Pin-Up Art & Artists Page at Spirit of America Bookstore

The emphasis here is on the more innocent realm of calendar art from the 1940s and 1950s and even clothed & swimsuit & partially-naked
photographs from the same period. The plan is to avaid anything that might be considered 'X-rated', but since we have no control over every
page of the many books being coded here as Amazon links, please let the bookstore proprietor know about any questionable product.

"There was no problem with political correctness; feminism was decades in the future. The pin-up girl was how
girls and women wanted to look and how men and boys wanted them to look." — Louis K. Meisel

          The cavemen of antiquity probably told naughty jokes; there are also naughty Paleolithic cave paintings (mostly kept from public view, of course); there are many examples of ancient fertility totems carved in stone or made of clay; paper/papyrus drawings of such subject matter from ancient times long ago disintegrated into dust.
          The ancient Greeks produced erotic art in many forms, with numerous examples also found in Rome & Pompeii; the Kama Sutra texts were composed in India around that same time.
          Erotic woodcuts were created in XIIIth Century Japan and in Europe in the XVIth Century. The Renaissance allowed church-supported theatre to expand into popular stageplays, some of which were risque (and some more-so). One of the leaders of early French photography was arrested in Paris for selling pictures of naked women, circa 1840. Vaudeville became burlesque, and the pulp magazines of the 1930s and 1940s pushed the boundaries of what could be sold at newsstands.
          'Girlie magazines' of various types appeared, with the 'worst' sold from under the counter. Pin-up calendar art became accepted (except by busy-body church ladies), and the term 'pin-up' was coined around 1941 – World War II found Betty Grable and others painted on the noses and sides of Allied aircraft. The model Bettie Page is central to the phenomenon; during her 1950-57 photo & movie career, Bettie appeared on more magazine covers than did Marilyn Monroe!
          Hugh Hefner [1926-2017] changed everything with his Playboy Magazine, first issue December 1953 – the magazine and its 'Playboy Philosophy' was delivered via the U.S. mail, albeit in a plain brown wrapper. (Bettie Page was Playmate for January 1955.) Hefner included pinup-style cartoons and 'Little Annie Fanny', as well as full-page pin-up paintings by Alberto Vargas and others.
          The Sexual Revolution of the 1970s left pin-up art behind – Why bother with a magazine or calendar when topless bars and hippie chicks abounded, even in small towns? The art became passé because the reality became available.

Pin-up art today has the flavor of nostalgia attached, it is something that your grandfather liked (or denies consuming). Pin-up art and burlesque are now considered an ancient artform, and the term 'retro' is often used for modern-day burlesque performances and for pin-up art used ironically in print advertising.
But the innocent (mostly) poses and groaner punchlines still have their appeal. This page was created as an adjunct to American Nostalgia topics like The Fifties and for the Fifties-era detective novels featuring Rick Walker, Private Investigator.

"For The Boys: The Racy Pin-Ups of World War II" [Feb 2003] by Max Allan Collins 0760314721
http://www.amazon.com/For-Boys-Racy-Pin-Ups-World/dp/1888054395/

artist Rolf Armstrong
http://www.amazon.com/Rolf-Armstrong-Dream-Girls-Vignettes/dp/1888054034/

artist Ben-Hur Baz [1906-2003]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_Baz
http://www.americanartarchives.com/baz.htm

artist Jack Cole [1914-58]
inducted into the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1991; inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1999
entry at Wikipedia

"Focus On Jack Cole" [Fantagraphics Books, 1986] by Ron Goulart
Cole biography [2003] by Art Spiegelman & Chip Kidd
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0811831795/

artist Olivia {De Berardinis}
http://www.amazon.com/Let-Them-Cheesecake-Olivia-Vol/dp/0929643062/
http://www.amazon.com/American-Geisha-The-Art-Olivia/dp/0929643151/

artist George Petty
http://www.amazon.com/Petty-The-Classic-Pin-Up-George/dp/0517201151/

artist Edward Runci
http://www.amazon.com/Pin-Up-Poster-Book-Edward-Collection/dp/1888054158/

artist Baron von Lind
http://www.amazon.com/The-Art-Baron-von-Lind/dp/0865621349/

Classic Pin-Up Art of Bill Wenzel book edited by Alex Chun

"Classic Pin-Up Art of Bill Wenzel" [2000]
Edited & with Foreword by Alex Chun, with Jacob Covey
Fantagraphics 7½x5¾ pb [7/2000] for $17.06

µ
pin-up photographer Bunny Yeager
official website • Wikipedia
http://www.amazon.com/Bunny-Yeagers-Darkroom-Pin-up-Photographys/dp/0847838552/
http://www.amazon.com/Bunny-Yeagers-Bikini-Girls-1950s/dp/0764320025/
http://www.amazon.com/Bunny-Yeagers-Pin-Up-Girls-1950s/dp/0764314734/

Movies & Television, Stageplays, Other Media
http://www.amazon.com/Nose-Art-and-Pin-Ups/dp/B00968MBJU/
http://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Pinups-1930s-Actresses-Collection/dp/B001B8EFZQ/
http://www.amazon.com/1950s-Culture-Film-Vintage-Girls/dp/B001BA8FZA/

"Striporama" [indep Oct 1953]

This film has an actual storyline: when two fans of burlesque hear that the university is preparing a time capsule of the arts that excludes burlesque, they show up at a board meeting to make their case with examples of the 'art' of burlesque. Co-produced & directed by Jerald Intrator; written by Alan Bodian; starring Georgia Sothern, Rosita Royce, Lili St. Cyr, Jack Diamond, Bettie Page (in her 'daring bubble bath scene!'), Mandy Kay, Charles Harris, Andre & Marinette, Nola Lee, Doris MacKenzie, Pat Lombard, Betty Tunell, Anne Slayton, Mr. America & 'Vicki Lynn'
Something Weird Video 70-minute color VHS [12/96] out of prodn/used
full credits at IMDb

