The New Jamieshow Trent Debuts

Gene collectors rejoiced when Jamieshow Doll announced a resin version of Trent Osborn, a fictional mid-20th Century movie star and the one and only male doll in the Gene Marshall line. The last new Trent dolls were offered at the final Gene Convention held by Integrity Toys in Philadelphia in 2010. All the dolls were identical in sculpt and body to Mel's original Trent which was produced by Ashton-Drake.

Backstory From Ashton Drake Publicity: The 20th century had just made its debut - and soon after, one of Hollywood's favorite leading men, Trent Osborn, made his debut - in a Philadelphia maternity ward.
Born Theodore O'Bannion, young "Teddy" was quite the little neighborhood Romeo, stealing kisses from beneath the playground Pollyannas' pipe curls. He also always had a flair for the dramatic, prodding his playmates into staging elaborate pirate adventures on the bounding waters of the ponds in Philly's most prestigious parks - much to the chagrin of the local police force!
After graduating from high school, he longed for adventure, even working as a truck driver to escape the city limits. But soon he discovered the local theater groups, where he was quickly spotted by a casting director for the Theatre Guild and whisked off to The Great White Way. His refined good looks, coupled with a certain aura of reckless abandon, brought him role upon role - and the attentions and intentions of an army of beautiful young actresses and debutantes.
After playing the gamut of juvenile roles on Broadway, Teddy, now known as Trent Osborn to the New York theater goers, was brought to Hollywood in 1935. A mainstay at Monolithic Studios, he appeared in scores of films, and his most frequent leading ladies included such glamorous stars as Gene Marshall and Madra Lord.
As flamboyant a figure in Hollywood nightlife as he was on the screen, Trent Osborn broke countless hearts. But when he turned on those bedroom eyes, everyone from starlet to seasoned veteran melted at a glance.

To my eyes, the original Trent was a Mel Odom illustration produced in 3 dimensions, a drawing come to life.

Formal Introduction 2001

Despite being a great looking male doll, his joints and posing abilities were very limited. Jamieshow has solved that problem!

The new Trent called "A Double Life," is a resin ball-jointed doll with 15 points of articulation. He can wear all of Trent's prior wardrobe. Like other Jamieshow dolls, he came with a removable wig cap. This doll came with two molded wig caps in addition to the smooth one.

 
He is sold out at this time but here is the Jamieshow Link to read more about him.

My dear friend, Rita, has allowed her Trent to visit for a photo shoot.

There's no question that he looks different in many ways.  Jamieshow captured the essence of Trent and made him better looking! My blonde Trent is "Skiing or She-ing?"

In the photo below,  Double Life Trent is standing on his own. He is wearing "Tennis, Anyone?" an outfit designed by Vince Nowell, produced by Ashton Drake in 2001.

Under the clothes, there are differences as well.

As you can see, my vinyl Trent has changed colors, although that may not be what you're concentrating on.

Shall we give him a bit of privacy?

My First Doll Club Meeting; Dealers vs. Manufacturers; Eclectic Doll World

About 1-1/4  hours into the drive, I was tempted to turn around and go back home. I left my house at 5 PM for the 41 mile trip to Philadelphia. Under 'normal' circumstances, the drive takes 50 minutes. Last night the traffic and weather were anything but normal. But I forged ahead, sometimes at 5 miles per hour and sometimes at 25 mph, finally arriving at my destination after 7 PM.  Philadelphia is a beautiful and interesting city seen through my touristy eyes as I barely know it. Every time I see the facade of the art museum or the clock tower in Center City, I am enthralled. Anyway, next time I will head into the city in the afternoon, not during rush hour in a storm. Duh.

Happily Ever After is one of the last remaining brick and mortar doll stores anywhere. It is tucked into a charming part of Philly which (I believe) is part of Antique Row.  Like so many other small businesses they have suffered from the massive movement to buying on-line. Ed, the owner, told me that there were once quite a few doll and toy stores in the area. Another devastating blow is being dealt to these stores by those manufacturers who are now selling directly to collectors, in some cases selling goods at the same price the dealers would be paying. For example, yesterday Tonner Doll offered some amazing deals on Basic Cami dolls. A collector could purchase a Cami for about $45. with free shipping. If that is what a doll dealer pays for the doll, how can they possibly sell it to a collector and hope to make money?

