Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Come Fly With Me...Today is Wright Brothers Day



We continue with the occasional theme of Bolles covers that follow National holidays, ranging from the sanctioned to the obscure and downright ridiculous. As you will see in coming months, Bolles has supplied us with fodder for all. Here we have two carefree barnstormers performing their stunts with total confidence and ease. Robert Brown wrote that that the Bolles' girl was the most athletic of any pinup artist and these examples from the late 20s bear him out. Other Bolles girls showed their stuff in pursuits such as mountain climbing, sailing, and breaking tackles on the gridiron. But when you look at all of his covers it turns out that a lot more of his girls are engaged in more passive pursuits, and by the mid 30s they become downright sedentary. This may be just a reflection of the passing of the jazz age and its energetic symbol of the flapper, to be succeeded in the following decade by the vamp who wouldn't dare exercise, lest her makeup run.




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