ASH: CSS #28 - Thirty Years of Jenny!

[Dave Van Domelen]

     [The cover shows a lineup of fashion dolls on a girl's dresser, in
progression from 1950s style to late 80s style.  One of them is dressed as
the original Lady Lawful.  In the background, partially hidden by the oldest
of the dolls, is a family photo, with the mother looking rather like an
unmasked Lady Lawful.]

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 .|, COHERENT                                            An ASHistory Series
--+-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 '|` SUPER STORIES                        #28 - Thirty Years of Jenny!
        Featuring the Jenny Doll        copyright 2011 by Dave Van Domelen
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     [The following is a text piece from Jenny's Jobs #1 (March 1989), part
of the short-lived Coherent Comics "Constellation" subline aimed at younger
children and girls.  Jenny's Jobs focused on adventures of Jenny Benton, the
famous fashion doll with a hundred careers.  The title was cancelled five
issues later, in large part because the writers clearly had no idea how to
write for young girls.  A photocopied version of #1 later circulated
underground at comic conventions, with the word bubbles erased and given new
dialogue that portrayed Jenny as a high priced call girl who dressed up in
accordance with the fantasies of her rich clients.  Purcell Toys was still
suing various people over this when the company collapsed in 1998.]


                         THIRTY YEARS OF JENNY!

     In 1956, Esther Groom brought some fashion dolls home from a European
trip for her daughters, who loved the fact that these dolls could be dressed
in various outfits.  But the dolls were really made for adult collectors, and
were somewhat fragile, so Esther started looking into possible alternatives
using the new plastics technologies.
     Enter James Peterson, who met Esther through mutual friends in the civil
service.  An engineer by trade, with a young daughter of his own, Doctor
Peterson thought the idea of plastic dolls was a good one.  He agreed to work
up the designs as a side project.  All he asked in return was one copy of
every toy they made, for his daughter, as long as the toy lasted.

     DID YOU KNOW? - It's rumored that the design for the dolls was based on
the mysterious plastic people that nearly took over Sacramento in 1955 before
being stopped by the Army!  But shrunken down and not able to move on their
own, of course.

     In 1959, the first dolls, named after Esther's younger daughter Jenny,
and Esther's own maiden name of Benton, were released.  She only had five
outfits, but stores quickly found they couldn't keep the new Jenny doll in
stock!  The design was quickly bought by Purcell Toys, which was able to
improve production rates and distribution.  The sale contract required they
honor the deal with Dr. Peterson in perpetuity.

     DID YOU KNOW? - If Dr. Peterson had claimed every toy he was owed, he
would need to rent a 20 by 40 foot storage unit to hold them all!

     While the factories that made Jenny's body were located in America at
first, her clothing was initially stitched by Japanese women working at home,
and the main manufacturing was eventually moved to Japan as well.  In 1962,
Purcell tried to deflect criticism about this move by licensing the likeness
of patriotic heroine Lady Lawful for a line of Jenny outfits based on Lady
Lawful's costume.  In 1964, they added a new body mold specifically for Lady
Lawful dolls, with a more heroic physique.  This mold was later repurposed
for Jenny's older sister May.

     DID YOU KNOW? - At least three currently-active superheroines based
their costumes on the outfits Purcell created for the Lady Lawful doll,
eventually getting legal permission from Purcell to keep using them.  Watch
for all three to make cameo appearances in future issues of Jenny's Jobs!

     Jenny's long-time boyfriend Jack was introduced in 1961, and 1964 saw
Purcell branch out into male action toys by using a modified Jack doll as
the basis for their "Minuteman and the Second Squad" line.  Many girls found
Corporal Red better "date" material for Jenny than Jack, especially if they
owned the Lady Lawful costumes.

     DID YOU KNOW? - Gossip columns in the 1940s often claimed Lady Lawful
was dating one of the Second Squad, although she said her real boyfriend
might not like it if she did.

     By the early 1970s, Jenny and May were no longer just fashion dolls with
swimsuits and ballgowns and sporting clothes, they had careers!  While some
of the outfits, like Doctor Jenny and the rather limited-release Mad Science
Jenny, would fit either Jenny or May, the two sisters were just different
enough in size that they had different "career paths".  Jenny's career-based
outfits tended to be more urban, like Stewardess Jenny or Museum Curator
Jenny, while May got the rural or adventure outfits as befit her origins as a
Lady Lawful doll.  Farmer May was probably the best-selling, with French
Resistance Fighter May (cross-promoted with the Second Squad toy line) being
a close second.

     DID YOU KNOW? - Mad Science Jenny was originally supposed to tie in with
a "Classic Film Monsters" toy line, but the licensing agreement fell
through.  Prototypes of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster and the Mummy fetch
handsome prices from collectors, as they were never available in stores!

     The 1970s also saw the first of the "gimmick" Jenny dolls, like Rapunzel
Jenny (whose hair could be pulled out of a reservoir in her torso to a length
of nearly a foot) or Spinning Jenny (who came with a spinning platform and a
variety of accessories like rollerskates and iceskates).  Purcell eventually
realized that the core market for Jenny dolls wasn't really interested in
that sort of thing and returned to the dress-up toys that made Jenny famous,
but if you go to garage sales you can probably still see some pretty strange
Jenny dolls, a few of which might even work!

     DID YOU KNOW? - A planned Talking Jenny in 1975 had to be cancelled
because the factory where her electronics were being made was taken over by
the robotic menace Antiochus V!  Some people say the reason Antiochus V
vanished shortly afterward was that he was embarrassed to find he could now
only speak in Jenny's voice and had a tendency to talk about boys and
dresses!

