(1950-1967)
In America, Lærdal was able to buy raw materials and some moulds for dolls' heads, a little dog and a bath-tub duck. He was convinced that soft plastics could be made into good and durable toys. But all mixtures and processes were secret because manufacturers wanted to stay a step ahead of the competition. For an entire year, he experimented with baking different kinds of plastic 'dough'.
When he thought he had the answers, his employees constructed machines for moulding the plastics.
The crisis hit when 900 dolls, ready for Christmas sales, turned blue. Intensive effort produced the solution to the problem. This solution was so valuable and so secret that Lærdal divided the factory into three closed-off, separate areas: one for mixing the plastic 'dough', one for the moulds, and one for the moulding. The first years, only he himself and a few key employees – Henning Kleven, Andreas Gjerstad, Sverre Øie – knew everything.
Good seamstresses could sew hair on 175 dolls each day. 40 housewives made dolls' clothes at home. By 1964, Anne dolls were sold in 65 countries. But competition grew, and in 1968 Lærdal stopped producing dolls. Now, Tomte concentrated solely on the cars.
Imagine that you were five or six years old in 1950, and owned only one doll. The body was made of textiles, and the head – china or celluloid – broke so easily that the doll was just for looking at. Then, perhaps for Christmas, you received an Anne doll.
She was soft, but rough handling did not hurt her, either. She was easy to dress and undress. She enjoyed being bathed and having her hair washed and styled. And she was so life-like that you might have cut her hair, believing that it would grow again.
The first dolls cost about 20 kroner. That was a lot of money. But there were also dolls that were sold without clothes, and they cost less. And many grannies had so much time, and were so skilled with their hands, that they might have sewn and knitted an entire wardrobe for your doll.
Written by Nina Tjomsland
Translated by Piers Crocker