Vintage Buddy Lee Doll.
Maker - H.D Lee Company
Era - 1930 - 1940s
Material - Composition
Acquired - by Douglas Luhanko in 2007
Meet Buddy Lee! This 12 1/2 inch guy with the cute smile and clever looking eyes has quite some stories to tell. He started his career in the 1920s as a model displaying miniature versions of the clothes made by H. D. Lee Company and eventually he gained in popularity. At one time he was actually the second highest selling doll in USA!
It all started out in the 1920s with an idea that the H. D. Lee sales manager Chester Reynolds put into reality. The Buddy Lee doll, dressed according to the latest Lee collection, was sent out to retailers who were encouraged to sell the dolls after the campaign was over and it didn't take long until the doll became so popular that Lee decided to start making them as a part of their range.
Through the years a variety of different outfits was made, representing different occupations such as railroad worker, cowboy and Coca Cola delivery guy and in 1949 the little doll grew half an inch with the introduction of the 13inch all plastic Buddy Lee doll. He remained in production up until 1962 when the H. D Lee Company decided to stop the manufacturing of the dolls because they were no longer profitable.
Once, the factory in Kansas was flooded and the local paper managed to take a picture of the staff of H. D. Lee company saving the dolls from the water masses. The picture was printed in the paper with the text saying something like "Lee employees are rescuing babies from the flood" I'm not sure if they actually thought it was children on the streets or if they just thought it was a funny looking scenery.
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Our Buddy Lee doll is not the finest example and it has traces telling us that it's been around for quite some years. I like to believe that he ment the world to a child and that the traces comes from this doll being loved by one or more children through the years.
If you are familiar with the different outfits made for Buddy Lee you already noticed that something isn't right about this guys uniform. The fact is that I got the doll delivered with jeans and a checked shirt, two garments that was part of the cowboy outfit thats pretty commonly seen. The shirt was in bad shape and at the moment I myself was wearing the made in Japan reproduction of the 1955 Lee Rider denim shirt so I decided that I wanted to match my outfit with my Buddy Lee doll. I sat down with my sewing machine and started to make clothes for my doll. The woven Lee logo on the right chest pocket was taken from a Lee garment and I made sure to put it there without the (R and MR) registration trade marks because these weren't used in the Lee logo back in 1955. The original wool cowboy hat was also missing when I got the doll so I decided to make him a small denim cap, took the measurements and made it to fit the size of his head. I also made a simple belt but as the picture shows it's always been slightly to small for him and I don't think he's planning to loose a centimeter or two around the waist, so I might have to make a new one that fits better. Later I visited a store located in Västerås, Sweden focusing on western wear were I found a small pin in the form of a Sheriff star that I thought would fit Buddy perfect and he's been wearing it ever since.
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At the side of the head you can see that his head has a crack running from one ear to the other and it's hidden behind the cap at the moment. Im not sure what caused the doll to crack in this way, but it seems that the crack runs along the casting line which is most likely the weak part of the construction.
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The back of the doll wearing his original Lee jeans. The pockets are wide placed exactly like the regular jeans made by Lee at that time.
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Detail of the back without the belt. As you can see the Buddy Lee jeans have a paper tag with the "Union Made Lee" logo and they also made the jeans with exposed rivets with the Lee logo on them. Most seams are just for decoration and on the back pockets you can see the decor stitch known as the "lazy s" still in use by Lee up until this day. It's said that the stitches are inspired by the shape of the horns of the Texas longhorn cattle.
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The face of the doll tells us that it's old and the color have cracked with time. An interesting thing with the eyes of this curious guy is that no matter where you stand in the room he always seems to keep an eye on you!
Today Buddy Lee is a sought after collectibles item. One sought-after version is the one with the Coca Cola outfit, which is perhaps not the most rare example but the price is usually rather high for that particular one. I believe that's because it doesn't just charm denim collectors, you will also battle Coca Cola collectors and vintage doll collectors if you happen to find one offered in an auction.
This Buddy Lee is now a part of our archive and we keep it as an inspirational piece.
Do you know anything about it that you want to tell us? Let us know in the comments below!
Want to read about more vintage? See last week's post Here!
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