Dale Messick spent some time this morning gazing at the Tribune Tower and the flag waving on top from her hotel room window a few blocks away. She was thinking about the beautiful golden red sunsets that are only possible in Chicago–and only at certain times of the year. “I was here in January and it was zero. Now it’s 95,” she says.
“No, mother,” pipes up Starr, who was born in 1942, “you were an inspiration to women. You inspired women to achieve.”
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
In 1940, Brenda Starr, Reporter was Brenda, Star Reporter (named after debutante Brenda Frasier). She was drawn to look like Rita Hayworth but gradually took on the characteristics of other beauties–Lana Turner, Kim Novak. Her body changed to reflect evolving styles, as the artist who drew her and brought her to life unconsciously kept her up-to-date. Her flaming red hair always made a statement.
Starr adds, “Yeah, but the guy dumped her six times. Feminists don’t like that too much.”
So relaxed that she admits she is easily conned. She winces when she talks about Brenda’s “wedding pictures” from 1977. “I drew them on special paper,” she explains, so they would be easier to preserve. “Someone called me up and said they’d like to include them in a big exhibit. They came by and got them and left me their address and telephone number and when weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything, I called the number and it was phony. I was too trusting.”
Messick is working on a new strip called Granny Glamour Says for senior citizen publications, in which the lead character looks surprisingly like an older, wiser Brenda. And she’s working on her autobiography; she plans to draw cartoons to illustrate the stories of her life.
But she hasn’t tried to keep her gender secret for a long time. All her life she’s done what she calls “chalk talks”–speaking to small groups at women’s clubs, at Rotary clubs, on cruises, and such, drawing pictures at an easel at the same time to illustrate in person her life’s work and passion.
