Nov 23, 2009 0
Mavis Beacon is the Betty Crocker of software
Another aspect of Mavis that makes her unusual is her race. In a techie world traditionally dominated by white males, an African-American woman on the front of a software box tends to get one’s attention. ”The whole concept was this idea of trying to anthropomorphize computer software and to put a person on the cover,” Mr. Abrams said, ‘’so people would think it was a person trying to teach them how to type, as opposed to a computer.”So the ”Mavis” creators decided they needed a strong character to present the lessons, and Mr. Crane was put in charge of finding a model to photograph for the box cover.
”One day he walked into Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills to buy some cologne, and there behind the cosmetics counter was a beautiful black woman named Renee L’Esperance,” said Mr. Bilofsky, reading from a file that was put together to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Software Toolworks. ”Born into a well-to-do Haitian family, she fled the Duvalier regime and wound up at Saks. She had never modeled, and her extremely long fingernails made her an unlikely typist, but when Les looked at her, he saw Mavis.”
