Watch it with that axe! This cover from the April 1935 cover of Spicy Stories has a lot going on but it's her expression that makes the cover work for me. The outfit, such as it is, would have been a lot more fun if Bolles had done her up in fire fighter's version of his famous biker girl uniform. The skimpy underthings don't make any sense at all. Well, maybe some. Afterall we are talking about Spicy Stories, a periodical pulled from the newsstands of New York city on order of the mayor, lest it arouse citizens to impure thoughts.It's too bad that the preliminary sketch to this cover isn't around because I have this idea that Bolles' first attempt had her adorned in fireproof attire (though I have to say of the sketches for Spicy covers I've seen the editors rarely changed a thing). But if Bolles did have her dressed up too much the editors probably defaulted to the standard less is more approach to cover, so off went the uniform ("but keep the rubber boots"). A nice image still, but I can only imagine what Bolles could have done with a firegirl in a uniform.
The cover did generate considerable interest in the form of imitation, the theme of my last post and so I've decided to stay with it for a while. I'll follow this up with two classic Bolles images that were expropriated by other magazine cover artists. Curiously, each involves the model entwining her legs around various props. For your perusal, below are several other examples of girls pole sliding that followed the Bolles cover. The clues I provided in the previous post should help you identify the artists.
Postscript: Somone brought this Elvgren to my attention so I've added her to the growing fire pole.
6 comments:
That's a clever collage of Bolles and his imitators, visually interesting in its own right while illustrating your point. Bolles, of course, is at the top of the pole!
D-Dave,
Glad you enjoyed the post. I'll try something similar in the follow-ups.
Well, I see Driben, and at bottom, Quintana, but not sure about the third - Bergey? The puzzling thing is she looks like one of Rolf Armstrong's favorite models.
Yes, the middle example is a Bergey and she does look a lot like Jewel Flowers, if that's the model you were refering to. I hadn't noticed that before.
Just a great, fun girlie image from our man. Full of pep, spice AND snap!
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