Reagan arrests a notorious Outlaw but after the locals threatened to break into the prison and hang the crook without a trial frame becomes disillusioned thank you from Hollywood royalty to a real-life princess when Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco she became part of Europe's aristocracy and made many fans dreams come true the fairy tale wedding was widely covered in the press to commemorate the marriage the house of Nisbet produced portrait d
olls of both the actress and the prince although intended for production the Grace Kelly doll was withdrawn from the Nisbet range at the request of Prince Rainier after the huge success of nisbet's Prince and Princess of Wales wedding dolls of 1981 it was decided to produce a set to commemorate the wedding in Monaco it became a huge embarrassment for the company a call from Prince Rainier's lawyer requested that the company halt production at whatever cost to protect his privacy this was the onl
y doll in nisbet's history that had to be aborted for lack of permission the doll shown is sample number five it is likely that at least an additional 24 of these rare dolls are potentially in circulation Prince Rainier had no objections to his own doll being sold and his model was issued as a standalone doll an elusive doll Marilyn Monroe by Peggy Nisbet only two of these prototypes are known to exist as the doll was never put into production arguably the company was better at creating portrait
s of male characters than capturing the likenesses of great Beauties like Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly it's interesting to speculate how the proposed all version of Doris Day might have turned out [Music] thank you in a licensing deal with Disney the house of Nisbet produced three dolls based on the Mary Poppins movie the first was a playline hard plastic topsy-turvy doll which transformed from Nanny to Jolly Holiday Mary the other two dolls captured both costumes independently as standard 8-i
nch tall styrene production dolls [Music] crafted from fine bone china this 13-inch tall topsy-turvy doll transforms from Eliza Doolittle to My Fair Lady although clearly taking inspiration from the popular movie starring Audrey Hepburn and Rex Harrison this doll was not directly licensed by the studio the movie was adapted from the 1956 Lerner and low stage musical which in turn was based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 stage play Pygmalion the film depicts a poor Cockney flower Cellar named Eliz
a Doolittle who overheares an arrogant phonetics Professor Henry Higgins as he casually Wagers that he could teach her to speak proper English thereby making her presentable in The High Society of Edwardian London costumes were designed by Cecil Beaton Peter bull was a British character actor who appeared in several movies and who had supporting roles in the African queen Tom Jones and Dr Strangelove he was also associated with the house of Nisbet by din of his love of teddy bears he published a
number of books on the subject and had one of his vintage Bears reproduced by the company an Irish Dresden porcelain figurine was created as a tribute to the actor and arctophile who worked closely with the house of Nisbet from 1979 until his death in 1984. this partnership produced the range of bully bears and also the Zodiac bears the porcelain figurine shows the actor dressed in his famous pullover knitted with an anecdotal review of his life sitting in a comfy armchair he is reading from th
e teddy bear book which he authored to Delicatessen Bear Delicatessen starred in the television adaptation of brideshead Revisited as Aloysius the teddy bear of Sebastian flight played by Anthony Andrews from one bear to another the house of Nisbet was licensed by Disney to produce a range of Winnie The Pooh characters in vinyl Winnie the Pooh also known as Pooh bear or simply poo is a fictional bear created in 1926 by English author A A Milne an English artist and book illustrator e h Shepard i
n 1961 the Walt Disney Company obtained certain licensing rights to the Winnie the Pooh stories and characters this deal was not universally applauded as some traditional Pooh fans were concerned about the Disney Vacation of a beloved character and had worries about how Shepherds much loved original illustrations would be changed more recently Winnie the Pooh has come completely out of copyright which has led to the release in 2023 of the slasher horror movie Winnie the Pooh Blood and Honey a pr
oduction that has been panned by critics and public alike in addition to Christopher Robin with Winnie the Pooh and Friends according to the authoritative Peggy Nisbet reference site peggynisbetdolls.co.uk the company produced a range of Disney characters including Snow White although we couldn't find any examples of this rare doll for Cinderella the standard Dolly face styrene doll was dressed in the ball gown from the movie the Alice in Wonderland doll is another Dolly face version in the clas
sic Alice blue dress and apron combo complete with signature Alice band and Peter Pan if any viewers have examples of any of these other dolls we'd love to see them to celebrate Lionel Bart's movie Oliver based on the Dickens novel Oliver Twist a whole cast of central characters was created by Peggy Nisbet from left to right fagin The Artful Dodger Nancy Mr Bumble Bill Sykes and Oliver Twist himself inspired by the Cheery Cockney musical half a Sixpence starring Tommy Steele the company created
two dolls Edwardian boy and Edwardian bride and the King himself Elvis Presley another doll that didn't make it into production and only exists in Prototype form wearing a jumpsuit from his Las Vegas years Elvis Aaron Presley who lived from January 8 1935 until August 16 1977 usually referred to Simply as Elvis was an American singer actor and Sergeant in the United States Army dubbed the king of rock and roll he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century his
energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style combined with a potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations led him to both great success and initial controversy having sold roughly 500 million records worldwide Presley is one of the best-selling music artists of all time in 2018 Presley was posthumously awarded the presidential medal of freedom finally another king this time King Ralph the plot has it that the entire B
ritish royal family is killed in a freak accident outside Buckingham Palace the only living Heir turns out to be American Ralph Jones played by John Goodman much hilarity ensues and on that note back to Clive pie in England thanks very much tab costumes and characters were thoroughly researched by Mrs Nisbet and customers appreciated the detail and accuracy of design initially the house of Nisbet created dolls based on the history and traditions of the United Kingdom as well as dolls of the worl
