
This uncredited 1960 cover for Edwin Booth’s Desire is one of the more brazen pieces we’ve seen. Among the several reactions it conjures are wonder and sympathy for women who had to wear bras that made their breasts look like bazooka shells. There’s no doubt in our minds the contraptions were designed by men, but it was actually Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Jane Russell and a few others that made them popular. This art evokes that era and its pitfalls for women succinctly. And interestingly, because paperback artists often used movie studio handout photos as references, it’s no surprise to learn that this piece was inspired by a promo shot of Tuesday Weld from the 1960 movie The Private Lives of Adam and Eve. Weld finds herself in exactly the same situation—on a bus, with a guy putting the moves on her.





































