What I Got at the Doll Show, Part 1: Honey West

   First of all, Beth in WV, please leave your email address in the comments so I can contact you about the Highway Doll. Now...

  I'm finally getting around to showing you what I got at last Sunday's doll show. It's a good thing, because there's another doll show in less than a week! I'm only going to show you one thing I got today. We'll pretend it's Doll-A-Day and get in practice for next year!

  Today we're looking at this girl.

  Does anybody recognize her? You will have to be at least as old as I am to remember the character this doll is based on. That's pushing it actually, because I was born in 1962, and the TV show this doll is from was shown from September, 1965 to April,1966. Somehow I still remember it...not much about it, but I do remember watching it, and a few details. The show was called "Honey West". "Honey West" was also the name of the main character, played by Anne Francis, (thus the doll's beauty mark).

That beauty mark isn't in the right place though. How hard was that to screw up?

"Honey West" was a private detective. The character was based on a series of books by a married couple who went by the pen name G.G. Fickling. The TV version originated on an episode of the show "Burke's Law" in 1965, before being 'spun off' into her own series. The character of Honey was originally written to be a cross between Marilyn Monroe and fictional detective Mike Hammer! That's quite a combination.

Having trouble with that autofocus!

  The show marked the first time a woman played the main character in a show named after the character. (I guess "The Donna Reed Show" didn't count because  her name wasn't Donna Reed in the show.) Honey did have a male sidekick though. But lest you think Honey totally broke free of the female-as-a-sex object stereotype, she was frequently referred to as the 'private eye-full', even on the toy packaging, and showed up at least once every episode in her black body suit, and other alluring outfits, if the occasion arose that called for her to be tantalizing . The provocative aspects of the novels were played down for TV, but there was still some suggestiveness.

I don't remember ever hearing how deadly Cannon's curves were.

  The show also marked one of the first times a woman had played a private detective on TV.  Honey was intended to be an American rival for characters like Cathy Gale and Emma Peel of "The Avengers", even though "The Avengers" hadn't even been shown in this country yet. In fact, supposedly, the first choice for the role of Honey was Honor Blackman, who had played Cathy Gale on "The Avengers", and later, Pussy Galore in the James Bond film, "Goldfinger". When Blackman turned the role down, it went to Anne Francis, of "Forbidden Planet" fame.

  Like the characters played by Honor Blackman and Diana Rigg, (who played Mrs. Peel), on "The Avengers", Honey West used martial arts when necessary. 

Hopefully she was better at it than this doll.

Even her black bodysuit mirrored Cathy Gale's black leather jumpsuit, and Mrs. Peel's leather or stretch jumpsuits.  

  The doll was made by Gilbert, who also made the "Man From Uncle" dolls, like my Illya Kuryakin doll you might have seen HERE. 

But she isn't marked 'Gilbert' anywhere.

It's not the most attractive doll in the world. 

She's a bit cross eyed.

That seems to have been Gilbert's thing. I never thought Anne Francis was very pretty, but she's gorgeous compared to this doll.

"Excuse me?!"

You said what?!

  I actually didn't buy Honey for myself. I saw her, and knew who she was, and that she has value. So I bought Honey to try to finance the things I wanted to buy for myself, which we'll see in upcoming posts. So, if Honey strikes your fancy, she is available for purchase. Just comment with your email address, (which I won't publish),  and I'll contact you with the details.

  Honey is around 11 inches tall. similar to her more attractive friend, Barbie. Hey. Barbie has had  many occupations, but private detective has never been one of them. So, go Honey!

  The doll originally came in a long sleeved black bodysuit. This is the more rare second version, without sleeves.

  She also came with a gold belt and holster, and a pair of black boots with leopard print cuffs. My girl doesn't have those.

  Her head and arms are a soft vinyl, but her body is a harder hollow plastic.

She only has minimal articulation, being jointed at the neck, shoulders, and hips. Her knees are not bendable.

She can't do a very ladylike sitting position either.

    She has rooted hair that's sort of like the hair on a Tammy doll.

One thing Honey West had that the Avengers ladies didn't, was her pet ocelot, Bruce. 

There was even a toy Bruce included in one of the accessory sets for Honey.

  And there were accessory sets! One of the coolest things about Honey West was the gadgets she used. Honey had a radio lipstick, an exploding compact, and tear gas earrings. And how do you survive the tear gas coming from your earrings unless you have a garter belt gas mask?

In the toy version, her compact, which is bigger than her hat box, I might point out, is a 'trick compact' that 'fires (a) pistol'. Well then, what does that pistol do?

And in the toy version, her lipstick was just a 'secret whistle'. She also had a handcuff bracelet and a telescope lens necklace, and...a phone in her purse! Look at the size of that thing! Nobody was going to see you talking on that! 

The sets repeated accessories a lot.

Binoculars with real lenses and a cap firing pistol. 

  She also had a few outfit sets. One set was a black trench coat that came with accessories from the sets, another was a karate suit, and another was a glamourous gold brocade evening dress with matching coat, with a real fur collar. (Also seen in the ad with the Bruce toy, above.)

And, although the show only ran for 30 episodes before it was cancelled, and, in effect, replaced on ABC by the real "Avengers" in 1966, during it's short run there were a lot of products and tie-ins associated with the series. 

ABC must have had high hopes for the show, and companies appear to have had confidence it in too. Anne Francis, as Honey, was featured in ads for Sarah Coventry jewelry. There was the doll, and her accessory sets, a board game...

 ...comic books... 

...Corgi versions of Honey's car and surveillance van, and a soundtrack album. The novels were issued with covers depicting Anne Francis as Honey, instead of the previous artwork. Honey isn't much remembered today, but Phicen came out with a Honey West figure in, I believe, 2015. 

She looks a lot more like Anne Francis. She even came with Bruce.

 Phicen figures are super posable, with rubber 'skin' and metal armatures. That does make them expensive too, but they are pretty cool.

     In case you're now curious, you can watch the entire "Honey West" series HERE. See you again soon!