Beauty and Sexuality - The Pin-Up Girl
These girls were more then just a poster tacked up on a wall - to eye amorously or provocatively - they are what kept our WWII GI's goin', they are what dreams were made of, they were discovered and shined!
Long before Twitter, Facebook, or the frenzy of paparazzi, The Pin-Up Girl was a connection to Hollywood and the star-studded life. The 1940's Pin-Up Girl was the All-American Girl!
Find Your Fave Pin-Up Girl
Their Movies From The 1940's
Carol Landis - A Star is Born
And then takes her own life
Carole Landis
(Jan 01, 1919 - July 5, 1948)
Landis worked as a nightclub singer and a hula dancer in San Francisco before her 1937 film debut as an extra in A Star Is Born. She dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to "Carole Landis" after her favorite actress, Carole Lombard. Landis landed a contract with Warner Bros. and had a high profile engagement to choreographer Busby Berkeley. She continued appearing in bit parts until 1940 when Hal Roach cast her as a cave girl in One Million B.C. The movie was a sensation and turned Carole into a star.
Landis was plagued by depression her entire life and attempted suicide in 1944 and 1946. By 1948, her career was in decline and her marriage was collapsing. She entered into a romance with actor Rex Harrison, who was married to actress Lilli Palmer at the time. Landis was reportedly crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife for her and, unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide at her Pacific Palisades home, by taking an overdose of Seconal. She was 29 years old.
Carole's Life and Hollywood Career
Carole Landis: A Tragic Life In Hollywood
Before she was a glamorous actress, before she was a war-time pin-up star, even before she was Carole Landis, she was Frances Lillian Ridste, an insecure young girl from Wisconsin. She was strikingly beautiful, talented, and on her way to becoming a movie star, yet she spent her entire life searching for love.
Entertaining Murder Mystery
Something worth screaming about
I Wake Up Screaming (Fox Film Noir)
Amazon Price: $11.49 (as of 12/19/2009)
Betty Grable - World War II GI's Loved Her
A photo that changed the world
Betty Grable
(Dec 18, 1916 - July 2, 1973)
Her iconic bathing suit photo made her the number-one pin-up girl of the World War II era. It was later included in the Life magazine project 100 Photos that Changed the World. Grable was particularly noted for having the most beautiful legs in Hollywood and studio publicity widely dispersed photos featuring them.
It was during her reign as box office queen (in 1943) that Grable posed for her famous pinup photo, which (along with her movies) soon became escapist fare among GIs fighting in World War II. The image was taken by studio photographer Frank Powolny, who died in 1986. It was rumored that the particular pose and angle were chosen to hide the fact that Grable was pregnant at the time of the photo. Despite solid competition from Dorothy Lamour, Veronica Lake, Carole Landis, Lana Turner, and her biggest pin-up rival, Rita Hayworth, Grable was indisputably the top pinup girl for American soldiers. She was wildly popular at home as well, placing in the top 10 box office draws for 10 years. By the end of the 1940s Grable was the highest-paid female star in Hollywood, receiving $300,000 a year.
Untouched By Scandal
Betty Grable: The Girl with the Million Dollar Legs
When one sees such a warm and totally unaffected woman emerge in the pages of this very personal book it becomes obvious that people the world over loved Betty Grable because of the vibrance, warmth, and sweetness they saw in her.
Pin-up Pins Down War Hero
An engaging musical comedy
Pin-Up Girl
Amazon Price: $17.99 (as of 12/19/2009)
Ava Gardner - Those Beautiful Green Eyes
An amazing discovery
Ava Gardner
(Dec 24, 1922 - Jan 25, 1990)
Gardner, who by age 18 had become a stunning, green-eyed brunette, was visiting her sister Beatrice ("Bappie") in New York in 1941 when Beatrice's husband Larry Tarr, a professional photographer, offered to take her portrait. He was so pleased with the results that he displayed the finished product in the front window of his Tarr Photography Studio on Fifth Avenue.
In 1941, a Loews Theatres legal clerk, Barnard "Barney" Duhan, spotted Gardner's photo in Tarr's studio. At the time, Duhan often posed as an MGM talent scout to meet girls, using the fact that MGM was a subsidiary of Loews. Duhan entered Tarr's and tried to get Gardner's number, but was rebuffed by the receptionist. Duhan made the offhand comment, "Somebody should send her info to MGM", and the Tarrs did so immediately. Shortly after, Gardner, who at the time was a student at Atlantic Christian College, traveled to New York to be interviewed at MGM's New York office. She was offered a standard contract by MGM, and left school for Hollywood in 1941 with her sister Bappie accompanying her. MGM's first order of business was to provide her a voice coach, as her Carolina drawl was nearly incomprehensible to them.