It is a serious conflict of interest. Why would you compete with your dealers? As a collector who shops for the best prices, I'm going to avoid a dealer who is selling a doll for more than I have to pay elsewhere. I may also wait to buy a product if I see that the price always drops. No one runs a business solely to have fun. Businesses exist to make money. I see both sides of the issue. Of course the collector benefits from lower prices but we lose dealers. How many of us have doll stores near home where we can go and see the dolls in person? Very few.

Back to the club meeting...
The theme was the Swinging 60's. We were asked to bring a doll that was either manufactured during that period of time or one that was dressed in an appropriate fashion. I brought a Somers and Field Willow doll called GoGo.

I have a neat collection of these Mod British Birds but they are all in boxes as I'm planning to sell them. I've been planning this for a few years but every time I look at them, I find a reason to put them back and wait. At least one of the girls got out of her box last night.

The presenter dressed as a hippie and also brought along a load of dolls manufactured in the 1960's, most of which I had never heard of before.

We ate pizza and cheesecake and had Show and Tell. That was fun.

Chew and Tell

 I took only a few photos as I was more interested in listening. There were many more (and larger) dolls presented.

A point I want to emphasize is the value of seeing the broader picture of the doll world. You may know that my collection is quite eclectic but doesn't include any vintage dolls. A good percentage of the attendees who were there last night are vintage collectors. The benefit of the mix is you realize that your little world of modern fashion dolls is but a tiny fraction of the doll collecting world. I've come across collectors wouldn't spend a minute of their time looking at dolls they don't collect. I admit to sometimes being one of those collectors. I laugh at the reborn dolls - they do freak me out. I've only seen vintage French dolls from 18th and 19th centuries in museums.  I put down the cheap Barbie dolls without articulation. I don't care for vintage Barbie and know nothing about them but I appreciate the love others have for these dolls. There's a place for all of them. My dolls aren't better than your dolls; they're just mine.


I could definitely fall for these Mignonettes:

http://www.antiquetoychest.com/category/dolls/german-bisque-dolls/page/2/

http://www.rubylane.com/item/405753-572/All-Original-Mignonette-Presentation-box78

Sigh...look at this on eBay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Old-little-box-with-French-Mignonette-and-accessories-/300919212231?pt=US_Dolls_Bears_Toys&hash=item46102ec8c7

I'd definitely have to play with these. Why did I look?

Stardust ~ Saturday, June 5, 2010

Mel opened the door tonight when he said if someone comes up with a new way to present Gene, he's open. If that wasn't an invitation I don't know what is.
Today was a busy and fun day beginning with the Trent luncheon. As Alain had told us the day before, the room was originally the bank part of this historic building. It's walls are marble and the windows appeared to be at least three stories high . One of the original bank vault doors was on display and looked like a Louise Nevelson sculpture. There was a bright, airy feeling to the room which was very pleasant.
The centerpiece doll was, of course, Trent, dressed in a business suit and wearing the most fabulous black patent leather tassled loafers. Mel spoke briefly and introduced a good friend of his, Steven Hayes. Steven's presentation was a riot. He spoke lines from many different movies which were originally spoken by leading men of Gene Marshall's era. Taken out of context, these lines were hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed his talk.
The food was served buffet style and consisted of assorted hoagies and miniature cheesecakes for dessert. After lunch a few of us went with George/Angelic Dreamz to see Deneuve, the new Jamieshow doll. I was very impressed. The resin is absolutely fabulous; the dolls joints are attractive; she poses very well and looks great without clothes! The resin feels like a baby's skin. I will be photographing her in the future. I've been told that she can wear Avantguard, Gene, Alex, Cami and Antoinette clothing lines .
While many attended the movie screening, some of us went off for a sweaty, hot walk to the historic district. We gazed upon the Liberty Bell but none of us knew for sure if it was the real one or a substitute. It is worth noting that there is a huge amount of security at these historic sites and every purse and backpack is searched by gloved security guards. There are guards at the entries and exits and I assume they are armed. On the perimeter sidewalks surrounding the historic buildings are spaced concrete pillars to keep vehicles from driving onto the sidewalks. It's like living in a prison these days. Ugh. That's why I don't think it's the real Liberty Bell. It's too exposed. I remember when it was just in an open park setting and not even in a building. Of course I was just a tiny child then. LOL.
On the way back to the hotel we walked through Chinatown which is similar to Mott St. in Manhattan in that there are many restaurants and the smells are a mixture of soy sauce and garbage.
It was hot and humid but we pressed on as our goal was to get some icy refreshment at the Market.
My reward was mango/something sherbert. It was delicious. I wanted to rub it on my forehead and neck because it was so cold and I was still hot. I did refrain from that behavior, however, as I did not want to attract flies.
At the cocktail party I was impressed by the few women who were dressed up glamorously in sequins and beads. Everyone looked great!
My tablemates were very generous and gave all sorts of swag. There was a Kio wig on our seats along with the Gene doll for the giftset. The table centerpiece was a lovely Zita. During dinner the lottery winners were announced and the drawing for the Grey Gene doll was held. Our hostess won! I was really happy for April.
Back in my room, I opened the gorgeous Stardust Gene, the convention souvenir doll, to photograph her. To my dismay I discovered that her eye screening is defective. One lid is much lower than the other. I took several closeup pictures and immediately sent them to Alain with an email expressing the desire to exchange her, before I go home, for a good one. I do hope he checks at least one of his email addresses by tomorrow morning. I don't want to take home the most special doll of the convention with a noticeable defect and go through the process of waiting for a replacement. This is what she looks like:
I have several hundred photographs to upload and edit. I may even have a video or two to upload depending on the quality. Keep an eye out for future posts.
I can't wait to go home and spread out all the stuff I got. I will be selling some of the convention collection and a few other convention items but I need time to decide what stays and what goes. I can't keep it all! There's no room at the inn.

