The internationally know artist MEL ODOM has been a doll collector since his childhood spent in Ahoskie, North Carolina. After taking art lessions young in life, he majored in fashion illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University, followed by graduate work at the Leeds Polytechnic Institute of Art and Design in England. In 1975, he moved to New York City, and has since had his work exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum and the Society of Illustrators. He has received several prestigious awards, illustrated novels by Joyce Carol Oates and Tom Robbins, has had his art on the cover of several very well known publications such as the New York Times Magazine, and on the covers of Time and Omni.

At some time during the mist of all of this, he came upon an opportunity to mesh his love for dolls and his illustrative skills, so he volunteered his services and became involved in a project to help design the face of a known European collector doll. The end results turned out to be a disappointment to him. As a doll collector, he couldn't find many new dolls that he was interested in buying, and the prices of the older dolls kept getting higher and higher, so he set out to create a doll of his own - one that world reflect his illustrative style and taste.

Mr. Odom was fascinated with the glamour, romance and classiness of the fashions and the movie starlettes of early hollywood, starlettes such as Gene Tierney, Veronica Lake, Joan Crawford, Rita Haywood, Hedy Lamarr and Ann Sothern. So he knew that he wanted his doll to represent the "Classic American Beauty", remininscent of the 1940s and 1950s Legendary Grand dames of the Silver Screen.

While working on another project creating miniature mannequines, Mel met a sculptor by the name of Michael Everet, who coincidentally had always wanted to design a doll. So together they began the project, and with the use of Vargas drawings as an inspirational source to assure a proportionately feasible, elegant, sensuous physique, the prototype for Gene was underway. After much thought and consideration, Mel decided that a 15 1/2 inch doll would be best. The perfect size for collecting and dressing. This size doll would be small enough for a person with limited space to collect, but large enough to have "people" designers design human clothes in doll scale for Gene. The clothing line was designed by Mel's close friends Doug James, Tim Alberts and Tim Kennedy. Mr. Alberts hand ventilated the original wigs and styled the hair on the vinyl prototypes.

Bringing Gene to the collector's market as we know her today was no easy venture, from initial sketch to production line - Gene was four years in the making. Mel had extensive meetings with several doll companies, but it was The Ashton-Drake Galleries® that he decided could best meet his needs. Ms. Kate Dwyer and the other executives of The Ashton-Drake Galleries® (A company very well known for their excellent quality dolls) were captivated by Mel Odoms initial presentation. Soon after, Ms. Joan Greene was placed in charge of "The Gene Project" and with her help - well... the rest is history.

Gene was introduced into our now much more interesting and glamorous world of dolls in February of 1995 as three seperate dolls: GENE in PREMIERE (Blonde), GENE in RED VENUS (Red Head), and GENE in MONACO (Brunette). These fabulous dolls are made of a porcelain-like vinyl (reminicent of the no.1 Barbie®, Mattel® Inc.), they have rooted hair and real lashes, and each doll is individually numbered with a numbered certificate. In addition to these dolls, 9 extra outfits were made available, each sold seperately, has a numbered certificates, and all are complete with terrific accessories. Also included with each doll and outfit is a story card (so unique) dated with the circa year and details of when Gene used the outfit.

The vision of Mel Odom and the collective efforts of all involved has given us one of the loveliest and most sophisticated dolls ever made - I for one am very grateful.

MORE INTERESTING TIDBITS

  Mel Odom's vision of Gene's career spans from the age of 18 years old (1941) to the age of 39 years old (1962).

  Mr. Odom sees the possibility of the addition of Gene friends and rivals sometime in the future, maybe even a glamorous arch enemy as opposed to a non-threatening best friend.

  Gene's Birthday is celebrated April 17th.

  In case you haven't figured it out yet, (it took me a while) Gene's natural hair color is Blonde.

  There is a bi-monthly newsletter for Gene fans called "The Gene Scene" (done in cooperation with Mel Odom and The Ashton-Drake Galleries®). This newsletter includes stories, pictures, updates, and the inside scoop, plus lots more. The subscribtion price is $15.00, check or money order. For more information write to: The Gene Scene, P.O. Box 1675, Rockville, MD 20849

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:

I'd like to take time to thank the sources of some of my information:

1. The Ashton-Drake Galleries® - assorted releases.
2. Doll Reader Magazine®, August 1995 - article entitled "Gene" - by Beauregard Houston-Montgomery.
3. Barbie Bazaar®, January/February 1996 - article entitled "Gene Marshall" - by Laura Meisner.




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THE GENE MARSHALL® DOLL WAS CREATED BY MEL ODOM AND IS DISTRIBUTED BY THE ASHTON-DRAKE GALLERIES®.
All trademarks® are copyright of their respective owners.

NOTE: I am not now, nor have I ever been affiliated with any of the companies or persons mentioned in the above text, (though I would love to work for any one of them). This page was made solely because of my love for the art of the dolls and collecting them.