A Country Girl Gets Discovered
Ava Gardner: "Love Is Nothing"
The author, along with his international contacts and sources, has crafted a a complex portrait of a barefooted country girl whose photograph in the window of a portrait studio in New York ultimately captivated the world with her beauty and the antics of her personal life.
Ava Gardner in Her Prime
A memory from the past
One Touch of Venus
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 12/19/2009)
Hedy Lamarr - A Bombshell With Brains
Glamorous and seductive
Hedy Lamarr
(Nov 9, 1914 - Jan 19, 2000)
Often called "The Most Beautiful Woman in Films," Hedy Lamarr's beauty and screen presence made her one of the most popular actresses of her day.
As if being a beautiful, talented actress was not enough, Hedy was also extremely intelligent. In addition to her film accomplishments, Hedy patented an idea that later became the crutch of both secure military communications and mobile phone technology. In 1942, Hedy and composer George Antheil patented what they called the "Secret Communication System." The original idea, meant to solve the problem of enemies blocking signals from radio-controlled missiles during World War II, involved changing radio frequencies simultaneously to prevent enemies from being able to detect the messages. While the technology of the time prevented the feasibility of the idea at first, the advent of the transistor and its later downsizing made Hedy's idea very important to both the military and the cell phone industry.
Hedy's Controversial Life
What Almost Happened to Hedy Lamarr
Lamarr's strange marriage to an Austrian arms manufacturer, ended when she escaped his clutches by dressing up like the maid and just walking out of their house (They lived in the mansion where the Sound of Music movie was filmed). A natural beauty, her acting career in the U.S. flourished in the 1940s and '50s. This book is a interesting trip through the life of a fascinating woman. ~Brad Butler
Best Bible Classic Film
A true winner
Samson And Delilah (DVD) Cecil B Demille - BY GOLDEN CLASSIC COLLECTIBLES
Amazon Price: (as of 12/19/2009)
Pin-Up Girls in the News
- Playboy's Annual Batch Of Naked Game Girls Shows Surprising Trend
- The veiny pinup with her yayas out up above? That's the lovely Beatrice from Visceral Games' Dante's Inferno. Below is a very naked Madison Paige from ...
- Pinup studio spotlights glamor of everyday women
- The studio coffee table is peppered with salty books like 1000 Pin-up Girls and The Best of Gil Elvgren. ?Sometimes the girls come in with those pictures, ...
- French Cheeses Get A Pin-Up Girl Calendar (VIDEO)
- A group of beautiful French cheese fans, nicknamed the "Fromage Girls," posed for a pin-up calendar that uses sex to sell regional French cheeses. ...
- Valley 'pin-up' girls in calendar to fight cancer
- If you are interestrf in purchasing one of these 2010 Valley's Own Pin-up Girls Calendars and supporting an important cause, please contact Colour FX, ...
Lana Turner - Fickle in Love
Famous on the screen
Lana Turner
(Feb 8, 1921 - June 29, 1995)
Turner's discovery at a Hollywood drug store is a show-business legend. As a 16-year-old student at Hollywood High Turner skipped a typing class and bought a Coke at the Top Hat Cafe located on the southeast corner of Sunset Boulevard and McCadden Place, where she was spotted by William R. Wilkerson, publisher of the Hollywood Reporter. Wilkerson was attracted by her beauty and physique, and referred her to the actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx. Marx's agency immediately signed her on and introduced her to film director Mervyn LeRoy, who cast her in her first film, 1937's They Won't Forget.
During World War II, Turner became a popular pin-up girl due to her popularity in such films such as Ziegfeld Girl, Johnny Eager, and four films with MGM's "king of the lot," Clark Gable (the films' success was only heightened by gossip-column rumors about a relationship between the two). Lana even had a B-17-the Tempest Turner-named after her.
Lana's Daughter Tells Their Story
LANA: The Memories, the Myths, the Movies
Turner survived a long career on waves of excess and scandal, entertaining countless suitors and seven husbands. The most prominent of those scandals, which would dominate headlines for months and follow mother and daughter throughout their lives, involves the author herself: in 1958, at the age of 14, Cheryl stabbed and killed her mother's abusive boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato.
Welcome to the Twin Oaks
Start watching and you won't be able to stop
The Postman Always Rings Twice
Amazon Price: $17.49 (as of 12/19/2009)
Their Movies From the 1940's
Lauren Bacall - Legendary
Bogie and Bacall a true love story
Lauren Bacall
(Sept 16, 1924 - present)
Once out of school, Lauren entered modeling and, because of her beauty, appeared on the cover of Harper's Bazaar, one of the most popular magazines in the US. The wife of famed director Howard Hawks spotted the picture in the publication and arranged with her husband to have Lauren take a screen test. As a result, which was entirely positive, she was given the part of Marie Browning in To Have and Have Not, a thriller opposite the great Humphrey Bogart, when she was just 19 years old. This not only set the tone for a fabulous career but also one of Hollywood's greatest love stories. It was also the first of several Bogie-Bacall films.
