In the 1950’s the Ideal Toy
Company produced a doll that drank water from a baby bottle and
then wet its diapers. It was actually invented in the 1930’s
and then went through revisions, but there’s no need to go
into the history of the doll. This was a time when babies were
dressed in cloth diapers, which had to then be changed and
cleaned, etc. Not a very nice process, so to get young girls used
to this future horrendous task, and not anticipating the advent
of disposable paper diapers, the Betsy Wetsy doll took on the
training of the future generation of young mothers so they would
learn not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The name “Betsy Wetsy” then became synonymous with any
of these wet dolls, and in a show situation, kids find her
“bathroom humor” hilariously funny, especially when her
wetting mechanism apparently goes awry.
Effect: The magician (that’s you!) can ask the kids who
likes to play with dolls and if anyone likes baby dolls (this
same beginning also works well for adult audiences, as you can
imagine!). Anyway, you show an empty doll box with a transparent
plastic front, typical of the kinds of boxes in which dolls are
packaged these days. The box is empty, but it bears the name
“Betsy Wetsy” on it and so you ask a young lady to wave
the wand and say the magic words “Betsy Wetsy, Come to
Momma!” When she does, the doll appears in the box. The doll
is removed from the package and we suddenly discover why she is
called “Betsy Wetsy.” She begins to squirt water, first
on you and then out into the audience (if you decide that’s
appropriate… it’s all under your control). You hold her
over a translucent bucket and it soon begins to fill up with
water. Finally you decide you have had enough and you drop the
doll into the bucket and begin to look around for someplace to
get rid of the water, because she keeps squirting water up and
out of the bucket. Suddenly you throw the bucket out over the
heads of the audience. The doll has vanished, along with all the
water, and all that comes out of the bucket is a load of confetti
that flutters down on the heads of the audience (or you can use
streamers if you prefer to limit the cleanup mess!).
WJ15-07
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