Connie Poirier: Blonde, Not Red-Head
The big text change in today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse is “red-head” was changed to “blonde.” I had always thought Connie was a natural blonde, who dyed her hair red for a brief period because of her ex-husband Peter. Now I find out that Connie is a bottle blonde and her natural hair colour I can only guess, since Connie is blonde in all the modern strips. I have no idea why Lynn Johnston felt it was necessary to change Connie’s dyed hair colour from 1980. Not too far into the future she runs off to Thunder Bay and meets her future husband, and neither her ex-husband nor her hair dye is ever mentioned again.
I have this feeling that Lynn Johnston read this old strip and got confused. I imagine she had a conversation with herself that went like this:
Lynn Johnston: This is a great old, strip. I call her ex-husband a rat.
Lynn Johnston: Wait a minute, Lynn. Did you see that?
Lynn Johnston: See what?
Lynn Johnston: Elly says Connie became an artsy, athletic red-head, a kitchen genius and a model wife!
Lynn Johnston: Exactly! That’s what husbands do. The bastards. No woman can do all that and look like a model too.
Lynn Johnston: I don’t think that’s what “model wife” means.
Lynn Johnston: You’re not going to ask me to look that up are you? You know I don’t do research. That’s why I retired, so I would never have to do research again.
Lynn Johnston: No. No. No. I mean look at the part about the red-head.
Lynn Johnston: Whoa! Connie’s not a red-head. She’s blonde.
Lynn Johnston: I know. We have to fix this. Elly can help Connie dye her hair blonde. You can just change the words and leave the reprint the same.
Lynn Johnston: No. No. Connie is a natural blonde. We can’t have Elly dye Connie’s hair blonde.
Lynn Johnston: Well, if you don’t then there are 2 reprint strips we can’t use with Elly dyeing Connie’s hair. You’ll have to make 2 new-runs instead.
Lynn Johnston: Screw that. I need the vacation time. OK. Connie is a now a bottle blonde. I wish I wasn’t so stupid back in 1980.
Lynn Johnston: You and me both.
That’s how I think it happened. What do you think?
By the way, I notice that when Elly describes Peter’s demands for Connie, there is not one word about sex or dressing like a rented lady mentioned. In fact, if Peter only wanted Connie to become an artsy, athletic red-head, a kitchen genius and a model wife; then I am beginning to wonder a little about Peter’s orientation.
On a personal note: My mother-in-law doesn’t seem to be getting any worse or any better. While that is a good thing on the not getting worse part, it is also frustrating that she is not showing any more signs of improvement.
I have this feeling that Lynn Johnston read this old strip and got confused. I imagine she had a conversation with herself that went like this:
Lynn Johnston: This is a great old, strip. I call her ex-husband a rat.
Lynn Johnston: Wait a minute, Lynn. Did you see that?
Lynn Johnston: See what?
Lynn Johnston: Elly says Connie became an artsy, athletic red-head, a kitchen genius and a model wife!
Lynn Johnston: Exactly! That’s what husbands do. The bastards. No woman can do all that and look like a model too.
Lynn Johnston: I don’t think that’s what “model wife” means.
Lynn Johnston: You’re not going to ask me to look that up are you? You know I don’t do research. That’s why I retired, so I would never have to do research again.
Lynn Johnston: No. No. No. I mean look at the part about the red-head.
Lynn Johnston: Whoa! Connie’s not a red-head. She’s blonde.
Lynn Johnston: I know. We have to fix this. Elly can help Connie dye her hair blonde. You can just change the words and leave the reprint the same.
Lynn Johnston: No. No. Connie is a natural blonde. We can’t have Elly dye Connie’s hair blonde.
Lynn Johnston: Well, if you don’t then there are 2 reprint strips we can’t use with Elly dyeing Connie’s hair. You’ll have to make 2 new-runs instead.
Lynn Johnston: Screw that. I need the vacation time. OK. Connie is a now a bottle blonde. I wish I wasn’t so stupid back in 1980.
Lynn Johnston: You and me both.
That’s how I think it happened. What do you think?
By the way, I notice that when Elly describes Peter’s demands for Connie, there is not one word about sex or dressing like a rented lady mentioned. In fact, if Peter only wanted Connie to become an artsy, athletic red-head, a kitchen genius and a model wife; then I am beginning to wonder a little about Peter’s orientation.
