Jane (comic strip)
Jane was a comic strip created and drawn by Norman Pett exclusively for the British tabloid The Daily Mirror from 5 December 1932 to 10 October 1959.
Publication History
Originally entitled Jane's Journal - Or The Diary Of A Bright Young Thing, the salacious strip featured the misadventures of the title ingenue. The hapless heroine had a habit of frequently (and most often inadvertently) losing her clothes. Her intimate confidant was a pet dachshund named Fritz.
Her full name was Jane Gay (at the time the term "gay" was still used to describe someone as cheerful and fun-loving). It was a play on the name Lady Jane Grey.
The strip became enormously popular during the Second World War and was seen as morale-boosting, inspiring a similar American version, Milton Caniff's comic strip Male Call. Until 1943 Jane rarely stripped to more than her undergarments, but then she made a full-nude appearance when getting out of a bath and clumsily falling into the middle of a crowd of British soldiers. It's been claimed that, as a result of this appearance, the British Army advanced five miles in North Africa.
In 1945 King Features attempted to syndicate Jane strips in the United States[1]. However, the amount of nudity was too much for American audiences and the attempt ceased in 1946[2].
The original version ended in 1959 with Jane settling down with charmer Georgie. The Mirror has since tried to revive the character on several occasions. One such strip was Jane - Daughter of Jane, who was apparently the original's grown-up offspring, but lacked her "mother"'s charm and innocence.
Adaptations
The strip inspired an eponymous stage-play in the 1940s. A film followed in 1949, titled The Adventures Of Jane starring Chrystabel Leighton-Porter, Pett's original model, and directed by Edward G. Whiting. A second film was made in 1987, titled Jane and the Lost City and directed by Terry Marcel.
A television series was also made by the BBC between 1982 and 1984, starring Glynis Barber in the title role. The first season was simply titled 'Jane', while the second was called 'Jane in the Desert'. Despite the early evening scheduling slot the show was decidedly risque with Jane continuously stripping down to her underwear including stockings and suspenders. At the end of the second series' closing episode she even appeared topless momentarily.
The show was briefly revived in 1985 as a 3-part sequence shown over a single morning on Breakfast Television, but without Glynis Barber in the lead role.
Works inspired by Jane
Several subsequent comic strips are said to have been inspired by Norman Pett's Jane. These include Male Call, Sally the Sleuth and Little Annie Fanny[3]
Further reading
- Jane: A Pin-Up at War by Andy Saunders (2005. Leo Cooper Ltd. ISBN 1844152928)
References
External links
- Jane at IMDb
- Racy Cartoons of the World War II Years: "Jane"
- Jane at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
- Comic Creator: Norman Pett
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