Doll Doctor Performs
Miracles Of “Surgery'**
By JAMES KALSHOVEN
(/Pi Newsfeatures
NEW ORLEANS — Pint-sized
mothers whose children have suf
fered severe attacks of skin dis
eases, or who have emerged from
a bad fall somewhat the worse for
wear, can send their beloved off
spring down to a motherly white
haired woman who performs plas
tic surgery miracles on dolls.
Mrs. Emile Voitier has been a
doll surgeon for nearly half a
century. She’s in the profession
principally because her mother
got into it by accident.
In the 1880's Mrs. Voitier's
mother had a toy and doll shop in
the city’s French Quarter. Many
of the dolls were cracked or brok
en in shipment and the mother
learned from necessity how to re
pair them herself. Then customers
began to bring their own damaged
dolls to be salvaged, until the
sideline grew bigger than the sale
Ik H II 4 Jtr* l» H ^*9 H h Ik Ik i
of dolls. The mother abandoned
the shop and set up the first doll
hospital in the south.
Mrs. Voitier had wanted to be
come a fashionable seamstress,
| and her talent for embroidery is
j evident in the costume doll dresses
she fashions. But her mother’s last
wish was that she continue the
| business, so she carried on.
Thousands of dolls from all over
1 the United States, Canada, Alaska
i
and Mexico reach the small back
I rooms of her two-story house. In
the months before Christmas, the
shelves are crowded with pink
armless trunks and trunkless
j arms, with heads and eyes and
j wigs.
Some of the dolls on which Mrs.
Voitier works are almost priceless
rarities, often hundred of years
old. In New Orleans, city of an
tiques, collectors who realize what
a prize they have in their own
backyard, send her delicate bisque
creations, rich in lace and silk
dresses.
i
At the moment she is particu
larly proud of her successful doc
toring of a 125-year-old Madame
Pompadour doll.
Since the war, says Mrs. Voitier,
the business of doctoring dolls has
expanded tremendously. People
are not satisfied with the type of
doll now manufactured, and sub
stitution of materials has lead to
greater breakage. j
Sleeping eye dolls are almost
impossible to secure; the metal j
! which acts as the weight for the
eyes is too critical. And human
j hair is also unobtainable; mohair
i acts as a substitute.
Mrs. Voitier finds her greatest
j difficulty in the repair of eyes.
Her stock of replacement eyes
cannot be replenished and she is
I reluctant to dig into it unless j
I paint, glue and air-brush offer no
i hope.
In a rush, as during the pre
Christmas season, her five daugh
ters pitch in and help her. How
ever. says Mrs. Voitier a bit
mournfully, "they are like I was
with my mother. It was a long
lime before I could show any in
terest in dolls. After all. my daugh
ters have their work in the com
mercial world, and I can't expect j
them to work at home too."
Nome Plumbing Co.
The Whole Bunch at Wien’s
Wish for All of You
The Merriest Christmas
You Folks Can Recall —
Happy New Year, too