On a personal note: My mother-in-law doesn’t seem to be getting any worse or any better. While that is a good thing on the not getting worse part, it is also frustrating that she is not showing any more signs of improvement.
posted by howard at 11:26 PM
7 Comments:
howard,By the way, I notice that when Elly describes Peter’s demands for Connie, there is not one word about sex or dressing like a rented lady mentioned. In fact, if Peter only wanted Connie to become an artsy, athletic red-head, a kitchen genius and a model wife; then I am beginning to wonder a little about Peter’s orientation.Same here; I'm beginning to think that perhaps he simply got tired of living a lie and outed himself. She probably thought that his being gay was her fault or some such nonsense. That would probably explain why she got so freaked out when Lawrence declared himself, her spineless wonder of a husband thought she wanted him kicked out.
As for your MIL, I can understand your frustration; when the catastrophic starts to become the chronic, it's never a pleasant thing. I still however hope and pray that it becomes neither and she recovers.
...Does it make any sense that when I read your cheeky and yet always insightful posts these days, my first concern is for your Mother-in-law? - because, that's Real Life Serious Concerns.
(Something which Elly/Lynn seem(ed)(s) at times deficient at comprehending, on many levels. Grandpa Jim's health issues, for instance, were simply a story-telling convenience to her, or so they often seemed, no matter what the impetus for creating them...)
On the anniversary of my beloved MIL's untimely passing at at the age of 49, I am still hoping / praying that your MIL will make a decent recovery. :/
Well, also the Lynn Johnston of 2008-09 neglected to notice the "redhead" reference in her old strips (that would have taken going through them carefully before beginning the new-run endeavor) and went ahead and made Connie blonde in the new-run Sunday strips. So that retcons Connie into a woman so pathetic that she continues to color her hair for Pete even once she's been married to Greg for more than 20 years.
DreadedCandiru2,
That would probably explain why she got so freaked out when Lawrence declared himself, her spineless wonder of a husband thought she wanted him kicked out. This is the kind of thing you can do, if you go back and look at your old material with an eye to the future. Lynn Johnston could realize that Peter’s demands of Connie made him seem a little light in the loafers, and tied it in with Lawrence later on. Of course that wouldn’t work with Pablo da Silva in the mix.
Anonymous,
On the anniversary of my beloved MIL's untimely passing at at the age of 49, I am still hoping / praying that your MIL will make a decent recovery. :/49 is very young. I am sorry to hear about that. Thanks so much for your prayers and concerns for my mother-in-law.
(Something which Elly/Lynn seem(ed)(s) at times deficient at comprehending, on many levels. Grandpa Jim's health issues, for instance, were simply a story-telling convenience to her, or so they often seemed, no matter what the impetus for creating them...)Lynn Johnston did an interview awhile back with the magazine Caring Today, which gave many insights as to why Lynn told the story she did with Grandpa Jim. My interpretation was that when Lynn got Rod Johnston to agree to move away from his home town of Lynn Lake, Manitoba to Corbeil, Ontario; Rod must have moved his parents to be near him after that. The health issues with Grandpa Jim were based on Lynn’s experience with Rod’s parents. Rod’s mom had the stroke. In the interview Lynn speaks at length about a different illness Rod’s dad had, and how he was able to live through terrible pain and not complain about it. Not complaining about pain seems to be something Lynn admires a lot, and there is an implied contrast there when she talks about the burden her mother-in-law became after she had her stroke. Given these opinions, a lot of the way the Grandpa Jim story was written makes sense.
aprilp_katje,
So that retcons Connie into a woman so pathetic that she continues to color her hair for Pete even once she's been married to Greg for more than 20 years.Was there a point in the old strips where Connie specifically says that she is no longer colouring her hair for Peter? Also, if Connie doesn’t say it, is there a Sunday strip where we see Connie blonde for the first time? Yes, collection owner that you are, I am asking for a research project.
howtheduck, More Than a Month of Sundays, a color Sunday-only collection published in 1983, has:
A strip dated July 20, 1980, in which Connie's hair does look reddish. This is the one where Elly and Connie keep threatening to not allow Lawrence and Michael to do things unless they stop misbehaving, and yet they allow them to do all those things they want nonetheless. This was reprinted--I want to say during the "hybrid" phase. That's the only "Connie" appearance in the collection.
Our Sunday Best, a color Sundays-only collection published in 1984, has only one strip that features Connie. In that one, Connie and Elly both appear to have hair the color of dijon mustard. Original run dates were not included.
AFAIK, there was no strip where Connie declared she'd stop dyeing her hair, for Pete or otherwise.
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