d wearing traditional costume but as the company grew and reached worldwide Acclaim particularly in the American Market Peggy Nisbet began to create dolls with more focus on the USA amongst these were the Hollywood dolls an Eclectic mix which we may assume reflected the tastes and enthusiasms of Mrs Nisbet herself [Music] who was invited as a guest to North American Doll conventions leading to further demand for her dolls the house of Nisbet became the second largest doll manufacturer in Britain
new releases were eagerly anticipated by nisbit doll collectors such was pegging nisbet's success in Industry that she was awarded the MBE for her services to the export trade nisbitz dolls became particularly popular in the 1970s and 1980s as more people began to appreciate the Artistry and attention to detail that went into her creations her dolls were prized by collectors and toy enthusiasts alike and her reputation as a doll maker grew accordingly nisbitz dolls became particularly famous fo
r their historical accuracy with many of her dolls based on historical figures such as Queen Elizabeth the First and Marie Antoinette nisbit's success as a doll maker allowed her to expand her business and reach a wider audience by the 1980s her dolls were sold in toy shops and department stores around the world nisbit stalls became a staple of many toy collections and she continued to be a highly sought after doll maker throughout her entire career pegging his bit died at the age of 86 on the 9
th of October 1995. she was widely mourned by her collectors and garnered worldwide tributes including from other doll makers to this day her dolls are still widely collected and sought after nisbit was recognized for her contributions to the world of doll making she collected numerous Awards and honors including several from the British doll makers Association and was considered a master of her craft nisbit stalls continue to be highly prized by collectors and toy enthusiasts and her Legacy as
a doll maker remains strong to this day her meticulous attention to detail made her one of the greatest doll makers of her generation and her contributions to the world of doll making will be remembered for years to come back to tab Danforth thanks Clive Chris and Dave poulton set up the preeminent source of Peggy Nisbet information an illustrated online guide at peggynisbetdolls.co.uk this is a tribute to Chris by Dave poulton Chris's chance discovery of a portrait set of Peggy nesbits Henry VI
I and his Six Wives in an antique shop was where it all started back in 1996. the next Discovery was a well-known Auction House on the internet the beginning of the end as Chris's collection grew her interest in the dolls led us to take a holiday in the somerset Seaside town of Western super mare which was where Peggy nisbet's business was based and the dolls were made a subsequent visit to Westin in the museum coincided with the 50th anniversary of Peggy nisbet's career as doll manufacturer whe
re an excellent display had been mounted by another Nisbet collector Chris was inspired and this led to a meeting with one of the museum curators after a long chat over coffee Chris was invited to exhibit some of her dolls at the Museum in all Chris organized and installed six displays at the Western Museum and we both enjoyed the planning and preparation for each through these exhibitions we met with Peter Nisbet Peggy's son who still lived in a beautiful leafy suburb of the town increased work
responsibilities meant that I would be out of the country for months at a stretch with a result that sadly we could no longer find the time to support more exhibitions at Weston but Chris ever resourceful hit upon the idea of starting a website and so with her as the brains and me pulling the levers we did that was back in 2012 and much to our joint amazement it started getting visitors and email responses at the time of writing it has had over 164 000 visitors and consistently heads up search
engine results for Peggy Nisbet dolls I learned so much about the dolls from Chris and we continue to enjoy our time working together researching the dolls and enlarging the website along the way we had many contacts from other Nisbet collectors and Chris now had friends from Canada the United States Australia and New Zealand and also made contact with other Nisbet collectors from Russia Switzerland Spain and of course all across the United Kingdom in February 2018 I returned from a business tri
p to find poor Chris very unwell with what she described as a chest infection I could see it was more than that and the next day she ended up in hospital for two weeks with double pneumonia Chris had in later years been prone to catching chest infections and following her hospitalization it was discovered that she had a long-term Progressive and incurable lung condition but she carried on as normal and only retired at 67 when another bout of pneumonia forcibly told her she needed to slow down a
bit during that time she was still absorbed with collecting and researching Peggy Nisbet dolls and in July 2021 presented me with a wish list of changes she was considering for the website we discussed things at length and ended with a sizable number of projects as a result for many reasons the website had Lane fallow since 2015 and we were both committed to get things moving again but it wasn't to be at that time on Thursday 21st October 2021 Chris was admitted to hospital with serious breathin
g difficulties she was finally beaten by her old adversary pneumonia and slipped peacefully away at 10 15 p.m on the 8th December thanks to the love and support of our family and several of Chris's friends and contacts from the doll collecting world I am now ready to start to implement her new plans for the Peggy Nisbet dolls website I am forever grateful to Peggy's little people who gave Chris and I a shared interest and ultimately brought us even closer together Chris was born on Christmas Day
1949 and was a true Christmas baby we had been good friends since we were 16 or 17. together as a couple for 50 years and married just short of 48 years when she died we have two fine Sons both happily married and our oldest son and his wife have given us two excellent grandsons Chris was Lively hard-working enthusiastic and great company a shrewd judge of character she was well loved by the many locals she met through her 37 plus years working in a local pharmacy she had a wicked sense of humo
r and a smile that melted my Stony old heart I was a very lucky man to have found Chris every day with her was filled with love and laughter we were a good team we worked well together and I loved her deeply and I always will God bless my darling thank you for all the laughter we shared together through the years and yes I'm still working on the website [Music] foreign thank you foreign
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