Rowena was "The Doll Lady". Rowena was Nancy Ann Abbott. Rowena was the Mother of Muffie and Muffie's siblings. Rowena Haskin was born in 1901. Rowena changed her name to Nancy Ann Abbott after moving to Hollywood to be a dancer and actor in silent movies. In 1936 she began dressing bisque baby dolls from Japan in elaborate costumes to give as gifts. She soon started selling and took a partner, Allan Leslie Rowland. In 1937 they incorporated as Nancy Ann Dressed Dolls Corporation. By 1938 they were so successful that they opened a pottery plant in California to make their bisque dolls. During the years of WWII, the potteries manufactured dolls as well as bisque dishes for Navy hospitals. Demand for dolls was sky high since the government felt the dolls were necessary for morale. Many were sent by convoy to Hawaii where soldiers were able to buy the dolls to ship home to their loved ones. In late 1945 the company’s name changed to Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls INC. Nancy Ann marketed her dolls with the catch phrase “tiny dolls for tiny collectors”. This was a unique business idea that paid off because this was the first company to market dolls to encourage collecting and not just for play. By the late forties 12,000 dolls a day were produced and sold worldwide. In 1947 the switch to plastic dolls began. First they were made with hand painted faces like the bisque dolls and after a year they got sleep eyes. In 1952 and 1953 the dolls were hard plastic non walkers. In 1954 they learned to walk and were made of hard plastic. By 1955 and 1956 they had vinyl heads and were walkers. Nancy Ann Abbot’s health began to fade in the Fifties and production suffered.
