History
Della Mason was the secretary for Whitney Hammond, owner of Beauty Magazine, during the 1940s. In 1948 she was ambitious enough to try for the position of editor of the magazine. She instantly took a disliking to the newly hired Venus, whom none believed was really the Olympian goddess.
This became especially more pronounced following the resignation of previous editor Clarence Snippe and when the job was given to Venus. Della had a one-sided rivalry with Venus, and regularly hoped or attempted to get Venus fired so that she could take over the position of editor. When Venus was assigned to find 10 beautiful women to rival an article featuring the so-called "10 most loveliest women on Earth" in rival Lovely Lady Magazine, Della was disappointed when Venus managed to complete the task.[2]
In one such instance, Della intercepted a telegram from Whitney Hammond intended for Venus, asking her to go to Atlantic City to cover a beauty pageant for the magazine. Della altered the telegram so it instructed Venus to go to Cactus City instead, hoping the misinformation would get Venus fired.
However, change in the destination became an unintentional publicity stunt that got Beauty Magazine front page news coverage and so saving Venus' job, much to Della's chagrin. Della next hired private investigators to learn where Venus went during her frequent absences. Venus noticed that and hired the detectives to play a prank on Della instead. As Della tried to convince Whitney Hammond that Venus was working with the competition, the detectives entered the office to tell her that they could not find another magazine that would hire her as editor. Before Hammond could fire Della, Venus appeared and revealed that it was a prank on her part and warned Della not to cross her again in the future.[3] This did not stop Della from trying at other opportunities.
When Della was turned down to get an interview with Rodney Radiant, the most handsome man, she was angered that Venus got the job instead. Hoping to prevent Venus from getting an good interview, she dared Venus to cover her beauty with a sun-glasses and a bandana. Venus agreed but still succeeded in getting the scoop on the announcement that Radiant was going to marry his high school sweetheart.[4]
By 1949, Della had increased her ambitions to not only replace Venus as editor of Beauty Magazine, but also to win the heart of Whitney Hammond. Della was callous toward her co-worker Lucy when her boyfriend called off their engagement to obsess over a statue of Juno. Venus got involved in trying to bring the couple back together, but soon realized that Lucy's boyfriend Frank was a snake who only focused his attentions to beauty. He eventually ended up hooking up with Della, but it would appear that this romance fizzled out as quickly as the others.[5]
Venus soon went on vacation, leaving Della to fill in for her. That brought the magazine behind schedule with a publishing deadline looming. The end result was Whitney Hammond working overtime to get up to date, leading to him ignoring Venus. Della suggested that Venus get a boyfriend to make Whitney jealous. Venus did so, bringing Samson to Earth to pose as her new suitor. Whitney laughed this off, and Venus left dejected leaving Samson in the company of Della.
Finding Samson attractive, she convinced him to get a haircut and shave his beard. This led to Samson's downfall when he forced himself upon Venus, finally making Hammond jealous to fight him off her, Venus then sent him back to Olympus. Della then attempted a series of psychological means to get rid of Venus. The first, was seeking the advice of psychologist Dr. Dingle. Dingle suggested to Della that Whitney Hammond was only interested in beauty.
Taking this advice, Della seemingly convinced Venus of this and suggested that she dress more conservatively around the office. However, Venus and Whitney figured out Della's ploy and ensured it backfired. Shortly thereafter, when Venus once more attempted to convince Whitney that she was the goddess of love, Della convinced Hammond to force Venus to see Dr. Saunders for treatment. This backfired when Saunders became frustrated that Venus could not give up her "delusions" and quit his profession.[6]
Later, while Venus was away on a weeklong assignment in California, Della attempted to steal her job and romance, but failed miserably.[7] She was furious when Whitney Hammond entered Beauty Magazine in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans when it was revealed that it would only feature Venus as the attraction. Della's doubts were validated when Venus left her float, disqualifying them from the parade. However, Della was unaware that Venus' foe Loki had appeared on Earth. Loki soon possessed Whitney Hammond and began romancing Della. Loki then forced Hammond to attempt to sell Beauty Magazine to a rival, sending Della on the job of sending the telegram. Venus, intercepted this and soon freed Whitney from Loki's control. The two then patched up their strained relationship, much to Della's chagrin.[8]
In 1950, Della continued her attempts to break up Whitney Hammond and Venus and get the position of editor. She often was there to sow doubt in Whitney when Venus made her frequent disappearances to help with the romantic troubles of others. When Venus was attempting to reunite lost lovers Rona Sanders and George Huston, she first sought to trick George into falling in love with her. Seeing Venus and George together was enough for Della to sow doubt in Whitney and convinced him to track Venus down to the home of Rona Sanders. There however, Venus reunited the couple and her and Whitney were happily reunited.[9]
Della soon became the object of affection of Marvin Klee who worked in the art department for Beauty Magazine. Marvin's constant requests for dates were met with nothing but annoying on Della's part. However this changed when Marvin's body was briefly possessed by the spirit of Apollo, who sought to reclaim the heart of Venus. The change in Klee's aura caused Della to fall madly in love with him, but Apollo only met Mason's advances with the same contempt she previously held with Klee. Apollo soon left Klee's body to return to Olympus upon his failure to win Venus. This was at the exact moment that Della was once more literally throwing herself at Klee. Finally in control of himself, Klee took this as advances finally working. With Apollo's presence gone, Della soon reverted to her original opinion of Klee, and was frustrated at his redoubled interest in her.
