“Jeannie, Barbarella, Catwoman and the other Heroines of my Youth”
by Lori Victoria Braun
I remember running home from kindergarten when I was six years old, throwing my books down on the floor, running to the kitchen, pouring myself a big glass of cold milk and grabbing a bag full of Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies and switching on my favorite? TV? shows. I had even my own genie bottle and thought that I was Jeannie!
I would sit mesmerized by the beautiful and powerful Jeannie, who had every man she met wrapped around her little finger! I admired her cute seductiveness and subtle strength. Jeannie always knew what was best and how to have fun along the way to getting Major Nelson in or out of deep trouble.
That’s what I did when I was six years old, watch I Dream of Jeannie and The Munsters; Lily Munster also being one of my favorite TV role models. I thought she was so sexy and mature yet very caring, loving and intelligent. Like Jeannie, Lily had the men in her life under her thumb. Unlike most TV moms of the period, Lily in her flowing green negligee could be aggressive and domineering. She was definitely in charge, just like Jeannie.
Along with my very independent and sexy mother, I grew up with these women as my role models. I thought that all women should? be assertive, aggressive, independent, self-confident, intelligent, feminine, sexy and very strong! The bodybuilder in me was already being formed in my innocent preschooler’s subconscious!
This is my tribute to? the? women that were my childhood heroes and idols.
When Major Nelson’s space capsule crashed on? the? beach of a deserted island, he had no idea that the bottle he found buried in the sand contained the hottest most powerful woman he’d ever meet. Sexy and beautiful and sweet, Jeannie appeared in a column of? pink smoke to dominate and control every aspect of Major Nelson’s life. Her approach was somewhat different than the average female. Jeannie got whatever she wanted by making him believe that he was in control by calling him “Master” and treating him like a king.
With her beauty, sex appeal, kindness, wit and aggressive determination Jeannie put everyone at ease, to ultimately gain the upper hand in every situation. She was very, very powerful and I along with thousands of other ten-year-old girls admired and looked up to her as a role model. We all wanted our own Master that we could master and control!
Major Nelson would not have given up his dominant mistress for anything in the world; in fact he eventually married his gorgeous sexy and dynamic genie. Jeannie had it all. Every little girl in America wanted to be Jeannie and every little boy wanted a genie too! One of the best sit-coms ever created, I Dream of Jeannie encouraged me to be strong, funny, feminine and tricky, all in the blink of an eye!nd who could resist Barbarella in her black form fitting Lycra spacesuit? Looking dominant and overpowering yet sultry, she had every man drooling over her. She was cool, funky and psychedelic. Her boyfriend even had the wings of an angel. Barbarella was definitely a man’s fantasy but also a vision of women of the future. Her naval baring plastic ensembles have since walked the runways of Paris, New York and Milan to high praise. A deliberate study in camp, the culture at large apparently took the gun-toting space woman seriously!
Following on the heels of Pam Grier’s big screen success in the seventies, a TV cop show, Get Christy Love, starred Theresa Graves, one of the graffiti covered bikini clad go-go dancers featured on Laugh-in (along with Goldie Hawn).
In the title role of Christy Love, TV’s first black policewoman, Graves was given lines such as: “You’re under arrest, Sugah!” while she roughly slapped the cuffs behind the back of some bewildered thug whom she had just dropped kicked in her five inch leather platform boots. She was hip, tough and sexy as hell; in the pilot? episode black belt Christy takes on six hoodlums bare-handed and wins without breaking a sweat or mussing her huge afro.
The show’s producer Paul Mason commented at the time, “We knew there was a prejudice against women cops and we wanted to stop this by showing that Christy could do anything.”
Christy had an uptight boss who relished giving her minor assignments just to get her out of the way, but of course these minor assignments would lead her to solving the real crime. Get Christy Love ran only one season, from September 1974 to June 1975 on? ABC.
In the Spring of 1968, every kid in America tuned into the very first episode of the Batman TV show which featured Julie Newmar as the shapely Catwoman complete with skin-tight catsuit. She appeared in only one two-part episode that first season, but the second season saw her starring in no less than five two-part episodes. Ms. Newmar’s Catwoman had definitely made an impression.?
Her portrayal of Catwoman was as a take charge criminal mastermind, who besides being the ultimate TV femme fatale had an insatiable appetite for diamonds, a girl’s best friend. Newmar’s sultry good looks made her Catwoman unforgettable, mythic even.?
However, in the show’s third season Eartha Kitt played Catwoman. Ms. Kitt, who could slink and sashay with the best of them, added to the character Ms. Kitt’s distinctive purr and catlike growl that is her well-known trademark.
Eartha Kitt is still active in show business after five decades and is still fondly remembered as Catwoman, a role that the feisty Ms. Kitt still cherishes. Ms. Newmar, A trained dancer as well as Ms. Kitt, a world class cabaret performer both truly personified the spirit of Catwoman.
A Touch of Brimstone is the title of an only slightly more surreal than usual episode of The Avengers. A controversial episode when released, it is also one which most fans now agree is a classic. It is interesting to note that no images have attracted more comment both favorable and unfavorable than these pictures. Diana Rigg herself designed the costume worn by Emma Peel in A Touch of Brimstone.
Catwoman’s and Emma Peel’s overtly sexual costumes, with their dominatrix overtones, were only two of several to emerge from sixties television. Along with Jeannie’s naval enhancing see-through harem costume and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. in white leather mini skirt and knee high go-go boots, there was F-Troop’s amorous Wrangler Jane in skin-tight denim and suede not to mention Eva Gabor’s ever-present negligee on Green Acres.
Lori Victoria Braun -? About the Author:
Lori Victoria Braun is the owner and founder of FemaleMuscle, the largest website devoted to female bodybuilding, fitness, and female athletes. FemaleMuscle features thousands of videos, galleries articles, and blogs, updated daily by Braun and other regular contributors. Braun is also an accredited press representative with the IFBB, which is the governing body for all major international bodybuilding contests.
Read more:? http://www.articlesbase.com/television-articles/jeannie-barbarella-catwoman-and-the-other-heroines-of-my-youth-4207137.html#ixzz1DlPILBJz
Comments are closed.