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1950s
16mm home video film about The San Diego Zoo in the 1950s

16mm home video film about The San Diego Zoo in the 1950s

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This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Digitized 16mm Films

This was my first time attempting to digitize film with my iPhone and run a 16mm film projector. To test it, I bought the cheapest 16mm film that I could, which was labeled “16mm Film – Car Stunt Driving San Diego Zoo 1950s? Found Footage Incredible Rare”. Enjoy this old zoo and family vacation film footage, and let me know any info in the comments… or tips on running a 16mm projector and digitizing the films (I’ve since bought another one, a vintage Bell and Howell Specialist 550 Filmosound projector).

Lucille Ball and Marie Wilson were Successful Pinups on TV

Lucille Ball and Marie Wilson were Successful Pinups on TV

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This entry is part 28 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

This next article includes plenty of scantily clad pictures of Lucille Ball and Marie Wilson (as Irma, the dumbest blonde on TV). Irma in the “My Friend Irma” show, especially, is mentioned as stretching television’s strict Code with risque outfits and comedic innuendos. Lucille Ball is mentioned as being the pretty woman with brains and wit behind the top ten rated show “I Love Lucy”.

History of Beauty Contests and the Ideal Female Measurements of the 1950s

History of Beauty Contests and the Ideal Female Measurements of the 1950s

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This entry is part 4 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Did you know that the first Miss America was 5 foot 1, weighed 108lbs, had a 30 inch bust, 25 inch waist, 32 inch hips and brown hair with blue eyes? In comparison, Evelyn Ay, the 1954 winner, measured: 5’8, 132lbs, 37-24-36. Here is a chart and a picture to demonstrate the perfect female form of the 1950s, as decided by Vincent Trotta, a Miss Universe judge. He claimed that it was proportion, so a woman could be taller or shorter, just proportional.

Pinups on billboards, book covers, and record covers.

Pinups on billboards, book covers, and record covers.

This entry is part 11 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Here’s an interesting history of pinups in advertising! Showing pictures of billboards from the 1800s-1950s, with a focus on pretty girls in beer advertisements.

The next page shows samples of pretty women used to advertise books and, the latest thing, record album covers. Even classical music “moves off the shelves” faster when an attractive woman is pictured on it!

Pretty Girls Sold Tobacco – tobacco advertisements used pinups

Pretty Girls Sold Tobacco – tobacco advertisements used pinups

This entry is part 9 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Here is an interesting history of tobacco advertisements using pretty women and pinups as bait, and to gain broader social acceptance of smoking cigarettes! To explain changes in tobacco advertising, you have to take a historical perspective, which this article explains best. Briefly the history of tobacco ads (according to this 1953 article):

Corset and shapewear advertising history

Corset and shapewear advertising history

This entry is part 14 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Advertising to women, by attractive women! Here are some shapewear and corset ads, with a historical perspective. Gilda Grey and “other famous actresses” endorsing a fat reducing cream in 1923. Gypsy Rose Lee endorsing an electric shaver. Warner Brother’s Coraline Corsets of the 1880s(the corset alone was enough to sell it), versus the more straight fronted corseted shape of 1900 (this advertisement with pretty women) in an ad for Armorside Corsets. Finally, an ad for the “modern” 1950s girdle with stockings and garters which flattened both front and bottom, and could be best illustrated in a photograph.

Marilyn Monroe – the All American Pinup, and more advertising history

Marilyn Monroe – the All American Pinup, and more advertising history

This entry is part 17 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Enjoy these pinup pictures of Marilyn Monroe, declared “The All American Pinup” by the 1953 issue of Cheesecake – An American Phenomenon. Jane Russell said that “Marilyn is the most female girl I know”, and her only flaws were “a slight thickness behind the knees”.

The next page declares that “American business will spend close to $1,000,000,000 in advertising alone. At least one out of every three advertisements will feature a girl, who is bound to be pretty, shapely, and appealing.

Pinups in Action Can Draw Clients As Well As Patrons

Pinups in Action Can Draw Clients As Well As Patrons

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This entry is part 21 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Pinups thru out history have been used to sell everything from cosmetics to real estate. Sometimes, they had their origins in the scandalous worlds of peepshows and erotica. The scandalous Gilda Grey, famous for popularizing The Shimmy with her signature song The Shimmy Shewabble, helped sell a reducing cream in 1923. In 1925 she did the shimmy after a meeting to interest buyers in buying Coral Gables properties in Florida. The Shimmy, for which Gilda Grey was famous for, reportedly could be danced properly only with great difficulty and was considered primarily an exhibition dance. Similarly, the Cat Dance by Lilly Christine, had its origins in the realms of peepshows, but she crossed over into mainstream pinup model popularity and helped sell products.

Movie Vamps Have Been Pinups

Movie Vamps Have Been Pinups

This entry is part 16 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

This article discusses how Hollywood press agents can create a national pinup sensation thru posting daringly sensual photos in select magazines. As examples, they point out Theda Bara in the first part of the 20th century, and the “modern” sensation Roberta Haynes.

Pinup Gals of World War I and World War II: Mary Pickford and Betty Grable

Pinup Gals of World War I and World War II: Mary Pickford and Betty Grable

This entry is part 18 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

In World War I, Mary Pickford became the favorite pinup of soldiers when she dressed in uniform and toured the nation selling Liberty Bonds. In World War II, “demand for it [pictures of Betty Grable”] ran as high as 20,000 per week…”. “Able Grable”‘s legs appear in Army topographic maps designed to teach recruits how to hit their mark.

How Politics shaped womens fashions in the early 20th century

How Politics shaped womens fashions in the early 20th century

This entry is part 30 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

This is a very interesting article in the 1950s pinup magazine about the history of how politics and politicians shaped women’s fashions during the first half of the 20th century. The early feminist movement asked for many changes, among them suffrage, easy divorce, property laws, and equal education. This resulted in a fashion trends that were mannish, including the no-curves, flat chested, flapper girl of the 1920s. This article goes on to call Victoria Claflin Woodhull a “political freak” (who ran for presidency in 1872), and pacifist Jeanette Rankin whose only winning two terms in congress corresponded with declarations of war (1917 and 1941). The caption under Woodhull says that she ran on a free love ticket.

Women’s Fashion Trends in the first half of the 20th Century changed drastically

Women’s Fashion Trends in the first half of the 20th Century changed drastically

This entry is part 31 of 32 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Women’s changing fashions and shapes thru the 1900s! This first page quotes a skit about womens’ changing fashions from 1903-1953 written by Lois Long of the New Yorker and performed on “The American Road” by Mary Martin. Following that are production stills of Miss Martin performing her skit in various outfits representing the major fashion trends of the first half of the 20th century. Doesn’t it seem like every era declares itsself the one of the “emancipated clear eyed career girl”?

Then… and article about women in television commercials and television advertising (“bringing glamor to household appliances”).

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