This listing is for a "hoochie coochie" doll, made as a Carnival and Circus midway prize, or souvenir. She is a 1920s style, Art Deco kewpie - with marcelled wavy hair, big eyelashes and bright red lips. She stands 6.5" tall, and has her little celluloid hat and celluloid cane. She has mercury glass earrings and necklace. She has a little skirt, and is wearing just feathers! Lots of feathers!
In the 1920s and 1930s women who worked in the carnivals and the circus were part of the show - they were dressed skimpily, in bright colored costumes. As the darker side, they also danced in their feathers in tents, where men (and sometimes women) paid 25 cents to watch them dance. The dances were called the hoochie coochie. They sometimes stripped, removing clothing a bit at a time. To see more, the patrons had to pay an additional 25 cents, and the dancers would come back out and take off more. For the most part, their costumes wound up being little skimpy skirts, and ... feathers. These ladies weren't the ones who rode the horses, and trained the dogs. They were the ones that held the ropes when the acrobats did their acts, and stood to the side while the performers were doing their acts.
Anyway, that's why these little dolls are dressed in nothing but feathers and a little skirt.
This doll is in great condition - no breaks or damage, no cracks to the celluloid, and her arms are tightly attached. She is made from a slightly thicker celluloid that was invented in the 1920s by Irwin - a non-flammable celluloid. It feels a bit slicker than the thinner more fragile old celluloid. She is marked Japan on the back.
I have a few of these dolls that are "dress me" dolls - they are without clothing, ready to be dressed, if you are interested.