MUSEUM OF MODERN MYTHOLOGY AND POP CULTURE

HONEY WEST

1957. Female private detective Honey West was created by Gloria and Forest Fickling using the pseudonym G.G. Fickling. Honey first appears in the novel This Girl for Hire, and in ten other mysteries applies her feline qualities with a bizarre blend of humour and thrills. In her 1960s TV role as Honey West, Anne Francis is a judo/karate expert who drives a sportscar, has a mobile spy unit (disguised as a TV repair truck) and mini-cameras and microphones. The Avengers had yet to air in America, so this was the first U. S. TV series with a female character in an action role usually played by a man. Honey West embodies many archetypal conventions despite her 'blonde bombshell' appearance, including that of 'Femme Fatale.' Some current scholarship on noir defies the negative label of the 'Femme Fatale,' viewing this state as empowering.

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