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 original model was Pett's wife Mary but success came when he began to use Christabel Leighton-Porter as the model. 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 [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,792364,00.html "Jane"] , Time, Monday, 27 August 1945] . However, the amount of nudity was too much for American audiences and the attempt ceased in 1946 [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,798085,00.html "Such Language"] , Time, Monday, 25 August 1947] .

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 Christabel 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.

Despite considerable publicity in the press at the time of its original screening, the show has slipped somewhat into obscurity and has never had a commercial video or DVD release.

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" [ [http://www.toonopedia.com/jane.htm Toonopedia] ]

Further reading

*"Jane: A Pin-Up at War" by Andy Saunders (2005. Leo Cooper Ltd. ISBN 1844152928)

References

External links

*
* [http://www.skylighters.org/jane/ Racy Cartoons of the World War II Years: "Jane"]
* [http://www.toonopedia.com/jane.htm Jane at Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
* [http://lambiek.net/artists/p/pett_norman.htm Comic Creator: Norman Pett]