Glory Bee

Origin
Beatrice Gloria Benton is a ten year-old girl growing up in the picket fence suburb of Everdale, USA. Smart, pretty, and naturally high-spirited, she is also irrepressibly naughty, spending most of her time annoying every adult within her immediate vicinity. While her shenanigans are usually harmless pranks, they often result in minor catastrophes.

Glory's best friend is Sally Doolin, a sweet - but not overly-bright - little girl who lives in the house next door. The two are practically inseparable and share daily adventures, much to the chagrin of the various grown-ups who cross their paths.

The third member of the cast is Sally's teenaged brother Harry Doolin, a vaguely manic high-school quarterback and the girls' chief nemesis. Glory's had a major league crush on Harry since she was five years old and normally demonstrates her affections by driving him crazy. When turning 18, Gloria ends up sharing an apartment with two best friends, Carrie Madison and Kathy Hemstridge, with Gloria and Carrie becoming "friendly rivals." All three model part-time for the Cynosure Modeling Agency. The girls share various humorous adventures together, frequently crossing paths with Chamberlain superheroes such as Selina the Moon-Maiden, Victory Girl, Major Triumph and others.

Recurring characters
Fred and Dora Benton: Glory's long suffering parents, the archetypal fifties couple. Driven to distraction by their daughter's scams and deceptions, they're constantly forced to adopt 'stern measures' to curb Glory's behavior.

Mr Donald Benson: Glory's no-nonsense homeroom teacher. An exceptionally gifted educator, he recognizes Glory's genius-level intelligence but refuses to put up with any of her nonsense.

Dexter Eldington: Harry's best friend, the smartest kid in Everdale. Fancies himself as something of an inventor, although his crackpot gizmos are always more trouble than they're worth.

Kitty Hemstridge: Everdale's achetype 'good girl' and Glory's only true rival. Insanely jealous of Kitty's popularity, Glory often schemes to get her into trouble with parents and teachers.

Sheila Doolin: Harry and Sally's shrewish aunt; a drop-dead gorgeous redhead with a devastating right hook and a mouth that could gut a fish. Her main ambition seems to be making Harry's life miserable at every opportunity.

Daisy Miller: Harry's sometime girlfriend, a good-natured but slightly ditzy cheerleader who serves as an "older sister" figure to Sally and Glory. In later stories, she goes off to college, eventually returning as an elementary-school teacher.

Faux history
Glory Bee was originally published by Goldman Press in ''Holy Dooley! Comics'' from 1941 to 1954. The title went into hiatus for several months during the Comics Code Controversy, then resumed publication in 1956. Retitled Glory Bee Adventures, the strip combined children's humor with teen romance in an attempt to appeal to as wide an audience as possible.

In addition to her comic-book appearances, Glory was adapted into animated format and licensed for advertising by various companies, including Sassy Pants Underwear Inc. All of these 'items' are now highly sought-after collectors pieces, particularly the Glory Bee Paper Doll Kits.

The Glory Bee animated shorts of the 40s and 50s were collected and restored by Le Cine Achive De Paris and released in a DVD Boxed Set in 2006 (a comment on the fact that French preservation societies treat animated material with far greater respect than the original American studios do themselves). However, as the Glory Bee Collection is only available in Europe, 'screencaps' from the series are virtually unknown in America.