A Recent Acquisition

Of over 300 Bolles covers in my collection a bare handful are Breezy's, and most are the 1940s reprints. It's hard to figure why because Breezy had the highest circulation of any magazine Bolles painted for, even Film Fun. Yet they seldom show up for sale at the usual venues, and when they do they are in typically awful shape (yes, its been heavily photoshopped). This issue comes from 1935, the apex of Bolles' work on this title (he even signed a few of them!), and it's my favorite. He's got both his hand poses working here: the raised pinky (which looks almost broken here but I think he did it to repeat the curve of the lantern), and the joined middle fingers. I especially like the light playing through her left hand. And the dramatic light and shadow is rare for Bolles as he considered it an artistic crutch (which is too bad). Finally, the theme of pretty girl with Japanese lantern was popular with artists in the early 20th century and I think this is Bolles personal response to it.

Oh, as to why so few Breezy's, here's my theory. Breezy didn't have any photos and the stories were straight romance. So you read it once through and tossed it. There was no reason to squirrel them away in the sock drawer like gramps did with Spicy Stories or Tattle Tales.