Ideal Novelty and Toy Company was the first was the first to produce dolls with rubber latex ‘Magic Skin’.  Ideal founder, Morris Mitchom, is also credited with the invention of the ‘Teddy’ bear.

Rubber was first used by the Mayans to make balls and small figurines.  Although rubber can also be made from other latex producing plants, such as the dandelion, most of the world’s supply of natural rubber is made from the hand-harvested sap of rubber plants. These plants only grow near the equator, so natural rubber has always been in relatively short supply to the rest of the world. Over three quarters of the rubber currently produced is a synthetic product made from petroleum products due to the limited availability of natural rubber.

Vinyl is the common name for polyvinyl chloride (PVC). It has been called the world’s most versatile plastic. PVC is best known for its use as plumbing and irrigation pipe, although it is also made into products ranging from shower curtains and toys to sandwich bags.

In the late 1800s, European researchers created what they considered to be a commercially useless rigid material using a gas called vinyl chloride. Then, in the late 1920s, BFGoodrich researcher, Dr. Waldo Semon discovered he could create a plastic bearing similar properties to natural rubber, using this cast-aside material  He continued to experiment with its use, producing golf balls and shoe heels, but BFGoodrich still had difficulty introducing it into the commercial market.

Vinyl finally came into prominence when manufacturers found it could be used to make shock absorber seals. After that, vinyl production blossomed. It was used to create the first American synthetic tires, waterproof fabrics, and electrical wire insulation.

Severe natural latex rubber shortages occurred during World War II, forcing Ideal to investigate alternative materials, like vinyl, in creating toys with 'Magic Skin'. Ideal became a leader in plastics technology, and wound up reducing toy production in order to supply the Army and Navy with critical supplies.

Natural rubber IS rubber, but vinyl is 'rubbery', or ‘rubber-like’, with a texture resembling rubber in flexibility. While the word ‘rubber’ seems to generally be used to describe this quality in various item titles and descriptions, if the toy was manufactured subsequent to the beginning of World War II, the head or face is most likely actually made of vinyl.