She Tells Her Own Story
Lauren Bacall: By Myself
Don't expect lots of dirt and dish -- Bacall clearly isn't interested in talking about glitz and tawdry little affairs people around her were having. Nor does she name-drop a lot -- after all, why would Lauren Bacall have to? Rather she's interested in the solid, serious romance she and Bogie had, and the day-to-day life of acting, and her family with her adoring, very supportive mother and her children.
Falling For Each Other
Love is in the air
To Have and Have Not (Keepcase)
Amazon Price: $5.79 (as of 12/19/2009)
Dorothy Lamour - Beautiful and Funny
A wonderful combination
Dorothy Lamour
(Dec 10, 1914 - Sept 22, 1996)
In 1936, she moved to Hollywood and began appearing regularly in films for Paramount Pictures. The role that made her a star was Ulah (a sort of female Tarzan) in The Jungle Princess. She wore a sarong, which would become associated with her, and captivated many viewers with her sensuous exotic attractive appearance. While she first achieved stardom as a sex symbol, Lamour also showed talent as both a comic and dramatic actress. She was among the most popular actresses in motion pictures from 1936 to 1952.
Lamour's good humor and lack of pretension allowed her to have a remarkably long career in show business for someone best known as a glamour girl. She was a popular draw on the dinner theatre circuit of the 1970s. In the 1960s and 1970s, she lived with her longtime husband William Ross Howard III (whom she married in 1943), in the Hampton suburb of Towson, Maryland.
Her Beauty Was More Then Skin Deep
Dorothy Lamour: A Photo Gallery: More Than A Sarong (Volume 4)
The book is full of beautiful photos of Dorothy Lamour -- including photos from her stint as the ultimate sarong girl but also in features that showcased her phenomenal ability as an actress.
Excellent Road Picture
Cannibals and natives, oh my
Road to Zanzibar
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 12/19/2009)
Tweets About Pin-Ups
Join in the fun!
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Susan Hayward - Star on the Walk of Fame
Her life revolved around acting
Susan Hayward
(June 30, 1917 - March 14, 1975)
After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward traveled to Hollywood in 1937 in the hope of playing the role of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting roles over the next few years. By the late 1940s the quality of her film roles had improved, and she achieved recognition for her dramatic abilities with the first of five Academy Award nominations for Best Actress for her performance as an alcoholic in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman. Her career continued successfully through the 1950s and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of death row inmate Barbara Graham in I Want to Live!.
An Academy Award Nominated Performance
Smash Up: Story Of A Woman
Amazon Price: $9.95 (as of 12/19/2009)
A nightclub singer, beset by emotional problems, seeks refuge in alcohol which drive away her husband and child. With the help of her husband, she overcomes her addiction. This was her breakthrough role after a decade in Hollywood, and it deservedly earned her her first Academy Award Nomination for Best Actress.
A Classic Military Drama
Hayward and Wayne just fit
The Fighting Seabees
Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 12/19/2009)
Veronica Lake - That Sultry Look
She was on a mission
Veronica Lake
(Nov 14, 1922 - July 7, 1973)
By the time Veronica had graduated from high school she was already known as one of the local Miami beauties. She felt that she was ready for films. Her mother and step-father moved to a small home in Beverly Hills, California in 1938 where Mrs. Keane enrolled her lovely daughter in the well known Bliss Hayden School of Acting in Hollywood. She didn't have to wait long for a part to come her way. Her first movie was as one of the many coeds in the RKO film, Sorority Housein 1939. It was a minor part, to be sure, but it was a start.
Her screen image was cool yet sultry, tough yet vulnerable.
The Peek-a-Boo Hair-Do
Peekaboo: The Story of Veronica Lake
One of Hollywood's sultriest sirens of the 1940s, Veronica Lake steamed up movie screens with her fragile beauty and exotic hairstyle. A heartthrob of millions during her heyday, she was the hottest ticket around starring in 27 motion pictures.
Don't Cross Your Hired Gunman
A nice, slick bit of 40's movie-making
This Gun For Hire (Universal Noir Collection)
Amazon Price: $12.99 (as of 12/19/2009)
Esther Williams - Had a Niche
She fit into the studio era
Esther Williams
(Aug 08, 1921 - present)
The scene most people associate Esther Williams with is the famous and often spoofed grand water ballet finale in Bathing Beauty. Several moments, such as the swimmers who dive past one another in the pool, the moment where Williams is received as a queen, then dives and reappears above water, surrounded by several other swimmers who form a circle around her, became iconic. These scenes have been parodied countless times, from The Muppets to The Simpsons.
Esther Williams retired from acting in the early 1960s and currently lends her name to a line of women's swimwear and to a company that manufactures swimming pools and swimming pool accessories.
