Decter American Mannequin was founded in 1924.  For three quarters of a century, they designed and manufactured premium quality visual merchandising equipment, including most notably, mannequins.  Decter had over 3000 proprietary molds, which were used to make mannequins in factories in Los Angeles and China.   In 1999, Silvestri Studio acquired Decter, and continues to market the Decter line along with the Silvestri models.

Our mannequin is model number J369W from Decter's "JR MS Collection,"  which was copyrighted in the early 1970's.  The mannequin was patterned after a live model, and cast in fiberglass from molds which long since been destroyed.  Optional wigs for the Decter models were styled by Suzanne Victor who was Decter's stylist at the time this collection was created.  She sold for approximately $525.

The Mode Ltd. acquired our mannequin sometime in the 1970's.  There she would wear the latest in fashions in a career which spanned the better part of two decades.

Every day hundreds of admiring spectators would cast their eyes on her and seek to emulate her look.  On occasion she would stand in a giant picture window where passersby might be enticed to come into her building.

Her high fashion career came to an ignominious end early in the 1990's.  In 1992, The Mode had closed its doors. The store's fixtures and equipment, including a small community of mannequins, were offered for public sale.

That was when the lady and I met.  I was traveling to Boise with my wife and step mother for my father's funeral.  Although he had lived for many years in Phoenix, it was his desire to have a Masonic funeral in the town where my family lived when I was gowning up.

My nephew met us at the airport.  Practically the first words out of his mouth were, "Uncle Eddy, you have to see this."  In Boise, I was still "Eddy", a kid's name that I shortened about the time that I left for college.  He brought a clipping from the Idaho Daily Statesman advertising the liquidation of The Mode department store.  The featured items included the store's collection of mannequins.

I don't know why he thought I would be interested in a department store mannequin, but it did pique my interest.  Later in the week we visited the store.  On the second floor the entire family of female mannequins was huddled in a corner.  They were all naked, all thin, bordering on anorexic, and all were without wigs.  They gave the disturbing impression that they might be about to be sent to the gas chambers.

We chose our lady because she was in excellent condition, and had the most natural pose.  Apparently, the more suggestive the pose, the more likely shoppers will be enticed into purchasing the clothing displayed.  We then proceeded to hair collection and chose the one that fit her best.  The liquidation purchase price, as close as I can recall, was in the $150 to $200 range.

Since we were boarding our plane for the return trip to Phoenix early the next day, the immediate problem became how to get our purchase back onboard.  I was not about to pay for another seat, and even if I did, she was not articulated and could not sit.

Her hands and arms can be removed, and her head and upper torso can be separated from her legs and buttocks.  Thus disassembled we were able to fits her into two reasonable sized cardboard boxes.  We had no packing, but we had a generous supply of unpopped popcorn.   Late into the evening we popped popcorn and nestled our future houseguest in edible packing.

The next morning, we arrived at the Horizon Air counter at the Boise airport with two cartons of body parts.  Although one of the boxes was 2 inches in excess of the maximum size allowed for checked baggage, Horizon accepted our "luggage," and we were  on our way home.