Since mentioned French attitude above, let's revisit the French magazine with coolest attitude ever—V. We've scanned and uploaded some issues of this publication (check here and here for a start) but haven't circled back to it for a few years. Above you see a cover for V Cocktail, which is was just one iteration of the magazine. There was also V Sélections, V Spécial and of course just plain V. These were all painted by René Caillé, one of several great cover artists employed by the magazine, along with Jean David and others. One of these images came from Au carrefour étrange, so thanks to that great blog.

This issue of France’s V magazine was published today in 1948. On the cover, in a lovely photo-illustration, is a person named Corinne Lander, who we looked up and found nothing about whatsoever, which means she was probably a model or showgirl. She appears inside as well in a small feature explaining (if our French is right) how much work went into her posing, shooting and retouching—sixty-two hours total, we’re informed. Also inside you get art from Jean David, swimming lessons using a chair, and more. To see our other Vs click its keyword below. 

Above is the cover of an issue of V published today in 1947. Inside are various celeb and cinema features, a photo-comic written by the famed Maurice Dekobra, a back cover by Jean David, and plenty of photography, including the feature “Don Juan les pins,” or Don Juan of the Pines, whatever the hell that means. Also a bit of a mystery is the baffled looking cover star surrounded by six swooning women and a dog. He’s damnably familiar but we can’t quite place him, and since this is V we’re talking about, the editors have predictably failed to identify him. He’s a Columbia Pictures player, according to the caption, but that’s all we got. Anyone recognize him? Drop us a line. Thanks.

Update: So we have the answer from Nick, who informs us this is Arthur Lake, who played Dagwood in the U.S. television series Blondie, based on the famous comic strip. Thanks a million for that info. This also seems like a good time to thank not just Nick, but all Pulp Intl. readers. Your support and knowledge is essential to making this site work and we always appreciate it.

Update 2: Now it all becomes clear. A reader informs us that "Don Juan les pins" is a play on words. Juan-les-pins is a popular vacation spot in France, located on the Côte d'Azur between Nice and Cannes.

More from France today with V magazine of winter 1965. This particular issue, in the masthead in extremely small print, reveals that V is short for Voilà. Other issues we have do not mention that, so it’s news to us, and probably to many other people as well, especially because we shared an issue a while back that clearly says on the cover “Supplement au No. 445 de Voir Magazine.”

So it is Voilà, Voir, or just V? To tell the truth, we wondered in the past if the 1950s V was the same as the earlier magazine that published through the ’40s, but it was. The publisher, editor, and even the street address changed, but we’ve seen an issue from 1949 that shows an unmistakable visual transition between the two versions. If indeed the magazine was ever actually called Voilà, or Voir, the full name never appeared on the cover, as far as we know.

Speaking of covers, this one was painted by Raymond Brenot, aka Pierre-Laurent Brenot, who was both an artist and a successful fashion designer, and he joined a special fraternity of brilliant V cover artists such as René Caillé, Jean David, and Georges Pichard. The interior illustrations are from Brenot, Pichard, Le Gano, Renoir and others. Plus there are photos of Margaret Lee, Catherine Frank, Mara Berni, Liten Østern, dancer Sonia Vareuil, et.al. Below are more than thirty scans for your enjoyment.

Here’s another of our recent French acqusitions, a July 10 1949 issue of V, with an Alex Quinio front cover. Below you get art from Jean David, who drew both the comic strip and the rear cover, and you also gets lots of images of French people frolicking in the sun. Probably that's what we like about this magazine—it depicts the good life, which is something we always aspire to. Actually, thinking about it, what the hell are we doing indoors right now? There's a glass of cold white wine calling our names. See you later.

The French magazine V is probably one of the most visually pleasing and collectible periodicals ever published. The early issues featured photo-illustrations of movie stars, but starting in the 1950s V began to showcase provocative pin-up style cover paintings from a succession of three artists—Georges Pichard, René Caillé and Jean David. All were geniuses; none are well known outside collectors circles and France, where they lived and worked. But popularity is never a true measure of value—Pichard, Caillé and David Vs can go at auction for thirty, forty, or even fifty dollars. We've seen them listed for even more, though those went unsold as far as we can tell. Vs with Pierre-Laurent Brenot covers are also highly regarded. This one, V Sélections 57, with a Pichard cover and Brigitte Bardot, Christine Carère and Marilyn Monroe inside, dates from winter 1957. We have a couple more of these we’ll share in their entirety as soon as we get in the mood to do the scanning. Meantime see some 1940s V covers here and here. 

V magazine from France, published February 8, 1948, with a photo-illustration of an almost unrecognizable young Marilyn Monroe on the cover. 

V is one of our favorite vintage publications. This one was published sixty-two years ago today, and features cover star Susan Hayward. V was basically a celebrity and culture magazine, but also emphasized sexuality by publishing artful nude photos. If we’re reading this cover correctly, the magazine launched in 1943—curious, since there was a little thing called World War II raging then. We have a hard time believing a Nazi or Vichy-approved V is the same as the one we’re seeing here, but we’ll look into that. Whatever transition the magazine made from the war to post-war years, in the fifties it changed again from handtinted covers featuring film celebs, to pin-ups conjured from the airbrushes of some of France’s best illustrators, such as the image from René Caillé below. One wonders if these are two distinct magazines with the same name. We'll look into that too. Anyway, Caillé isn’t as well known as pin-up masters like Vargas or Bolles, but as you can see he was a singular talent. We located a few more V covers, and we’ll show you those later.