Sleep-Awake Toys South
- Title
- Sleep-Awake Toys South
- Description
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Sleep-Awake was in business in Greer during the 1960s. Several of their products were modeled after 1800s dolls in the Museum of the City of New York; and the dolls sold mostly to adults as nostalgia products. The company was named after a doll style popular in the 1800s: a “sleep awake” doll had a two-sided head with an “awake” face on one side and an “asleep” face on the other. Another version was usually a girl in a dress. The doll had a secret: the dress could be flipped to the opposite end, revealing not legs but a second second torso and head of the same person, but with eyes closed, asleep. These were also called topsy-turvy dolls.
The company was just two people, a brother and sister. The brother, Ed Minus, lived in Greer and ran Sleep-Awake South; his sister was in Burnt Hills, New York and ran Sleep-Awake North. The company started in 1960. For a short time they were very successful; in 1965 they sold product in all 50 states and 19 foreign countries, including more than 200,000 toys during the Christmas season alone.
All of their products had custom silkscreened designs printed on fabric; they then had friends and neighbors hand-sew the finished products. Unlike the 19th century dolls they were patterned after, Sleep-Awake dolls were typically stuffed with foam rubber. - References
- The Greenville News. Sunday, December 26, 1965, p. 55.
- Item sets
- GREER: businesses
Part of Sleep-Awake Toys South