As One Girl to Another (complete booklet, 1940, Kotex, U.S.A.) - Teacher's
kit (complete, early 1950s, Personal Products
Corp., U.S.A.) - Shame in menstrual hygiene. A very early Tampax ad (1936)
See ads for menarche-education
booklets: Marjorie May's Twelfth Birthday
(Kotex, 1933), Tampax tampons (1970, with Susan Dey),
Personal Products (1955, with Carol Lynley), and
German o.b. tampons (lower ad, 1970s)
 
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Walt Disney's film for Kotex: the Story of Menstruation
I can show you a few frames from the most interesting film in the history
of menstrual education - one of the few interesting ones, since everybody
treads so softly around this subject - the 1946 one Walt Disney animated
for Kotex.
Disney by then, of course, was the greatest animator of them all, having
created Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck (my favorite, and around
whom - do I use "whom" for a duck? - a cult has developed) and
animated some great films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Bambi,
which brings tears to my eyes when I think about Bambi's mother. Oh, well,
I'll get over it. Leave me alone! No, no, I'm OK.
Kotex does not bring tears to my eyes, but it might to those of you
who have to wear any kind of pad or even tampon or anything else. Kotex
pads reigned in MenstruationAmerica from the early 1920s for decades and
produced the earliest company booklets for menstrual education I know of
for children and their parents, the Marjorie May series (see most of one
made for the Australian market in 1928, and later
American [1938] and Canadian [1935,
1938] editions; see the directory
for all similar booklets).
Note that Walt Disney apparently had to get permission from Kotex to
do a film about menstruation. See what I mean about Kotex's power? Kotex
very courteously agreed. As if Kotex didn't ask, or beg, Disney in the first
place. But we expect such delicacy in a field where ad writers emphasize
"daintiness" and "feeling fresh" and so many things
are unsaid - and where blue packaging predominates over red (read a 1928
discussion of this). It's amazing that Disney
agreed to associate itself with the topic; the company that made Kotex,
Kimberly-Clark, didn't advertise its connection for decades.
I don't know when the earliest film or film strip appeared explaining
menstruation appeared - mail me if you
know - but it would be hard to top using white to represent menstrual blood,
as this film does (I saw the film years ago).
Of course Disney-cuteness rules, but Disney cartoons meant a lot to
people then.
"A Kindly Contributor" who is kindly indeed sent me the frames
below with this e-mail:
Hi--
Thought your Web site might benefit from these still frames taken from
a 16mm print of the the 1946 Disney/Kotex production.
Regards,
A Kindly Contributor
See Kotex ads from 1943 and 1948,
and see the first Kotex ad, with some history
of the company. Browse the pad directory.
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As One Girl to Another (complete
booklet, 1940, Kotex, U.S.A.) - Teacher's kit
(complete, early 1950s, Personal Products Corp.,
U.S.A.) - Shame in menstrual hygiene. A very early Tampax ad (1936)
© 2003 Harry Finley. It is illegal to reproduce or distribute any
of the work on this Web site in any manner or medium without written permission
of the author. Please report suspected violations to hfinley@mum.org
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