Mavis Beacon is a fictional character created for the '' Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing'' line of computer software.

History

Developed to be a personification of a

The Software Toolworks The Software Toolworks (commonly abbreviated as Toolworks) was an American software and video game developer based in Novato, California. The company was founded by Walt Bilofsky in 1980 out of his Sherman Oaks garage, which he converted into ...

instructional typing program, Mavis Beacon debuted as simply a photo of a model on the software's packaging in 1987. The model chosen to be the face of Mavis was Haitian-born Renée L'Espérance, who was discovered working behind the perfume counter at

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. ...

by former

talk-show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Sho ...

host and partner at

Les Crane Les Crane (born Lesley Stein; December 3, 1933 – July 13, 2008) was a radio announcer and television talk show host, a pioneer in interactive broadcasting who also scored a spoken word hit with his 1971 recording of the poem ''Desiderata'', w ...

in 1985. Mavis's name comes from a combination of Mavis Staples (one of the software developer's favorite singers) and the word ''

beacon A beacon is an intentionally conspicuous device designed to attract attention to a specific location. A common example is the lighthouse, which draws attention to a fixed point that can be used to navigate around obstacles or into port. More mode ...

'' (an allusion to her role as a guide to typing). There have been several models chosen to represent the confident efficiency of Mavis Beacon; her image changes to represent a "modern professional typing instructor." According to an opinion article in the New York Times, author J.D. Biersdorf opined, "Due to Mavis Beacon being portrayed by a black woman, some retailers were initially reluctant to display the product. However, once the popularity of the program became evident, many distributors reversed their decision and began to display the line of software bearing Mavis Beacon's image." Since its introduction, ''Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing'' has been the best-selling instructional typing software.

Fame

Mavis Beacon has been seen as groundbreaking for being one of the first computer instruction characters and for being a female African-American embodiment of computer software. Throughout the 1990s, Mavis Beacon served as the virtual typing instructor at numerous U.S. schools. As of 1998, she had instructed 6,000,000 school children. Mavis has been compared to U.S.

cultural icon A cultural icon is a person or an artifact that is identified by members of a culture as representative of that culture. The process of identification is subjective, and "icons" are judged by the extent to which they can be seen as an authentic ...

Betty Crocker and has been called "the Betty Crocker of cyberspace".

Confusion

Mavis Beacon is often thought to be a living or historical figure by the public. This confusion has led many to contact the software developers seeking to speak to, interview, or book Mavis for an event. Furthermore, as a result of Mavis Beacon's continuous use in computer typing software, and her image on millions of software boxes, many

consumer A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

s have reported

confabulation In psychology, confabulation is a memory error defined as the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world. It is generally associated with certain types of brain damage (especially aneurysm in the an ...

s (i.e. false memories) of Mavis Beacon winning typing contests or appearing on talk shows.

Documentary

In 2022 ''Seeking Mavis Beacon'', a documentary, was released to tell the story of Mavis Beacon, and its creation by the men behind the company, Joe Abrams, Les Crane and Walt Bilofsky.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beacon, Mavis Female characters in advertising Fictional African-American people Mascots introduced in 1987

History

Fame

Confusion

Documentary

See also

References