Separated At Birth? Invisible Girl and...

[HardyGirl]

Wow, that is weird!

[imp]

I always thought Invisible Girl's head was a trashed project to make a Cathy Lee Crosby as Wonder Woman figure.

CLC's Wonder Woman was '74.... and I think the sculpt resembles her a bit.

The resemblance — especially the requisite crooked mouth and buck teeth — is notable. Further, given the timing of the TV movie, Cathy Lee Crosby is... (shudder)... entirely plausible as the model for Mego's Invisible Girl. The episode aired in Spring 1974, affording a Mego-commissioned sculptor ample time to inscribe '1974' onto the neck.

Mike, my main concern with your theory is the likelihood of Mego pursuing a license based on a single, made-for-TV movie. Further, if the head was originally intended to be a 'Cathy Lee Crosby' head rather than a 'Cathy Lee Crosby-as-Wonder Woman' head, I question whether Mego would have pursued Cathy Lee Crosby on her own celebrity merits.

Besides, Mego didn't really pursue celebrity licenses until 1976 (with Muhammad Ali and Cher), and I am not aware of any Mego celebrity dolls prior to 1976. Even dubious celebrity Kristy McNichol, for example, was produced in 1978, if I'm not mistaken.

According to Farrah's Wikipedia entry, the poster was released in 1976 around the same time that Charlie's Angels first aired. I no longer consider my theory to be plausible.

The search continues.

Not so fast, Ant. While I tend to agree with your acquiescence, I believe Farrah still merits consideration. During an interview for the Mego book, I discussed Isis actress Joanna Cameron with a Mego 'insider.' Using Charlie's Angels as an example, the interviewee said, "Mego dealt directly with the actresses rather than the Charlie’s Angels people, (to avoid) paying the additional license fees." Mego was acutely aware that, beyond the characters themselves, the celebrities responsible for such characters also draw great interest among fans.

I think John (Starbuk) pointed out Farrah's Six Million Dollan Man appearances (not to mention her marriage to Lee Majors) occurred before 1974. However, my aforementioned Cathy Lee Crosby argument persists: Since Mego did not pursue 'celebrity' licenses until after 1974, and Farrah's pre-1974 character roles did not warrant production of a toy, this theory seems unlikely.

I love both hypotheses and I love this discussion, but I'm not sure we've arrived at any conclusive answers. Anyone else have any thoughts or ideas? Please throw your hat into the ring.

Benjamin
__________________________________________

Someone has spent too much time staring at WGSH figures the past two years! This sounds like one of those 4am revelations to me.

Re-reading this thread, Paul's post cracked me up… again!

Paul, your assignation is pretty close. Except that the '4am revelation' happened several years ago, and John, Mike and Ant have added fuel to my contentious fire; Mego's Invisible Girl head breaks from the norm.

It would be difficult to argue against Mego's IG head being suspiciously unique!

Benjamin
p.s. I worked on the book for the past FOUR (4) years, Paul, not TWO (2). Pffff!

[Hulk]

OK, so you want logical choices for who it might be...



Police Woman (1974), and Horsman did not produce their doll until 1976 I believe.

[kresge1]

OK, so you want logical choices for who it might be...



Police Woman (1974), and Horsman did not produce their doll until 1976 I believe.

Angie was a Hot Mama in her day

[imp]

OK, so you want logical choices for who it might be...



Police Woman (1974), and Horsman did not produce their doll until 1976 I believe.

Interesting! I don't know much about the show or its popularity, but the resemblance to Invisible Girl is certainly there.

Benjamin

[hobub]

I just want to clarify something, in case I was misunderstood: I never meant to imply Beverly D'Angelo could have been the likeness model. As far as I know, she wasn't even working when that head was sculpted. The resemblance is simply something I noticed a few years ago, and I decided to have some fun.



Now that is very interesting and somewhat plausible. The only problem with the theory is the timing; Farrah's massive celebrity stemmed mostly from Charlie's Angels and Logan's Run, both of which Mego pursued. However, both 'vehicles' occurred a couple of years after Mego commissioned the head.

Of course, there was also that infamous (brilliant) Red Bathing Suit poster, but I'm guessing that was produced after Charlie's Angels aired. Anyone know the release date on the poster, or if she did anything "big" prior to 1974 that I'm forgetting?

Benjamin

I know what you mean Ben.
Personally, I've always thought Supergirl...

was a dead ringer for a young Stella Stevens


And likewise, I've always associated the look of IG with that of Kay Lenz

[Titan4ever]

While a lot of these likenesses are uncanny, it's my opinion that IG wasn't based on any single model, but was an attempt at a more realistic portrayal, like most of the Marvel characters in general.

All of the initial characters produced by Mego, which were almost exclusively DC except for Cap and Tarzan, have a fairly blank, expressionless quality to them. That blankness always seemed to me to a visual strength rather than weakness, because a child could project whatever attitude he wanted on a given character during play.

The later releases, mostly Marvel, with their heightened sense of reality, had (arguably) better accessories including more emotional facial expressions. To me, it just seemed that IG just had a more realistic look to coincide with the grimacing Conans, austere Thors, and raging Hulks with whom she was marketed. The older blank expressions followed the same progression as the older ovenmitt accessories. Does anyone else see it this way?

Since we never saw another Marvel female from Mego, there's no way to know whether we would have continued to see fresh sculpts. One thing I have noticed, though, is that nearly all celebrity-likeness based sculpts from this era seem to exhibit exaggerated features (e.g. cher, happy days, CHiPs & Dukes), and I just don't see IG that way.

[hyperjoe]

I have a 1976 Angie Dickerson dolls for sale if interested? Missing jacket but all there and in excellent shape.

[PNGwynne]

I agree with Titans4ever--IG seems just part of the natural progression o f the WGSH line.

But...is it because of the labelling that the sculpt is assumed to be re-used?
Didn't Mego also reuse WW's Nubia sculpt for Daisy Duke?

And I've always wondered how Scarlet Witch would have been done by Mego...

BTW, I think IG makes a great Black Canary--her more realistic sculpt complements Green Arrow's.

[mego73]

Am I missing something? I can't find this "Separated At Birth" blog

[imp]

Am I missing something? I can't find this "Separated At Birth" blog

Here you go, boss:

Separated At Birth? Beverly D’Angelo & Mego Invisible Girl

-b