of Port Allegeny, PA
1933-1968
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In the quiet hills of northwestern
Pennsylvania there lay a place that had created a magical doll.
That doll would be the Kewpie doll. Now, granted the Kewpie doll was conceived
by Rose O'Neill. She lived in Missouri
at that time. Rose O'Neill sketched a small creature, a child-like
character that drew everybody's attention. But she needed someone
to take the Kewpie from sketch form and transform it into doll form.
That's were Joseph L. Kallus came in.
Rose O'Neill sent an advertisement for a sculptor to the Fine Arts
College of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where Joseph L. Kallus was being
educated. Joseph L. Kallus accepted the job of transforming the Kewpie
into doll form and thus the Kewpie was born. Getting the doll to
the masses was the next task at hand. Joseph L. Kallus set up a small
manufacturing plant in Port Allegeny, Pa. and made the dolls. Then
Mr. Kallus would have the dolls sent to retail stores and that's how he
gave the children of the world a doll, the Kewpie doll, to be loved and
cherished, even to this day. The Kewpie doll has been the surviving
factor that small dreams can become real and big. It is true that
the Kewpie doll has been manufactured by other companies, but Port Allegeny,
Pa. helped bring forth the doll that Rose O'Neill designed.
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