diff --git a/addons/mail/data/mail_demo.xml b/addons/mail/data/mail_demo.xml
index 1087fa58563..f189b10650c 100644
--- a/addons/mail/data/mail_demo.xml
+++ b/addons/mail/data/mail_demo.xml
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ This month you also get 250 EUR of eco-vouchers if you have been in the company
         <!-- External mail + reply with attachment conversation -->
         <record id="message_video2" model="mail.message">
             <field name="subject">Plan to install OpenERP</field>
+            <field name="model">mail.message</field>
             <field name="body">
                 &lt;![CDATA[Email0 inquiry]]&gt;
                 &lt;div&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;Hello,&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;font size="2"&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/font&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
@@ -95,7 +96,6 @@ This month you also get 250 EUR of eco-vouchers if you have been in the company
                 Sophie
             </field>
             <field name="type">email</field>
-            <field name="subtype_id" ref="mt_comment"/>
             <field name="author_id" ref="base.res_partner_2"/>
             <field name="partner_ids" eval="[(6, 0, [ref('base.partner_demo'), ref('base.partner_root')])]"/>
         </record>
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ This month you also get 250 EUR of eco-vouchers if you have been in the company
             <field name="name">catalogue 2012.pdf</field>
         </record>
         <record id="message_video2_message1" model="mail.message">
-            <field name="subject">Re: Plan to buy a Laptop</field>
+            <field name="subject">Re: Plan to install OpenERP</field>
             <field name="body">
                 Dear Customer,&lt;br/&gt;
                 Thanks for showing interest in our products.&lt;br/&gt;
diff --git a/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js b/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js
index 52226c7bc75..d951a09cbb5 100644
--- a/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js
+++ b/addons/mail/static/src/js/mail.js
@@ -274,7 +274,7 @@ openerp.mail = function (session) {
                 this.date = session.web.format_value(this._date, {type:"datetime"});
                 this.timerelative = $.timeago(this.date);
             } 
-            if (this.type == 'email' && !this.author_id) {
+            if (this.type == 'email' && (!this.author_id || !this.author_id[0])) {
                 this.avatar = ('/mail/static/src/img/email_icon.png');
             } else if (this.author_id && this.template != 'mail.compose_message') {
                 this.avatar = mail.ChatterUtils.get_image(this.session, 'res.partner', 'image_small', this.author_id[0]);