Gossip Friday: Starting a Trend on Baby Dolls

From April 1937:

The sudden rush on holiday toy shops was not due entirely to the holiday season. Clark Gable started it when he began buying dolls and sending them to people–Carole Lombard and Madeline Fields were the first recipients–with the announcement, “This is the way you looked when you were young!” The shops were practically sold out of funny-looking baby dolls in no time.

But smart buyers are looking ahead. One of them told us, “We are ordering a stack of grotesque and astonishing old lady and old gentlemen dolls–caricature dolls–because actors are already trying to order insulting ones to send to other actors with the message, “This is how you will look when you are old!”

Such fun!