However, Della soon used Marvin's interest in her to manipulate him into her next plot to trying to discredit Venus. When Venus wrote an article guaranteeing that she could bring out the natural beauty of any woman, Beauty Magazine was in a dangerous legal situation that could have meant lawsuits against the company if Venus failed to provide. Della had Marvin recruit the frumpish Minnie Glee to completely refuse Venus' make-over advice and then sue the company, in the hopes that this would force Whitney to fire her. However, Della's plan failed when Venus played into Minnie's interest in Marvin to get her to agree to a make-over. Minnie and Marvin soon started dating, leaving Della with nothing for her troubles.[10]
When the mysterious Mr. Satin (really Loki's son the so-called Son of Satan) appeared in the office and spirited Venus away to talk, Della used this as an opportunity to once more sow doubt in Whitney Hammond over Venus' fidelity. This time however, Hammond refused to give in to doubt. Della and Whitney were later threatened when a tornado (created by the Son of Satan) threatened to destroy the Beauty Magazine offices, but this was secretly stopped by Venus. When Venus finally disposed of the Son of Satan, she returned to Hammond and their relationship resumed, much to Della's continued frustration.
Another opportunity to discredit Venus presented itself when Hammond became furious over rival publication Lovely Lady Magazine's price cutting. While Hammond was out of the office, Della tricked Venus into going to Lovely Lady's offices to cover a bogus story about a rival editor being secretly hired on by the company. When Whitney came back to the office, Della convinced him that Venus had quit to work for the competition. The plan almost worked, but fell apart when Venus returned to Beauty Magazine with Lovely Lady owner Paul Banner who had come to sell his failing company to Hammond.[11] Later, when a mysterious force threatened to plunge the Earth into the sun, Della had given up the hope, that the world would be saved. However, Venus later saved the planet from annihilation and Della resumed her usual tricks as though nothing happened.[12]
By 1951, Della's attempts to win over Whitney Hammond begin to diminish. When Venus was briefly kidnapped by the sultan of Cassarobia, she attempted to once more cast doubt in the mind of Whitney Hammond, but this attempt failed when Venus returned. She later tried to split the couple up while the trio were on a cruise that was attacked by the Fish-Men and Whitney was sickened by their radiation. Della tried to curry Whitney's favor by staying by his bedside, however Venus dealt with the creatures and brought Whitney the story.[13]
Della appeared to give up on her ambitions of winning Whitney over and trying to take the editors position and apparently developed a friendship with Venus. When Venus went to investigate the disappearance of women at a beauty salon, she was briefly replaced with an impostor. This impostor ran into Della, who instantly realized that there was something wrong. She alerted Whitney and the police, but Venus eventually freed herself.[14] When Venus went missing interviewing Jerome Lenz, Della joined Whitney in searching his photography studio and inadvertently activated the camera that had converted Venus into a two dimensional cut-out, thus restoring her to normal.[15]
When Venus began investigating the disappearances of people connected to crematorium owner Mr. Natas, Venus had Della pose as a grieving relative seeking to cremate his "deceased" cousin, with Venus posing as the deceased. Natas drugged Della hoping to incinerate her body, but Venus intervened. Claiming to be Satan himself, Natas then evaded capture by jumping into his own incinerator.[16]Attributes
Weaknesses
See Also
- 17 appearance(s) of Delilah Mason (Earth-616)
- 1 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Delilah Mason (Earth-616)
- 1 image(s) of Delilah Mason (Earth-616)