Stardust ~ Friday, June 4, 2010

Reporting live (but only partially) from Philadelphia at the end of day 2 of the final Gene convention. Mel did say that if people were to hold a Gene party, he would come if invited so calling this the 'final' Gene event may not be accurate. He also said that contrary to some of the dioramas, Gene is not dead. In the competition room, there are several dioramas (that are just spectacular) that depict a funeral for Gene and the people in mourning. In one diorama, Trent is shown dejected and about to shoot himself. These are pretty amazing and amusing as well. Back to Day 2: My day was supposed to begin with a class taught by Denis Bastien but, as some of you may already know, he was denied entry into the US because some nutty border guard demanded that Mr. Bastien produce a work visa which he did not have. He did not need one as he was putting on a demonstration and as far as I know, he was not being paid for his participation but I don't really know all the facts. On the surface, it appears that the border guard had a stick up his ass and demanded things that were above and beyond reasonable. Denis was threatened with a 5-year entry ban if he attempted to cross the border into the US in the next few days. Unbelievable. I spent part of the morning doing more shopping in the vendors' salesroom. The line for the official store was ridiculous so I never made it in there. At 11:30 the doors of the dining room opened for lunch. The centerpiece was a Madra entitled "Love, Madra." Mel told the story about how Madra came to be called Madra and why a female character was added to the line before a male character. We got the second part of our big giftset and were all given an Ivy doll as well! The "Fashion Sleuth" has provided this image of the original Dior designer fashion: After lunch, I attended two workshops. The first was with Alain Tremblay who demonstrated a unique flocking technique using positive/negative electrical current to cause flocking fibers to stand up straight on a glued surface. The results are so much more attractive than shaking powder flock onto a glued surface. We got a Trent doll who had been previously flocked by Alain. Some of us had him apply beards and mustaches to our dolls. It was a fun group of chattering, joking collectors. I am very pleased with my Trent!

My next class was called Taming Her Do. We had the option to purchase a Madra head which had a beautiful mane of black hair.

The Before View of Madra

My doll came out looking like a cross between Princess Leia and Pippi Longstocking. Luckily for you, I did not take an after picture. When I got home, I had the last laugh and took out the pins and bands and rinsed out the gel. Much better.

Several of my tablemates and I went to the famed Jim's Steaks on South Street in the Waterfront District.

If you ask me, it was kind of a dive and although the food was decent, I didn't see the thrill. The rest of South Street was pretty seedy but we had fun - especially in Condom Kingdom. No description is necessary. We walked to and visited Happily Ever After and stopped in to chat with Ed for a while. We arrived back at the hotel at about 7:30. All I wanted to do was go to bed but not wishing to miss anything, I showered and changed and went down to the cocktail party. Some guests were really into the entire thing with their period fashions and poses but the ballroom was dark, very noisy and not my scene. I stayed in the surrounding area with a bunch of people and had fun. I am falling asleep as I write so I'd better end here.