MGM Swim-Femme
The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography
Her big movies are hard to find these days, and her name doesn't evoke the fan recognition awarded fellow MGM grads Lana Turner and Ava Gardner, yet for more than a decade during Hollywood's age d'or Esther Williams was one of the studio's most bankable leading ladies.
Baseball and Romance
This one hits a home run
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Amazon Price: $11.49 (as of 12/19/2009)
Jane Russell - The GI's Loved Her
Sultry, sexy and funny
Jane Russell
(June 21, 1921 - present)
In 1940, Russell was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul Howard Hughes and made her motion picture debut in The Outlaw (1943), a story about Billy the Kid that went to great lengths to showcase her voluptuous figure. Although the movie was completed in 1941, it was released for a limited showing two years later. There were problems with the censorship of the production code over the way her ample cleavage was displayed. When the movie was finally passed, it had a general release in 1946. During that time, Russell was kept busy doing publicity and became famous. Contrary to countless incorrect reports in the media since the release of The Outlaw, Jane Russell did not wear the specially designed underwire bra (the first of its kind) that Howard Hughes constructed for the film. According to Jane's 1988 autobiography, she was given the bra, decided it had a mediocre fit, and wore her own bra on the film set with the straps pulled down.
Together with Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth, Russell personified the sensuously contoured sweater girl look, though Jane Russell's measurements of 38D-24-36 and height of 5' 7" were more statuesque than her contemporaries. Besides the thousands of quips from radio comedians, including Bob Hope once introducing her as "the two and only Jane Russell," the photo of her on a haystack glowering with sulky beauty and youthful sensuality as her breasts push forcefully against her bodice was a popular pin-up with Service men during World War II.
Successful Singing Career
From solo to gospel and more
Fortunately, Russell's Hollywood experience had provided her with the means to launch the second, multifaceted stage of her career. It had made her a star with a well-known name, and it had demonstrated her ability to act, sing, and dance. She was able to use those talents first to mount a nightclub act that she took to the famed Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in October 1957, followed by engagements at the Latin Quarter in New York, the Living Room in Chicago, and other clubs in the U.S. and around the world.
Her Breakout Role
A voluptuous figure
Who Was Your Favorite 40's Pin-Up Girl?
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- seosolutions seosolutions Dec 14, 2009 @ 7:08 pm
- That video with the makeover was pretty cool. =]
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- ChapelHillFiddler ChapelHillFiddler Dec 12, 2009 @ 9:07 pm
- I've added this to my fan-club thank you list so - thank you!
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- ClassyGals ClassyGals Dec 5, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
- Wonderful display of the very beautiful 1940s pin up girls. These women are all natural beauties, which makes this lens so very amazing. Five stars!
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- MikkiGVee MikkiGVee Nov 24, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
- Very nice tribute to a group of lovely, real, ladies. Very nicely done!
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- ElizabethJeanAllen ElizabethJeanAllen Nov 18, 2009 @ 7:50 pm
- Wow! What an incredible lens! It was fun reading about the women from my mother's generation.
Thanks for sharing
Lizzy
- Load More
In Closing...
...fect if you took the time to 
1940's Pin-Up Girls
Index
- Find Your Fave Pin-Up Girl
- Their Movies From The 1940's
- Carol Landis - A Star is Born
- Carole's Life and Hollywood Career
- Entertaining Murder Mystery
- Betty Grable - World War II GI's Loved Her
- Untouched By Scandal
- Pin-up Pins Down War Hero
- Ava Gardner - Those Beautiful Green Eyes
- A Country Girl Gets Discovered
- Ava Gardner in Her Prime
- Hedy Lamarr - A Bombshell With Brains
- Hedy's Controversial Life
- Best Bible Classic Film
- Pin-Up Girls in the News
- Lana Turner - Fickle in Love
- Lana's Daughter Tells Their Story
- Welcome to the Twin Oaks
- Get The Pin Up Girl Look
- Their Movies From the 1940's
- Lauren Bacall - Legendary
- She Tells Her Own Story
- Falling For Each Other
- Dorothy Lamour - Beautiful and Funny
- Her Beauty Was More Then Skin Deep
- Excellent Road Picture
- Tweets About Pin-Ups
- Susan Hayward - Star on the Walk of Fame
- An Academy Award Nominated Performance
- A Classic Military Drama
- Veronica Lake - That Sultry Look
- The Peek-a-Boo Hair-Do
- Don't Cross Your Hired Gunman
- Esther Williams - Had a Niche
- MGM Swim-Femme
- Baseball and Romance
- Jane Russell - The GI's Loved Her
- Successful Singing Career
- Her Breakout Role
- Who Was Your Favorite 40's Pin-Up Girl?
- In Closing...
- Question?
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