August 22: The New York Doll Hospital

Irving D. Chais, who ran his family’s New York Doll Hospital for 45 years and served as its chief “surgeon,” was born in Brooklyn on this date in 1925. The Doll Hospital began as a beauty parlor and wig store in 1900, owned by Chais’ grandparents, who ran a side business refurbishing dolls for the children of their customers. Chais took over the business after leaving the army in 1946 and relocated it to Lexington Avenue between 61st and 62nd Streets. “From plush to plastic, we fix it,” Mr. Chais told the New York Times in 1993, noting that he was “as likely to be repairing a 19th-century automaton as a Barbie.” “He sees his work as art,” wrote New York magazine, “meticulously matching missing parts, repainting faded expressions, and repairing tiny internal mechanisms that allow a doll to move or talk again. He also gives face-lifts to old stuffed animals, working both in the back of his workshop and in New Jersey with four other artisans.” Chais died in 2009 at 83. To watch the story of Bruce Springsteen’s Teddy Bear, click here.
“We’ve been in business since 1900, and never lost a patient yet.” —Irving D. Chais
Watch a 2008 interview with Irving Chais: