Gene Marshall: Derby Dreams

Gene has just taken the prize at the Kentucky Derby! Here she is wearing one of the Derby Dreams outfits from the 2003 Gene Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.

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Gene Marshall: Tonner Hollywood Glamour

Essentially Blush does double duty, modeling this beautiful Fame & Fortune outfit from the Robert Tonner Hollywood Glamour collection. She just needs a new hairdo; I hope to remedy that soon!

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Gene: Essentially Blush

Gene gets a little racy today, modeling the Essential Blush lingerie. Shades of Bettie Page!



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Happy Birthday, Shirley Temple Black!

Today is the birthday of a living legend. Shirley Temple Black helped pull the country out of the Depression in the 1930’s with her movies, reigning supreme as the top Box Office Draw for almost a solid 5 years.

In addition to her stellar career in film, Shirley spent her adult life serving the country as a politician. Some of her positions included Chief of Protocol and U.S. Ambassador to Ghana and later Czechoslovakia. Shirley was also one of the first people to speak out to women about breast cancer, encouraging them to get checked. It was a courageous and monumental move on her part that helped bring this hush-hush topic to the forefront of conversations.



For today’s special salute, I am posting photos of the Danbury Mint porcelain doll “Glad Rags to Riches,” based on the 1933 short that Shirley starred in. It is probably one of the best (and most adorable) likenesses of a young Shirley.

Happy Birthday, Shirley—and thanks for all your years of service to this country!

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Gene: Slender Threads

Because of the hairstyle, this doll reminded me of a young matron from the Upper Main Line near Philadelphia who was ready to do some damage at the local department store. This doll was issued in a limited edition of 300 at the 2008 Gene Convention. For this photo, Gene is in Beverly Hills outside of Tiffany’s. From the look on her face, she wants more than breakfast!



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Madra: Pool Pose

Today, Madra Lord travels to Palm Springs and poses in front of the pool at the Riviera Resort & Spa. This is another outfit I resisted for awhile...but it was futile. How could I not add this Esther Williams inspired ensemble? From the Monolithic Studios Press Archive Dossier for “Moon Over Orlando":

In the 1940s Monolithic’s musicals were world famous for not only their melodies and dance but their Technicolor exuberance as well. “Moon Over Orlando” was a brilliantly colored fast-paced romp about two best girlfriends who leave behind their department store jobs in Orlando Florida for a weekend of exploring the glamour and bright lights of Miami Beach. Gene Marshall and Ivy Jordan played the two best friends who find romance and excitement during a long weekend of musical mayhem with a hotel bandleader and myopic serviceman on leave.

The songs were first rate and the mood kept light and lively with energetic pacing and sparkling performances from Ivy and Gene. Their colorful and stylish wardrobes, “borrowed” from their department store were a part of the attraction for the ladies who flocked to “Moon Over Orlando” to see their war-time fantasies enacted by our two actresses.

Perennial favorite, Monolithic star Madra Lord goodnaturedly made a cameo appearance playing herself in a poolside scene exploiting her reputation in the press for demanding behavior.



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Gene Loves Hats

Besides a plethora of clothes, Gene also has a love for hats, as you can see from these 4 images posted today. Ashton-Drake released a number of hat and purse sets; the ones you see here were designed by Michele Tibbetts. I give her thumbs up on the scale, as they all look natural and fit our gal Gene perfectly. To show the hats off to their best advantage, Gene is wearing her little black dress.







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Sunset Celebration: Pt. 2

I resisted at first, but finally Sunset Celebration won me over and I bought it. How could I hold out on something that is so Susan Hayward? As a special bonus to readers, I have some background information directly from Vince Nowell, the creative designer behind this ensemble:

"Sunset Celebration" was the third design idea I presented for the Gene collection, after having been chosen to be part of Gene's design team in 1998. This began as a design I created for my personal collection, but it turned out so beautiful that I presented the idea to Joan Greene, and the rest is history. At the time, there had been some talk that there might be an African American female character added to the lineup—a character who would be a jazz singer. Without having seen any sketches or a finished doll of this possible character, this design was created especially for her. I thought the warm tones of orange, yellow and pink would play beautifully against the darker skintone, and were reminiscent of the colors of a beautiful sunset. The original working title was "Sunset Serenade" (which, ironically, was the title of a dressed Violet doll produced by Integrity Toys in 2009), but the title was changed to "Sunset Celebration" when it was decided that the storyline would center around Gene's birthday. In my personal collection, it is Violet Waters who owns this gown. It was always meant to be hers, as far as I'm concerned, and if you haven't tried it on your Violet doll, I strongly suggest you do so. You'll definitely see how beautifully she wears it. A couple of related side notes:

1. Dave commented in his initial review that this gown is a little doll-ish. When I first read this I had to giggle, because the roots of this gown also played homage to the full skirted cocktail dresses that the Barbie doll had in her earlier wardrobe.

2. This design is true to the original prototype I designed in every sense of the word; no changes were made from prototype to production, and I'm very proud of that fact.



Many thanks to Vince for sharing this great info; and you can be sure that in the near future you'll be seeing a photo of Violet here wearing Sunset Celebration.

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Meet Violet Waters: Special Appearance

Meet Violet Waters, singer supreme and friend of Gene Marshall. Evoking Billie Holiday and Lena Horne, she’s a dark-skinned beauty wearing a circa 1943 outfit designed by José D'Saenz. From the story card:

1943. With the sound of applause still ringing in her ears, Violet Waters leaned against her dressing room door. Her debut at the little Beverly Hills jazz club had been packed, filled with eager jazz aficionados thrilled to hear the vocalist who had taken the music world by storm (and by the curious who wanted to see this plain spoken young woman who was so proud of her heritage and not afraid to say so!).



A knock came at the door, startling Violet for a moment. Then she turned and called out,“Yes?” From the other side of the door, she recognized the voice of the club’s owner. As she opened the door, he burst into the dressing room, which was barely bigger than a closet. “Great job, Vi!” he cried! “You’re the swingin’est chick we’ve had here in ages! Here’s to a long run. Oh, and hey, I’ve got a note for you from out front.”



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Ready for the Easter Parade: Pink with Envy

For my Easter post, Gene has raided Madra’s closet and borrows Pink with Envy. Designed by Bob Lange, Madra Lord’s circa 1952 ensemble is seen here being modeled in Savannah, Georgia’s Bonaventure Cemetery. You can see the beautiful azaleas in full bloom here. From the story card:

1952. While the success of “First Encounter” was still fresh in the studio’s mind, Madra Lord decided that it was time to strike while the iron (and the actress) was hot. For although her recent roles had been both juicy and meaty—she was ready for a little dessert to round out her cinematic buffet. And so Madra’s campaign began.

One morning, sitting in her steam cabinet, her phone began to ring. Grumbling, she wrapped herself in a Turkish towel and headed for the phone nook. On the other end of the line was Ruben Lilienthal’s assistant.

“Can you get here right away? You’ve finally worn R.L. down and he’s agreed to see you IF you can be here in an hour. He says he’ll order lunch in…”

“About time!” thought Madra—as she dashed through a quick shower and fixed her face and hair. But what to wear…”

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Gene Marshall: Imperial She, Pt. 2

A few creative shots today using some vintage images from the classic Buster Crabbe “Flash Gordon” serial. More from the studio archives:

Here in the television studio, she is mistaken for an extra in a current sci-fi show and treated with the same low-level respect given most struggling actresses. A chance and fateful meeting with the beloved newscaster and the pursuit by her father’s minions to capture and return her to Venus form the comic engine that propels the res of the plot.

Monolithic bought the rights to “Distant Venus” as a vehicle for Gene Marshall. This decision was based on the financial success of other studios with current science fiction productions and the studio’s chance to get in cultural digs at their latest nemesis, television. Gene was considered the necessary sure-fire box office gold. Though arguably about TV, Mono approached “Distant Venus” with a philosophy of making it bigger, better and more expensive than anything you could ever see on television. The sci-fi elements were expanded and enhanced with state-of-the-art special effects and a cast including many of Mono’s top stars were employed to assure the movie public that this was a perfect reason to leave your TV at home and go to the movies. The combination of big-name stars, big budget special effects and witty dialogue worked seamlessly and made “Distant Venus” a surprise hit of 1954.





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