"Behind The Burly Q" [First Run Features April 2010]

Burlesque had its roots in European commedia dell'arte and vaudeville, but by the 1920s, Americans took the comedy and embellished it with the striptease; Zemeckis contends that at its height, through the 1950s, burlesque was a pre-feminist movement offering women economic empowerment and escape from poverty. Co-produced, written & directed by Leslie Zemeckis; featuring Alan Alda, Joan Arline, Beverly Arlynne, historian Nat Bodian, Maria Bradley, Carmela, Chris Costello, Candy Cotton, Ricki Covette, author Janet M. Davis, Kelly Dinardo, Dixie Evans, White Fury, Rita Grable, Alexandra the Great '48, Sara Jacobs (curator, Museum of Sex), Daphne Lake, June Lee, Lorraine Lee, April March, Lady Midnight, Terry Mixon, Vicki O'Day, Taffy O'Neil, Dardy Orlando, T.T. Red, Mimi Reed, Lily Ann Rose, Betty Rowland, La Savona, Sequin, author Rachel Shteir, Janet Sovey, Blaze Starr, Tempest Storm, Joni Taylor, Val Valentine; with archive footage of: Sherry Britton, Lou Costello, The Hilton Sisters, Rose La Rose, Sally Rand, Lili St. Cyr & Kitty West
First Run Features widescreen color/b&w DVD [4/2011] for $16.83
full credits at IMDb • official movie site
"Behind the Burly Q: The Story of Burlesque in America" companion book [2013]
by Leslie Zemeckis, Foreword by Blaze Starr
Kindle Edition from Skyhorse Publng [5/2013] for $12.99
Skyhorse Publng 8¾x6¼ hardcover [6/2013] for $18.96

"Burlesque! A DVD Documentary" [indep 2011]

Appears to contain a one-hour compilation of video clips, plus the 67-minute
"Teaserama" [1955] as above; listed participants include Fantima, Rose la Rose,
Jenny Lee, 'Vicki Lynn', Betty Page, Sally Rand, Blaze Starr • not listed on IMDb
Always Above Average Ent. color/b&w DVD [3/2011] for $25.00

	"Stolen Sweets: The Cover Girls of Yesteryear - Their Elegance, Charm & Sex Appeal" [1981] by Francis Smilby Playboy Press hardcover [1981] out of print/used
	"1000 Pin-up Girls" [1983] by Burkhard Riemschneider Taschen 25th Anniv Edition 7½x5½ pb [2008] out of print/used Taschen 7¼x5¾ hardcover [9/2002] out of print/used
	"The Great American Pin-Up" [1996] by Charles G. Martignette & Louis K. Meisel Taschen Mul 12½x9½ hardcover [11/2011] for $15.70 Taschen 10½x8 hardcover [9/2002] out of print/many, many used Taschen/B&N 12½x9½ hardcover [1999] out of print/many used Taschen 12½x9½ hardcover [10/96] out of print/many, many used
	"The Queens of Burlesque: Vintage Photographs of The 1940s and 1950s" [1998] by Len Rothe Schiffer Pictorial Essays 10¾x8½ pb [1998] for $14.28
	"The Bare Truth: Stars of Burlesque From The '40s and '50s" [1998] by Len Rothe Schiffer Pictorial Essays 11x8½ pb [4/98] for $14.59
	"Burlesque: Legendary Stars of The Stage" [2004] by Jane Briggeman BearManor Media 2nd edition 9x6 pb [12/2011] for $26.96 Collectors Press 11¼x9¼ hardcover [9/2004] out of print/many used
	"Striptease: The Untold History of The Girlie Show" [2004] by Rachel Shteir Kindle Edition from Oxford Univ Press [2004 edition] for $16.99 Oxford Univ Press 9x6 pb [12/2005] for $30.24 Oxford Univ Press 9½x6½ hardcover [11/2004] out of print/many, many used
	"Jeepers Peepers! A Gallery of American Pin-Up Art" [2006] Edited & Introduction by Louis K. Meisel Over 300 illustrations, by artists including Rolf Armstrong, Gil Elvgren, Billy DeVorss, and Zoe Mozert Collectors Press 6½x5¼ mini-pb [6/2006] out of print/used
	"Burlesque: A Living History" [2009] by Jane Briggeman BearManor Media 8½x6 pb [10/2009] for $26.96
	"The Pin-Up Girls of World War II" [2013] by Brett Kiser Kindle Edition from BearManor Media [2/2014] for $9.95 BearManor Media 9x6 pb [9/2013] for $25.95

	"Alvarado's Classic Modern Pin-ups" [2011] 145 alluring examples of Robert Alvarado's work Schiffer Publng 12x9¼ hardcover [10/2011] for $27.18
	"Alvarado's Pin-Up Nudes" [2013] 145 further examples of Robert Alvarado's work, with many models sporting tattoos Schiffer Publng 12½x9¼ hardcover [4/2013] for $28.72

	"Classic Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo" [2005] Edited & with Foreword by Alex Chun, with Jacob Covey Fantagraphics 7½x5¾ pb [3/2005] out of print/used "Classic Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo - Volume 2" [2008] Edited & with Foreword by Alex Chun, with Jacob Covey Fantagraphics 8x6 pb [1/2008] for $12.98
	"Innocence & Seduction: The Art of Dan DeCarlo" [2005] Edited by Bill Morrison Fantagraphics 11¾x9 hardcover [5/2006] out of print/many used

Spirit of America BookstorePin-Up Art & Artists

Spirit of America Bookstore
Pin-Up Art & Artists