Leave it to the
Victorians to create a doll modeled after a dead girl. The dolls are ghostly white bisque with
frozen limbs. They feel cool to the
touch. Like tragic little corpses.
First manufactured in
1850, Frozen Charlottes come in all sizes, ranging from a mere ½" to
18" tall.
So who was this famous dead girl?
Dressed in her finest gown, Charlotte and her boyfriend drove in his
sleigh to a New Year's Eve Ball in rural upstate New York. Vain girl that she was, she refused to wrap
up in the heavy woolen sleigh blankets because she wanted to make sure anyone
they passed could see how beautiful she was in her ball gown. When the young couple arrived at the party,
her date discovered that Charlotte had frozen to death.
The account appeared in the New York
Observer on February 8, 1840. Poet
Seba Smith immortalized the story with the poem Young Charlotte. William
Carter set the poetic tribute to music.
The dolls were originally produced as bathing
dolls. They were the rubber duckies
of the 19th Century. The
tiniest Charlottes were also baked into children's birthday cakes or Christmas
puddings as party favors.
Had she lived today, I'm sure we would see Charlotte on Girls Gone Wild.
