Doll-A-Day 2023 #55: Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter

   Today's doll is Brenda Starr.

 This is the original 12 inch Brenda Starr, Girl Reporter doll , by Madame Alexander. 

  The doll was produced in 1964. Brenda's creator Dale Messick actually made some public appearances to promote the doll.  

  Although the doll has a long piece of hair to add to the styling possibilities, sleep eyes with eyelashes, and jointed knees, she was no match for Barbie, (which was the intention).

   Brenda came as a dressed doll, or a doll in underwear only. There were also additional fashions sold for her. 

 

  Madame Alexander chose not to pay the licensing fee for the Brenda Starr name after the first year, so in 1965, the same doll was sold as 'Yolanda'. Apparently the main difference between the Brenda Starr and Yolanda dolls is that Brenda was usually a red head, and most of the Yolanda dolls are blondes, and the Yolanda doll has slightly larger, more round eyes. Yolanda was discontinued after her only year on the market.

 'Dale' Messick was the working name of Dalia Messick. Dalia started trying to sell her comic strips straight out of high school, in the 1920's. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago, and went on to a job  designing greeting cards. After submitting more comic strips, which were rejected, Dalia decided to use a pseudonym, 'Dale', so that prospective employers wouldn't know she was female. Still, her strips were rejected.

  In 1940 Dalia created a 'girl bandit' named Brenda Starr, which she submitted to the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate. It was rejected by the syndicate chief Joseph Patterson, who was anti-female cartoonists. His assistant, a woman, suggested Dalia change Brenda to a reporter, and Patterson agreed to run the strip as a comic book supplement in the Sunday Chicago Tribune. He refused to run it in the New York Daily News at all. It didn't run in that paper until 1948, two years after Patterson passed away. 

  Brenda Starr was always a bit racey. The editors of the comic strip kept an eye out for things they disapproved of, and were know to erase cleavage and belly buttons from Brenda's image. At one point the strip was banned in Boston because Brenda was shown smoking a polka dot cigar!

  The strip was at the peak of it's popularity in the 1950's, and was appearing in 250 papers. By 2010 the strip was down to 65 papers. Dalia drew the strip until 1980, when she retired, and was replaced by various teams of female writer and illustrators over the years. The final strip ran in 2011, when it was decided the strip was no longer profitable for the Chicago Tribune, and the last writer/illustrator team decided to 'move on'.

  Brenda was a reporter for the fictional 'Flash' newspaper. She traveled the world, getting stories for the paper, dealing with  tempestuous love life, (For years Brenda had a romance with a Mystery Man with an eye patch, before being married to him at the end of Dalia's run as illustrator and writer.),and looking fabulous. The original comic strip image of Brenda was based on movie star Rita Hayworth, and Dalia always made sure Brenda's hair styles and clothes were fashionable. But Brenda was more than just a  pretty face. She was an early fighter for women's equality on the job.

  In the 1940's, Brenda Starr was represented in comic books and a movie serial. There were a couple more movies over the years, including the notorious flop starring Brooke Shields, filmed in 1986, but not released until 1992.

  Effanbee and Tonner both came out with their version of Brenda Starr. Tonner's was 16 inches tall. They also produced Brenda's eye patch wearing Mystery Man, Basil St John.

  That's today's doll. Tomorrow we'll see another one.