I was thinking about the Who's Who page I posted over the weekend and how I complimented Jim Mooney for including a shot of Linda Danvers in the background. I commented that he included her in the 'campus cuddle-bun' hair style.Well, I wanted to show the origin of the 'campus cuddle-bun', a term which is not my own.
At the end of Action Comics #273 after the Supergirl story (scanned from Supergirl Archives Vol 2), DC asked readers to vote on a new hair-do for Linda Lee. In the upcoming year, Linda would be adopted by the Danvers. She would eventually be introduced to the world. She was growing up. And so the braided pony-tail look seemed too young.
So Jim Mooney designed five new hair styles for readers to vote on. The 'campus cuddle bun', the 'kitten cut', the 'pony tail sophisticate', the 'Lori Lemaris special', and the 'contempo cut'.
It is hard to know what I would be thinking in 1961 ... I was no where near being born. But when I first saw this page I thought I probably would have voted for the 'contempo cut'.
A few issues later, the results were posted. The 'campus cuddle-bun' was a runaway winner, nearly doubling the number of votes for the second place winner the 'pony tail sophisticate'. I was really impressed with the number of folks who wrote in to vote!
Surprisingly, the 'contempo cut' got the least votes!
And that's the origin of the 'campus cuddle-bun', a style Linda wore for much of her career.
8 comments:
lol, i too would've voted for the contempo cut :)...
i think you may have a new poll question, anj.
I went back and looked at these a couple of years ago and went through the same thought process. Contempo Cut all the way. Probably because it's the one that translates best to current fashions.
Now me, I always liked "The Ponytail Sophisticate" not for Linda, but for Supergirl!
I mean consider, da goil favors a long natural 'do, which has to inconveniently whip into her face and things when going mano a mano with Darkseid in the Thunderdome or lifting a sinking steamship over her head.
Granted she'd need a hair-scrunchy made of indestructible kryptonian elastic, but honestly it's a much more practical option IMHO.
;D
John Feer
Thanks Anj for such a cute bit of trivia! I would've gone for the "Contempo Cut" too. But like Landry said, I guess that's because it translates best to current styles. Maybe pony tails were more popular in 1961. I can't believe 20,000 fans wrote in. I think that's a pretty substantial amount of readers to respond to a poll in a time where the only form of response was snail mail. It's always interesting to see through these little windows back in time.
I was also impressed that 20K kids mailed in a response. I wonder if that was considered a 'big turnout' back then.
Oh, I think the figures were probably exaggerated - they'd never have had time to sort that much mail.
What a cynic, eh? I don't doubt there was a good response though. My time as editor of a My Little Pony comic showed how much kids love to interact ("STOP printing crap! Luv, Your Friend Lisa aged six.")
I always liked the contempo-cut too (though it looked rubbish on me).
Yet another who prefers the Contempo cut. :) Hmmm, Y'know, I actually think that if this particular art style were revisited in some of DC comics today it would sell in great numbers for could you imagine the characters and back grounds all done up all 21st Century themed like on top of the modern techniques used to color in comics of today being applied to this particular style even! :D
Contempo Cut all the way. Y'know, I bet if they were to re-do that, modern tastes being what they are would yield the contempo cut as the winner, at least if the blog responses are anything to go by.
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