Doll:Brenda Starr

Some might find it a bit ironic that, in early 1960s, the Alexander Doll Company offered a doll based on the heroine of the long-running comic strip "Brenda Starr, Reporter." There is irony in that Madame Alexander as a woman succeeded in doll making, an industry overwhelmed by men and that for the 70 years Brenda Starr appeared in newspapers, she, too, succeeded in a profession dominated by men. In an additional irony, Dale Messick, who created Brenda Starr, took a man's name because she confronted many of the same obstacles that her star character faced. The 12-inch attractive doll that embodied all this irony featured Brenda's eye-catching red hair, good looks, and shapely body. The Alexander Doll Company offered a variety of dresses and accessories suitable for every adventure that the globe-trotting Brenda took on in her pursuit of the news story. The doll did not sell well, perhaps because, like Brenda Starr herself, the doll was ahead of its time.