Gene is Heartless!

Tim Kennedy's circa 1952 design called "Heartless" was released in 2000 for Madra Lord. I decided to allow Cocoa Crisp Gene Marshall do the honors of modeling it for you. My favorite part of this outfit is the miniature olive that comes with it!

From the story card:

The lead in "Somewhere Summer" seemed like the perfect part for Madra Lord (at least in Madra’s opinion): a young Career Girl who overcomes the machinations of a ruthless Older Woman and wins the day and The Guy.

So when her agent called and told her that Ruben Lilienthal had personally picked her for Somewhere Summer, she dashed to the local Elizabeth Alden for the full treatment. A week later, she arrived at the studio to sign her contract—for the role of the Older Woman.



“What!” she shouted at her agent on the phone. “What was in your mind when you told R.L. I’d do this? The ‘Older Woman’? For this I spent a week at the salon?”

“The stretch will do you good, sweetheart,”cooed Benny, finally getting a word in edgewise. “It’s on location. It’s a high profile picture. And it’s in your contract.”

“All right,” sighed Madra. “But whoever is playing the little ingenue is in for the ride of her life. Who is it?”

“You couldn’t guess?” said Benny, with a slight quaver.



“It’s Gene Marshall, isn’t it?” Benny’s silence confirmed her suspicions. “Well, at least it’s someone I can dish with—and who knows how to take what I dish out.”

Off Madra went to start filming. No one knew how to play a heartless woman with so much heart that audiences actually felt a little sorry when the character got her come-uppance. And when she showed up in the film wearing a smart pea-green and polka dot outfit in one last desperate attempt to hang on to the hero, audiences gasped—maybe she would win out after all. But in losing The Guy, the Older Woman won something else—the audiences’ hearts.



See more Gene Marshall doll photos on my Gene Marshall doll web pages.