     To mark her 20th birthday in 1979, Jenny got a completely redesigned
body, taking advantage of improvements in design and manufacturing
technology.  This gave Jenny a better range of motion in all of her joints,
which made it possible to create clothing for her with smaller openings and
better fit.  Her skin was also replaced with a rubberized plastic that felt
more like real skin, and she got a new type of artificial hair that was
nearly as good as the real human hair used in the earliest 1959 versions.
While still proportioned more like a superhero than a real person, input was
accepted from women's groups and the new Jenny was less wasp-waisted than her
earlier incarnations.  The new ankle joints also meant she could wear flats
or heels...previous attempts at ankle joints had been too weak to let her
stand up, so any given Jenny doll had to be molded for either flats or heels,
and heels always outsold flats.

     DID YOU KNOW? - With the 1979 revision, May got her very own body style.
The new May was still taller than Jenny, but no longer the same as Lady
Lawful.  Despite the fact that the real Lady Lawful retired in 1974, her
dolls have never completely left stores...although she can't quite share
clothes with May anymore.

     1979 also saw the introduction of the Jenny And Friends line, aimed at
the rising Discount Store market.  This used a simplified mold with joints
only at the neck, shoulders, hips and knees, and ankles only available in
high heel style.  Most of the pieces were cast in slick plastic, and the
joints were visible rather than covered in rubberized skin as on the new
top-of-the-line Jenny.  Jenny And Friends dolls sold for a third of what the
regular Jenny dolls did, and came with several different hair colors and skin
tones.  May was not released in this line, but Jenny got many new friends,
including Carole, Amy, Tammy, Sandra and Debra.

     DID YOU KNOW? - Jenny And Friends have Lady Lawful to thank for the
clever boot design that can let them look like they're wearing flats!  The
decision had been made to manufacture Lady Lawful (and later May) dolls only
with high heel feet, but Lady Lawful herself insisted on the option of
"sensible footwear for crimefighting."

     Shortly after Jenny And Friends were introduced, Debra was the focus of
some controversy.  She was colored to be African-American, but had the same
mold as Jenny herself, which caused some complaints about accurate portrayal
of different races.  In 1981, the Jenny And Friends line was retooled to give
every girl her own head, and the Japanese Kiko was added.

     DID YOU KNOW? - Since Jenny And Friends was introduced, the best selling
Friend in Japan has not been Kiko!  In fact, Debra has consistently been the
most popular of the Friends, in some years almost selling as many dolls in
Japan as Jenny herself!  

     The 25th Anniversary in 1984 saw Jack get his own major update,
replacing molded hair with short but "real" artificial hair and giving him a
line of career outfits to help him shake the "useless boyfriend" image he'd
suffered under.  There was also a Real Tanning Jack doll that used light-
sensitive pigments, but when it was discovered that highlighter markers
caused him to permanently turn purple that particular line was discontinued.

     DID YOU KNOW? - By 1984, Jack no longer had to compete with Corporal Red
for Jenny's affection, because the Minuteman and the Second Squad toy line
picked that year to relaunch as 3 3/4" action figures!  Now Corporal Red is
small enough to wear the baby outfits that came with Babysitting Jenny, as
many little brothers have discovered to their dismay....

     1989 is an exciting year for Jenny and her friends.  Not only is it the
30th Anniversary of the doll, but it also looks like we're entering a new age
of superheroes!  And this time, Jenny won't just be dressing up like other
superheroes (although you can count on that, too), she'll be adding her very
own superheroic identity to her long list of careers!

     DID YOU KNOW? - Purcell Toys is going to be holding a contest, along
with Coherent Comics, to design Jenny's brand new superhero identity, and
they might pick YOUR idea!  Watch future issues for an official entry form!

     May is also getting a makeover for 1989, as Jenny's big sister is going
to become a mother!  Look for Baby Born May and June, as well as May's
husband Bill, later this year...and Bill shows up for the first time EVER in
the comic you hold in your hands now!

     DID YOU KNOW? - Before Bill came along, May occasionally had boyfriends,
but they never lasted very long thanks to poor sales of their toys.  Joey
(1967-9) was a Jack figure with Minuteman's head, while Dan (1976) was just
Jack with black hair instead of blond.

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Author's Notes:

     If I tried to explain all the pop culture references in this one, the
notes would be longer than the story.  So I leave it mostly as an exercise to
the reader.  Heck, you may even find some that I didn't consciously put
there. 

     This piece came out of a late night discussion with several RACC
regulars (including and especially Andy Burton) that started with considering
how Doctor Developer might use a particular toy...well, I'll leave the
specifics a secret so Andy can reveal them in a story.  :)  But we drifted
onto Barbie dolls, and I figured we'd need something not trademarked by a
megacorporation to use in place of them (like how Astro City has Beautie
Dolls).  Andy suggested Jenny dolls, because it'd be potentially embarrassing
for Lady Lawful II, and I ran with it.

     James Peterson is also known as Jim Smiley, and is a member of Andrew
Perron's Corps of Discovery.  I liked the idea of someone who worked with mad
science all the time taking some bit of spinoff tech and turning it into a
girl's doll.  Minuteman and the Second Squad fill the GIJoe niche, naturally,
although in real life Barbie and GIJoe were introduced by competing companies
and they didn't share parts or cross-promote.  You can bet Purcell Toys had
fun backpedaling when it was revealed that Minuteman was really Chinese
behind that helmet....

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