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.
Pictures of women in World War I and World War II. How early feminism and wars influenced women’s fashions.
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 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”).
Here’s a scan from CheeseCake – An American Phenomenon. It’s a spread with Ed Sullivan’s Toastettes and film snaps of Marilyn Monroe’s appearance on the Jack Benny show. “It was wonderful,” said MM, “You know, Mr. Benny at 39 has all the charm and poise of an older man.” When Marilyn Monroe agreed to be on the Jack Benny Show, finally television had come of age and could compete with the movies. Cheesecake Pinups on the new medium of television!
Here’s an article about how rubbery faced Imogene Coca and Sid Caesar have “given viewers a steady diet of broad, yet biting, satire and made them like it. Among their targets have been male, as well as female, cheesecake…”
“The Bust Line May be Best Line in TV”. This article explores how television was currently reshaping the Pinup phenomenon, remarking on Faye Emerson’s low cut gowns in the late 40s, but then turning again away from excess by raising bustlines and hemlines (referencing the Breen office’s revision in 1951, that apparently included a ban against showing intimate apparel on a moving figure). However, these restrictions had the result of making the female form more enticing, “A whisper echoes more than a shout”.
“It’s the inevitable cycle…. in 1910 it was the bust, and cleavage went down to the limit. In the 1920s the sex emphasis was on the legs. In the 1930s it veered to the back and posterior. In the 1940s it concentrated on the bust again. And now we are back to the bottom.”
This is an interesting article on how the Motion Picture Production Code affected the evolution of cheesecake pinup, and changed the recipe.
hoopskirts to bathing suits, this Cheesecake Pinup magazine takes a look at the history of sexual innuendo in humor and media.
One of the first cartoons is from the 1860s, showing the wind blowing up a dress to reveal the hoopskirt underneath and (gasp) the sexyness of the woman’s ankels! Then came the peepshows in the Kinetoscopes of the 1890s (as examples are The Bedroom Farce, and a womens’ wrestling). Then, the late 1890s cinema came along, and in the early 1900s, Hollywood and the Keystone comedies and the scantily clad “big names wearing too little” and sensual Femme Fatale Movie Stars of the 1920s…
How did the term “cheesecake” pinup originate? Origins of cheesecake, and the first pinup model and cheesecake photograph. An article about the history of American pinup.
This was the most amazing 1950s magazine to photograph! Is this Marilyn Monroe on the cover? I wish I could have bought this vintage pinup magazine for myself! It’s dated 1953.
Here are the final pages of the July 1913 issue of The Modern Priscilla. It wraps up and concludes the fashion and cooking articles, as well as shorter articles, including the Priscilla Juniors section and article about Summer Food for Children. These last pages are also chock full of ads for interesting things
Honestly, the best thing about these pages are the advertisements. These pages contained a small ad for maternity corsets, which I found particularly interesting.
Also advertised were canned sardines, The Alaska Freezer, Jello, Coffee Jelly, Maternity Apparel, Karo Syrup, Hair Dye, and a variety of “Make Money from Home” ads.
These next few pages are a miscellany of advertisements and pithy articles. Another adjustable dress form advertisement, perfume advertisement, Blue-jay corn plasters ad, an advertisement for The AlbeMarle-Hoffman Hotel overlooking Madison Square in NYC (“a good room at $1.50 per day, and a good room with a bath for $2 per day “- imagine paying that in NYC nowadays!).
These next pages from the July 1913 Modern Priscilla include instructions, patterns, and illustrations for hand made shirt waists, guest towels, and doilies. The advertisements included Coca-Cola, “Be a corsetiere”, B&R Corsets (illustrating the longer waist silhouette of the Edwardian era), and various yarn and fabric ads.
This one page illustrated hat making article instructs the reader on what kinds of crochet stitches and materials to use to make a basic fashionable hat out of raffia. Ads on this page included Instant Postum, C-B Cottons, and Hinds Cream.
Here are some patterns for a collar of heavy crochet, and instructions on how to embroider on mosaic canvas. Ads on these pages included Barbour’s Crochet Thread, Post Toasties (cereal), “Sell Hosiery – any man or woman should make $24 a week for 2 hours a day selling hosiery for men, women, and children…”, Typewriters, Embroidery Silk, and more.
You can see how the issues of womens’ suffrage had made it into the mainstream by 1913! This story about a love triangle between a suffragette, a gold digger, and an eligible bachelor was found in the July 1913 issue of The Modern Priscilla and I’ve included the text (extruded from the image- so excuse typos). I think it’s a fascinating document of womens history, and the social history of voting rights in the USA.
