Wednesday, September 10, 2014

An Add-A-Room Doll House from Tootsietoy

 
I love finding vintage toy catalogs even if they are reproductions. Yesterday's mail brought  a reproduction of a Tootsietoy wholesale catalog from 1933. Of course it was mostly filled  with little trucks and cars, but the best page of all was the one showing this little cardboard house. It is actually 5 individual room boxes that came free with the purchase of a full room set of furniture from their 1930 line. A little girl or boy could build a complete house if they were able to convince their parents to buy each room.
 
Dowst Manufacturing Co. called this the Add-A-Room Doll House. The catalog explains that  it was made of heavy container board in contrasting colors to the furniture and was included FREE with each set of Tootsietoy Doll House Furniture. 
 
 
Here is the little house. No mention if part of the roof was include with each room box. 


The living room with the furniture set......and an explanation of what came in the set. I wonder if the front porch was included with the living room.

 
 
 
The dining room was placed behind the living room and shared the large door opening. The door on the south side led into the kitchen.
 


I have the maple dining set but don't think I have seen it in green.
 
 
From the shape of the walls and placement of doors and windows, I think the kitchen must have opened on the west into the dining room and on the north to the bath.
 
 My set is a mixture of the two colors available. Lad-a-stool....haven't heard that term before.
 
 
The bathroom was placed between the kitchen at the back of the house and the bedroom at the front.
 A green or orchid bathroom....wouldn't todays buyers on House Hunters have something to say about that!
 
 
 
The lovely bedroom with three long windows facing the front of the house, and  openings to both the living room and the bathroom.

 
 
The music room....those red pianos are gorgeous. I wish I had one. Evidently there was sufficient room in the living area to house the grand piano as there is no indication an Add-a-room was included with the music room.


 
 
 
Dowst listed 3 items of "good news" at the front of this catalog, the first one being that the Add-a-Room doll house was free with the purchase of each set of Tootsietoy furniture.  
The other two items of good news were
  • Furniture is now made of new alloy with tensile strength five times that of the old..yet lighter. (that was good news I'm sure)
  • Finished in harmonious colors----packed in colorful box with pilfer proof display feature. (oh my, sticky fingers back in 1933 also)
and finished with "Order a stock today ...  watch them walk off the counter!"
 
 
I wonder if any of these adorable little houses still exist today.... 
 
 
 

12 comments:

  1. Florine,
    What a fun find! Did it give you any pricing? It would be interesting to know what it cost originally.
    Teresa,
    sugar, spice and whatever's nice

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    Replies
    1. Hi Teresa, evidently the price sheet was separate and was not included with the reproduction catalog. There are some wholesale prices for Tootsietoy furniture listed in my last post Return to Wonderland...put I think they are all from 1936 catalogs and don't reflect if the Add-a-Room doll house was included. Maybe it wasn't a cost effective marketing ploy.

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  2. Hello Florine,
    What a terrific catalogue. The idea of including house sections with full room purchases was brilliant.
    Big hug,
    Giac

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  3. Hello from Spain: fabulous house. Keep in touch

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    Replies
    1. Can you believe I'm "playing" with my daughter's Barbie dolls from 1981...thought of you. Getting them ready for eBay. Unique dollies!

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  4. What a treasure. Wouldn't it be fun to collect it all.

    Danielle

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    Replies
    1. I have never seen these anywhere....there is one room in Zillner's Antique and Collectible Dollhouses...BUT YES I would love to have them!

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  5. wow great pics. I didn't know that the floor lamp was sold with the grand piano! Thanks for the great post.

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  6. Thanks Troy, wouldn't you love to find these little room boxes?

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