I buy and collect many vintage dolls and older, but I have been looking for a doll I had over 40 years ago. I had given it to an older friend (a friend of my mother's) who was a doll collector. She called it Screaming Polly. She was a pretty doll, over 25 inches high, with possibly a hard plastic or vinyl (maybe bisque) with a sweet face, but she was screaming and having a tantrum with clenched fists.
I have looked and looked for another. I think it was an expensive doll because my friend spent a lot of money getting her dressed at a doll hospital. Her Schnauzer saw it when she brought it home from the doll hospital and was so frightened of it that it tried attacking the doll. My mother's friend wanted to give it back to me, but I was several months pregnant with my first child and my mother didn't want me looking at it because she had some crazy notion that it might affect my unborn child.
The doll hospital ladies brought Polly to a doll show and Polly was one of the first dolls sold. I found out about this later on and was furious. I have looked around for years. Screaming Polly reminds me of a mix between those very expensive German character dolls and the inexpensive modern Ashton Drake character doll. I just recently saw one, a crying baby.
Sorry but this sounds like a really special doll but I'm sure someone has seen one of these.
You may never find one for sale unless you subscribe to special doll auctions (these are held all over the US -world) and may be mixed with other items in a large auction.
You might try one of these sites - it requires you to join the site but sometimes it works. It takes a little reading to find out where to place your question.
Reddit is a good starting point. Post on as many sites as you can find. Your Facebook account also.
My first thought was this was an early reborn doll...
Is it something like this:
www.worthpoint.com/
or
www.chickenmashfarm.com/
Many of the brands, like Seymour Mann made dolls like you describe. Is it possible it was a name brand doll? They were all quite pricey when they were new.
I can't find any results at all for the doll called Screaming Polly. However, there is a website I did find that can help you find and locate this doll. www.dollfinder.com/
