Hollywood Studio Magazine (July 1970)

ALEX LAIRD CREATOR EXTRAORDINARY It's a Kooky Job but stimutating! SURROUNDED BY HER OWN FANTASY WORLD, the books and miniature characters she was instrumental in creating, Alexandra (Alex) Laird, Mattel's Director of Creative Services, finds her job stimulating, rewarding . . . and just a little bit kooky. "Who else," she says can get away with walking down the halls trying out the names of all our fantastic new toys, dolls and other products on any willing listener." W hen Mattel - the world’s largest toymaker - needs a name for a new doll product (Baby First Step) or whole world of fancy (Upsy Downsy Land), they know where to turn - to Alexandra (Alex) Laird. For Alex Laird, working with Mattel’s other creative people, is part of the successful team that comes up with many of the ideas and names for the consistently successful line of products for young people around the world. Looking at Alex, the last thing one would call her is Manager of Creative Services for Mattel’s doll division. Trim, well-tanned and athletic, Alex looks like the typical socialite. But in addition to her important responsibilities at Mattel, Alex is a mother of three, wife to newscaster Jere Laird (who also teaches a course in broadcast journalism at Valley State) and proud possessor of a Mariner 31 ketch. “Next to my family and Mattel,” admits Alex, “my greatest love is sailing.” Alex’ latest achievement is a whole new world she helped create . . . called Upsy Downsy Land. What is Upsy Downsy Land? It is a fantasy world of dolls, playlands and books. And it’s different and imaginative - a stamp of the Mattel magic. According to Alex, Upsy Downsys are really people - not dolls. Each Upsy Downsy character has a distinct personality which magnifies a real-life quirk, familiar to us all. For example, there is Pudgy Fudgy, whose will power when it comes to food is practically non-existant. The introductory book, WELCOME TO UPSY DOWNSY LAND, presents the genesis of this new world. It’s easy to imagine sitting in the park and listening to Alex telling a stojy. “Once upon a time in a month of Sundays, the world was covered with dandelions. It was a beautiful, fuzzy world. One day, a great blustery wind blew into town... it was The Great Huff! And he decided to blow. Well, the Great Huff blew all the dandelions into dillions . . . right through a rainbow and a storm cloud. Some landed rightside up, others upside down, and the world became . . . Upsy Downsy Land.” “The rightside up dandelions settle and grow into a Magical World of Delight... the Upsys. The downside up dandelions grew into a Magical World of Delight. . . the Downsys. There was however, a slight difference between the two worlds . . .” Who lives in Upsy Downsy Land? Well, there’s Tickle Pinkie, Flossy Glossy, Baby So High, Pudgy Fudgy, Pocus Hocus, Miss Information, Mother What Now, Downy Dilly and many others. It is all, as Alex would probably put it, very happidiculous. A five and one half year Mattel employee, Alex began her career in marketing research, worked on a small newspaper in Pennsylvania and then moved out West to work on a radio station in Reno. Following a stint as a fashion writer and copywriter in an advertising agency, she joined Mattel. Alex’ mother, Alice Widener, is a well-known syndicated news columnist and publisher, and an experj on international politics and economics. Her father, noted conductor and violinist Nicolai Berezowsky, escaped the Russian Revolution in 1918 and was the protege of Serge Koussevitsky, who was Alex’ godfather. Alex takes great pride in her work. “I’m not a little old man dreaming up wild names in an isolated attic,” Alex says, “but I’ll admit I do get strange stares when I walk down the hall trying out the sound of a new name.” But then almost anyone who is heard to mumble “ S 1 i t h e r e e s, ” “Gooble-Despooks” or “Downy Dilly” can expect to get a few stares. . . 8A