History
When the Gene Marshall doll appeared on the market in 1995, it was one of the first items of its type and size: a large fashion doll primarily intended for display by adult collectors. Until then, the standard fashion doll had been the 11.5" Barbie, which is still primarily sold as a children's plaything; while some collectors were attracted to limited-edition specialty Barbies, most collectible dolls at the time were constructed with neotenous baby-doll proportions instead of with mature, nubile ones. There was an exception; Mdvanii, the first anatomically-correct fashion doll for adults. Mdvanii renewed Mel Odom's childhood interest in dolls and led him to create Gene Marshall. The popular success of Gene Marshall sparked the invention of an entire genre of similar collectible large fashion dolls from other companies, such as Tyler Wentworth from Tonner Doll Company, Alexandra Fairchild Ford from Madame Alexander and Clea Bella from Bella! Productions.
Three years after Gene Marshall's introduction, over half a million had been sold, and a Gene subculture had sprung up including collectibles clubs, magazines, and conventions. Her design is "an amalgam of all the larger-than-life actresses of Hollywood's Golden Era", and costumes that evoke the work of Edith Head are supposed to represent her appearances in specific but fictional films.
Odom's illustration work has been compared to dolls, and though his career progressed beyond the men's magazines for which he is still best known (he has done book and magazine covers including TIME magazine), he believes that Gene is the "something significant" he has felt bound to do after watching 2/3 of his friends die during the AIDS epidemic. After its debut at the 1995 Toy Fair, Gene became a hit among adult collectors, among them actress Demi Moore ("the world's most high-profile doll collector", according to the New York Times).
Between 1995 and 2005 the dolls were manufactured by the Ashton-Drake Galleries. From 2005 to 2010 the dolls were produced by Jason Wu and made by Integrity Toys. They have a dedicated following and have inspired other characters in the line: Madra Lord, Violet Waters, Ivy Jordan, Trent Osborn, Zita Charles, real-life movie actress Marsha Hunt, and the mysterious Oona Bellweather. These dolls are also popular for artists' one of a kind repaints.
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