| Intl. Notebook | Sep 19 2022 |
Do you see a woman half naked or half clothed?
We've seen a lot of Joanne Arnold and here she is again starring on a 1955 pin-up poster, one of at least six published by the New Hampshire based company Life-Size. She's got almost everything here: fishnets, garter, corsage, bouqet, fur-accented high-heeled slippers—which are our favorite part—and opera gloves. Or maybe the opera gloves are our favorite. Regardless, she's missing whatever would go around her middle. That's fine, though. She doesn't need it, and her many memorable photo shoots as a nude model prove it. The Life-Size company's name was both a brand and a description—this item is sixty-two inches tall, only a couple of inches shorter than Arnold herself. You figure no woman would buy this and hang it, so it was a men's item, surely single men, those who never had to worry about dates coming by and seeing Joanne on the backside of the bedroom door. Or possibly other places. No need to be unimaginative. She could go in the kitchen. Bathroom too. Or, even expanding the bedroom possibilities, on the ceiling. That's the ticket. The other pin-ups in this Life-Size set that we've posted so far are here, here, and here. We say so far because we'll share more later. Meanwhile, you can see Arnold again here, here, and here.
| Intl. Notebook | Mar 6 2021 |
She's an architectural marvel.
This long tall pin-up stars famed 1950s model Madeline Castle and was printed by an outfit based in Redstone, New Hampshire that called itself Life-Size. They were just Life-Size—no Inc. or Co., as far as we can tell. It's the same operation that printed a rare life-sized Marilyn Monroe pin-up we showed you a while back. We didn't mention then that we had located more, but we had, and we'll show you those later, including a life-sized Anita Ekberg we know you'll enjoy. In the meantime you can see more from Miss Castle here, here, and here.
| Femmes Fatales | Nov 23 2019 |
Lili St. Cyr immeasurably improves ancient Spanish tradition.
We recently showed you two Marilyn Monroe life-sized posters from 1953. That same year a poster was published by the New Hampshire based company Life-Size featuring burlesque performer Lili St. Cyr. The matador theme is cool, and also fitting, because she often wore similar costumes on stage. Most images of St. Cyr are black and white, so this one bursting with color is a rarity.
| Intl. Notebook | Oct 29 2019 |
The girl next door has a mentally unbalanced doppelganger.
These rare Marilyn Monroe pin-up posters, which are life-sized and were advertised in magazines as something to hang on a bedroom or closet door, appeared in 1953. Two different companies made these. At least we assume so, because they have different street addresses printed on them where the curious could write for info. On the platinum poster it's Pin-Ups, Dept. K, Box 86, Boston, Mass. That pretty much guarantees only single men could buy them. “Honey, what's this letter you've stamped that's addressed to Pin-Ups?” The other address works better for the partnered up: Life-Size, Dept. X, Redstone, New Hampshire. “Honey, what is this life-size place you're sending a letter to? Life-size what?” Okay, maybe that one doesn't work either.
Monroe started her career as a girl-next-door type, but had become a star, gone platinum, and gotten her famed poodle hair-do by 1953. The two pin-up companies—assuming they were separate—both somehow had the identical negative from earlier in Monroe's career. One was content to print her as she was, but the folks in Boston decided on a platinum makeover. It was a canny move, except the re-do is different enough in an almost subliminal way to make her look like a psychopath who's smiling because she's about to devour a human kidney. Maybe not the best thing to have staring from your closet door after midnight. At least she's wearing blue. It's well known to be the sanest color.
Monroe started her career as a girl-next-door type, but had become a star, gone platinum, and gotten her famed poodle hair-do by 1953. The two pin-up companies—assuming they were separate—both somehow had the identical negative from earlier in Monroe's career. One was content to print her as she was, but the folks in Boston decided on a platinum makeover. It was a canny move, except the re-do is different enough in an almost subliminal way to make her look like a psychopath who's smiling because she's about to devour a human kidney. Maybe not the best thing to have staring from your closet door after midnight. At least she's wearing blue. It's well known to be the sanest color.
It's possible one company was responsible for both of these pieces, and it simply had two addresses at some point during 1953, but we're sticking with the two printer theory. What isn't a theory is that Monroe is a consummate work of art. Even when she's terrifying. We have an absolute pile of Monroe material in the website, and if you click her keywords below you'll be set upon a path that could keep you busy for a large part of your day. But focusing only on sheer pin-up awesomeness, even though the above examples are great, we prefer the one at this link. If it's not her best it's close.
